The First Ever ‘Esports’ BTEC to Be Launched in the UK to Allow Teenagers Study Online Gaming

There is a move to allow students to study the psychology and nutrition of esports, video game coaching, and its strategy and analysis.

This is coming as a video gaming qualification exercise from one of the biggest education firms in the United Kingdom.

Esports has evolved exponentially over the last decade and the prize pools have grown along with it. Now players can make bets on some of their favourite games, thanks to sites like CSGOBettor who list the best CSGO betting sites, with a wide range of markets.

The first BTEC in sports has been developed and launched by the education assessment and publishing company named Pearson, which is also the owner of the Edexcel exam board.

In coming up with the qualification, the firm worked hand in hand with the British Esports Association, and this comes at level 3, which is similar to the A level.

Esports Coaching

Starting from September 2020, students will be able to take this course as funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency.

In the course, there are 20 units, and they include computer networking, esports law, health and wellbeing, shoutcasting, production of video games, coaching, strategy and analysis and others.

In the unit that deals on strategy and analysis, the skills needed for different genres of games would be taught, and here, we are talking about things like rotational play, reaction times, skillshots ability, map awareness, and a few others. When you come to coaching, things like tactics for particular games, like the rocket league, and league of legends are also studied.

Nutrition and Psychology

This course has units that are not compulsory, and they include nutrition and psychology of esports performance. Here, the major crux is how the healthy balanced diet and the good health that comes from it can help to foster better performance in esports.

The senior vice president for BTEC and apprenticeships in Pearson, Cindy Rampersaud noted that they are always reviewing their curriculum and offers to meet up with the ever changing job roles, and that the world may not have found the careers that young people would prefer to get into in the future yet. According to her, the esports industry is worth up to $1.1bn globally, and the audience is getting to 500 million. So, to support people that would choose a career or profession in that industry, the course is really necessary.

For her, the course will cut across all areas and that it would witness a favorable reception by the majority of the institutions of higher learning around. She also said that generally, it will involve live stream broadcasting training, learning of event management, how to groom players who will engage in the broadcasting of live streaming, and how to take care of the entire infrastructure, including the computer network.

For her, many colleges will be interested in the course, because the sector is witnessing real growth, and careers are beginning to spring up in the sector. It’s witnessing a massive growth.

When questioned on her advice to parents that won’t buy the idea of their kids studying gaming, she responded that the course in question has many other skills to teach, including teamwork and entrepreneurship. For her also, the level at which many activities are solidifying their online presence is being revealed by the current situation.

She talks about how exciting the industry would be, by saying that online learning would increase even when the current problem disappears.

The British Esports Association chair, Andy Payne claims that many young people are developing interest in the fast growing and fun-filled esports sector, and it is only proper that they are given the opportunities to develop their potential in it, so as to be prepared to be at the helm of affairs in the future.

Though it is still a new industry, with reputable firms like Pearson coming into it with curriculum and learning designs, the future of the workforce in the industry is really bright.

Share on Facebook

Tweet

Follow us