2Foreword. Esports is a fast growing and evolving industry, engaging millions of childrenacross the globe both in competitive play and as a new form of entertainment,with the industry expected to surpass $2bn revenue by 2020. It is an amazinglyinclusive form of entertainment, presenting opportunities for all regardless of age,physical abilities or gender. It is a very creative yet technical industry adoptingexisting skill sets across the video games, broadcast, media and sport industriesall the while creating many new highly skilled roles. The danger of the digital skills gap is very clear, hindering both the growth ofesports in the UK and many other industries too. We urgently need more children tobe inspired by technology and digital creativity and discover exciting and successfulcareer prospects in a rapidly changing world. At ESL, we’re extremely proud to supportDigital Schoolhouse and hope to see the UK leading theway in creative and digital skills for the esports industryyears to come. This report clearly shows the immediatepositive afect esports can have on children in aneducational environment and demonstrates an innovativeand successful partnership between industry and schools.James Dean ESL UK Managing Director Most importantly, esports is enormous fun. The collaborative nature of an esportstournament and the creation of content for a wider audience puts real purpose to theproject making it extremely engaging, interactive and inspiring, no matter what therole the student plays in the process.It also empowers teachers through the powerof play to potentially have life changing efects on students during their education. For the past 4 years, Digital Schoolhouse has had a tremendous impact in doingjust that. Not only inspiring children, but also educating teachers and parents aboutthe endless opportunities digital skills create. By engaging directly with the esportsindustry, thousands of children have had hands on experience in a multitude ofimportant roles developing and running a nationwide innovative esports tournament.They have benefted from teamwork, strategy and social improvements and hearddirectly from the industry for guidance and careers advice. POWERED BY 3 Executive Summary. Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse, powered by PlayStation programme, aims to engagelearners and educators with computing to improve the quality and provision of digitalskills within schools across the UK. As the fagship education initiative of the videogames trade body Ukie (UK Interactive Entertainment Association Ltd.), the programmeis able to bring schools and industry together to help efectively shape and deliver highquality inspirational opportunities for all students. One of these opportunities is the Digital Schoolhouse esports tournament, which hasjust completed its second year. The 2017 - 2018 tournament saw 2222 students from20 schools across the UK take part as either players or as part of the school’s eventmanagement team. The aim of the tournament was to provide an immersive careerseducation experience, enabling students to realise the breadth of career opportunitiesavailable to them. Students aged 12 - 18 years participated not only as players but werealso recruited to manage the tournament within their schools taking on valid industryroles such as event management, production, tournament administration, communitymanagement and on-screen talent. The value of the skills that students developed whilstparticipating in the tournament was recognised by the Duke of York’s Inspiring DigitalEnterprise Award (iDEA). Post tournament, students were able to claim digital iDEAbadges which refected the nature of their involvement in the tournament and the skillsgained as a result. An integral part of the tournament was to examine its potential impact on theparticipants. Digital Schoolhouse worked with Stafordshire University to develop astudy that collected data using a number of methods, including questionnaires, casestudies, discussion groups and informal feedback. The study focused on two keyresearch questions: A. Does participating in esports create positive behavioural change in youngplayers that will translate into behaviour modifcation in other aspects of their livesB.Does participating in esports infuence the career path and STEM interests of young players 4 Key Findings A. Does participating in esports create positive behavioural change in young playersthat will translate into behaviour modifcation in other aspects of their livesAll transferable skills increased with Communication (74%)and Team Working (80%) coming top 67% of respondents found that friendship bonds grew over the course of the tournament (and 94% of friendships were maintained or grew during the competition) Over 80% said that the competition had increased their interest inparticipating in other team sports B.Does participating in esports infuence the career path and STEM interests of young playersJust under 90% said it had increased their interest in a career in thevideo games industry Over 90% said it had increased their interest in computers andcomputing, but only 40% said it had increased their interest instudying it as a subject Teachers consistently reported the broader impact of the tournament on students.Numerous reports were received of increased student confdence, improved attendanceto school, cross year group friendships; and in particular engaging the ‘forgottenmiddle’1. A number of schools spoke about how the tournament was able to successfullyengage those students who otherwise wouldn’t engage in extra curricular activities, forsome it enabled them to fnd like minded people, and for others it helped them to ‘comeout of their shell’. All teachers reported high levels of excitement around the tournamentamongst students, with teachers having to put a cap on the number of students allowedto participate for their own logistical purposes.Additionally, we also found that participation in the tournament appeared to havesignifcant wider school impact. Participation within the tournament helped upskill theteachers involved with key knowledge and insights into career opportunities availablewithin the wider video games industry; thus enabling them to provide more relevantcareers guidance to their students. Highlighting career opportunities and the value ofvideo games and esports wasn’t just limited to the participating teachers; the deliveryand success of the tournament within the school helped tackle perceptions amongstwider staf and senior leadership teams. Additionally, parents who were able to attendan event were also given a chance to fnd out more about the opportunities available fortheir children. 1 This term refers to students that are not over or under achieving, and therefore don't appear on teachers'intervention lists。。。。。。