Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph Paola introduces esports into schools
Local school Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph Paola has inked a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Level Academy, Malta’s first esports training facility. The
agreement, which comes after thorough discussions held during the summer months,
implements esports training within the school’s syllabus.
The programme focuses on increasing student engagement through the educational material at
the highest levels. Attending the course, the students will receive a comprehensive overview of
the fundamentals of esports, including the professional pathways that professional esports
brings with it. Level Academy is an advocate of responsible play, carrying this ethos at the core
of their educational programme, as well as the extra-curricular courses offered by the training
facility.
Esports training is a worthy addition to the school syllabus due to its fun, engaging, and exciting
team-building activity nature, which promotes leadership and supports the improvement of
social and communication skills. Experience gathered via esports training, furthermore, converts
to knowledge and skills that can be utilised by a person in any area of their life, off the screens.
The introduction comes at the height of international interest in esports, which can be seen in
areas such as the Nordic countries. Esports has become well-established and can be seen as
part of the region’s socio-cultural DNA. It has found its place within educational institutions
across the area with the benefits reaching far beyond the sphere of in-game performance. Only
two out of three esports consumers in the Nordic countries define themselves as “frequent
gamers”, which indicates that esports, as a product, has an appeal outside of professional
gaming communities, according to a recent Deloitte study.
“We are happy to be at the forefront by including such a progressive and innovative educational
programme in our syllabus. More than 80% of the youth play digital games — it is an
environment that they are familiar with and engage with on a daily basis. In this context, as St
Joseph is an all-girl church school, we can support bringing young women closer to the world of
information and communications technology, which is of crucial importance,” said Dr. Kenneth
Vella, Head of School at Mater Boni Consilii St Joseph Paola.
“We are honoured to start offering a customised training programme as part of a school
syllabus. Creating a safe environment where students from all walks of life can connect and
interact in a fun and educational manner is of utmost importance for Level Academy. Esports is
an outstanding tool for personal development, offered with the digital environment that our youth
is native to,” said Kevin Spiteri who is one of the co-founders and Director of Level Academy.
“In line with Level Academy’s tagline ‘From Passion to Profession’, our training programmes are
based on three main pillars: education, competition and values. eSports training improves
strategic thinking, confidence and problem-solving capabilities—skills that are indispensable for
an individual to live a healthy and prosperous life. We look forward to the implementation of this
collaboration, and hope to expand our horizons to further schools in the future,” said Keith
Falzon, also co-founder of Level Academy.
0 comments