Using Covid to Bring the States Together

Using Covid to Bring the States Together to Create a Great Asset

WORDS DAVID JAFFE

Lots of things stopped in the Orienteering World in 2020 but while we in Victoria were locking down, OA commissioned some work using grant funding to develop a common Orienteering curriculum for schools. Brodie Nankervis and David Jaffe got to participate and thought everyone should know how the states came together to create some amazing materials.

What was the Goal?

Create a common and accredited national curriculum for years three to six and extend this to years 7 and 8. The work also wanted to start to create pathways from school to more active Orienteering. In other words, end all this “we do it this way here” stuff and create something that all states could use and benefit from. This was advanced cat herding…getting six Orienteering nations to work together!

Who led the work and who was involved?

OA selected a company called McLaughlin Sports Consultancy led by Mike McLaughlin who has done work with many sports. Mike knew nothing about Orienteering but knows how to run a project, knows all about schools’ sports curriculums, has a proven process and had a great track record with other sports. Most of the states had their schools officer join the program so the gurus of school O program were on the case. Unfortunately, our Schools Officer had quit earlier in the year so David filled the breach and Brodie was involved in his national coaching role. What was great was seeing Mike, an o novice, get familiar with what Orienteering was and what we had to offer. At times he was amazed at how many materials we had and the impact we could have on a school compared to other sports.

How was the cat herding?

Mike did an amazing job to get all states to share materials. We all got to see how every other state tackled schools and then Mike and his company synthesised it while aligning with the Australian curriculum. He got us to share, review and collaborate, quite an achievement in its self, as we worked to a tight time frame through a pandemic.

What’s come out of it?

A great handbook of activities and materials that we can used with schools. Its even designed so that staff could run their own programs. It’s a flexible set of resources than can work with a schools coach or with some remote support help a school do their own program. In addition the new curriculum and resources have allowed orienteering to become a sporting school provider for secondary schools, in addition to the work we were already doing in primary schools.

What did schools say?

In October/November Mike got states to run pilots with experienced coaches and novice teaches and then got feedback and amended the materials. They loved it. In fact some of the feedback was some of the most interesting Mike had ever seen. Two schools commented

that students not only enjoyed it but some students who didn’t normally get active, excelled at orienteering. They were amazed by these outcomes, as was Mike. We forget sometimes how different our sport is and the impacts it can produced. We didn’t get to pilot in Victoria as we were in the tail end of lock down but we got to see everyone else’s results.

What did we learn?

Through this program we got to see the different mechanisms other state use. In South Australia, if they get approached by a regional school, they get that school to ring nearby schools to form a cohesive cluster that makes sending a coach worthwhile. ACT leads the way in converting school participation into active families. They do this with pre and post school mini leagues and inviting parents to come have a go and then join a weekend event.

Secret Sauce?

The combination of an expert in a process with our subject matter experts was an interesting one. Mike’s a great facilitator and it was hard not to have faith that he’d get to the outcome. It may have helped that zoom familiarity meant we could have all of us talking and sharing in ways we wouldn’t have in 2019. What Does Victoria Get? 1. Great materials to use with schools 2. Greater knowledge and connection to the organisers in other states 3. Further opportunities to expand orienteering being delivered in secondary schools