Junior sport: Automatic wins in Premier’s awards making soft kids

The everyone’s-a-winner mentality to school sports ensuring all kids of a certain age get an award could create a generation of children unable to deal with risk.

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A mollycoddling app­roach to school sports where everyone wins regardless of individual performance has been slammed by a leading psychologist for creating an age of mediocrity.

The Premier’s Sporting Challenge rules stipulate that every child from Kindergarten to Year 2 will get a gold certificate, regardless of how much physical activity they do over the 10-week program in a bid to foster “positive attitudes to physical activity”.

Schools have also been warned against acknowledging individual effort in case it “alienates or discourages poor performing students”.

Child psychologist Mich­ael Carr-Gregg warned the “everyone’s a winner” culture adopted by the Department of Education failed students because they were not learning how to deal with defeat and disappointment.

“In life there are no free lunches and I think if you ­create a culture where you get rewarded for doing absolutely nothing, just turning up … everybody becomes mediocre and that can’t be good for ­society,” he said.

Dr Carr-Gregg said trophies, ribbons and certificates of achievement should be awarded to those who earn them, warning that children who were never exposed to disappointment would struggle with resiliency later on.

“What you’re creating by doing that is just a risk-averse bunch of kids who may well struggle to tackle the developmental tasks later on,” he said.

The Department of Education said students from Kindergarten to Year 2 had received automatic gold awards since the challenge began in 2008.

During the challenge primary and high school students record their physical activity each day.

Those who average more than 80 minutes of exercise a day receive a diamond award, while those who exercise for 60 minutes a day are awarded a gold certificate. Students who work out for 45 minutes a day are given a silver award while 30 minutes activity earns students them a bronze certificate.

Kindergarten to Year 2 students automatically receive a gold award regardless of their effort.

Activities children can count towards their activities include flying a kite, washing a car and fishing. Peta McGavin said she wanted to teach her daughter Charlotte, 6, that she would be rewarded if she achieved something.

“A gold certificate achievement should be given to those who have completed the task,” she said. “I believe that there is always a winner, I believe in healthy competition.”

Sarah Lewin said that merit certificates were given out so frequently at seven-year-old daughter Rose’s school they now failed to be noteworthy. “I don’t think it is a big achievement to be active an hour a day,” she said.

“They all get merits certificates throughout the year.

“Really you shouldn’t be rewarded for being a good person, you should just be a good person.”

Dad Brendan Liebig said he wanted his son Henry, 6, to put in some effort before getting an accolade.

“I was brought up a bit old school so you had to perform a little before you got the reward. These days kids seem to put their hands up to participate and be involved and they’re getting the same sort of accolades,” he said.

“Kids need to learn that they have got to push themselves to achieve something and if they’re just participating and getting a reward and not achieving at a higher level, they’re not really learning.”

Father Steve Howlett said he wanted his son Patrick, 6, not to be given something for nothing.

“I am not (in favour) of giving them something when they’ve done nothing.”

“It makes the kids sit there and think, well I don’t have to do anything and I am going to get rewarded for it.”

Originally published as Junior sport: Automatic wins in Premier’s awards making soft kids