Report on the shared use of state school sport facilities

Abstract

State school sport facilities are important assets which government is continuously striving to utilise. An increase in the demand for sport and physical activity programmes together with limited open spaces in the community necessitates the shared use of these facilities by many entities, including SportMalta and Sport organizations. This report aims to analyse the present situation of the use of the state school sport facilities after school hours, understand the needs of all stakeholders, analyse current agreements and procedures for shared used of state school sport facilities and recommend new strategies that could be adopted for new agreements. A committee was set up to discuss these issues and to meet all the stakeholders. Meetings were held with stakeholders from schools, including College Principals, Heads of schools, Administrators, Financial Controllers, Precincts officers, Physical Education officers, PE Head of Department, and a PE teacher; and with key persons within SportMalta. Sport facilities in seven out of the ten Colleges in Malta and Gozo are regularly used by SportMalta for its programmes and by its registered Sport organisations. All school leaders understand the necessity to increase participation in sport and physical activity and the need for shared used of their sport facilities. However, they expressed their concern about the current procedures and agreements for shared used of state school sport facilities and mentioned various challenges. Despite the fact that schools are encouraged to share their facilities, they are not involved in the drafting of any agreement and are not aware of the content of such an agreement. Furthermore, while the school sport facilities are regularly being used, the school management team is not recovering any costs associated with running such facilities. Therefore not enough funds are available for maintenance. Lack of respect and lack of communication with third parties are also creating a challenging situation. [excerpt from the Executive Summary]