I am not involved in schooling, but the other day I listened to a debate on the radio that focused on grades – yes versus no – and the issue of learning and its assessment.
Working in sports, particularly with high school students, we face similar questions to those of teachers: how to teach and evaluate learning and how to consider athletic performance results, which are equivalent to school grades.
We know that humans want to feel autonomous, self-determined, and competent. Therefore, whether it’s sports, academics, or other areas like the arts, the approach should aim to meet these needs through suitable teaching methods tailored to the characteristics of the activities involved.
In the 21st century, it’s not about engaging in ideological wars but about using what science tells us on these matters and developing learning programs based on that knowledge. Even grading in this context can be one of the assessment methods to identify a student’s knowledge and performance, similar to rankings in sports. In sports, the outcome is recognized as a measure of how well one has performed, including errors, and the focus for the next performance is on reducing those errors.
It’s clear that this can only happen if coaches and teachers also see themselves as responsible for their students’ performances, following a rule where I teach/train you to improve, and you commit to learning. Without this alliance, everyone goes their separate ways. Therefore, in my opinion, we need an analytical evaluation that specifically identifies young people’s skills, followed by evaluation moments like sports competitions and school tests that provide an overall assessment. I see no contradiction between these evaluations; they should always go hand in hand as foundations for continuous improvement.
