Youth Sports Trust looks ahead to the class of 2035

Phil Chamberlain, Policy and Communications Director at the Youth Sport Trust, explains the groundbreaking launch of the ‘Class of 2035’.

This week, at our 2015 Conference in Telford, the Youth Sport Trust unveiled the Class of 2035 to look ahead to what young people’s relationship with PE and school sport might look like 20 years on from now.

This year marks our 20th anniversary, and whilst we are keen to celebrate our achievements to date, we are also keen to challenge ourselves (and others engaged in PE and school sport) and look to the next 20 years. The thought provoking concept was devised in collaboration with a leading future trends agency, the Future Foundation, who have used unique insight to support its development.

The results are clear in the fascinating Class of 2035 microsite www.classof2035.com, which presents four possible scenarios of how the future might look in two decades time for the PE and school sport sector.

It does this by depicting possible relationships between technological empowerment/disempowerment, the relevance and quality of PE and school sport and levels of physical activity in PE and school sport.

It also offers insight into the impact of this on physical and emotional wellbeing of the next generation and the impact of this on their educational achievement.

I suppose an obvious question is why create the Class of 2035?
The answer is simple. Because we want to spark wide-ranging debate as to what the future opportunities and challenges may be to getting young people more active.

At the Youth Sport Trust, imparting our core values of wellbeing, leadership and achievement to the next generation of young people is one of our upmost priorities and that is why this piece of work is so important to us and to the sector as a whole.

We believe physical education, sport and physical activity are central to achieving that outcome and to giving our young people the best possible opportunity to fulfil their potential.

Perhaps the most interesting thing about the Class of 2035 is that we have the chance today, in the here and now, to shape how it will look 20 years from now.

Amongst the four visions of how the Class of 2035 may look, the best case scenario – the ‘fit for purpose’ generation - sees young people empowered to participate fully in PE, sport and physical activity, in and out of school.

The worst case scenario shows a 'sidelined generation' consumed by digital media with very little time spent on outdoor activity, leaving them lethargic and broadly unhappy.

What this means is that the challenge has now been set and the Youth Sport Trust is committed to using these scenarios to inform our own strategy and how we collaborate with others to ensure the best possible future.

So, please join the debate. To access the Class of 2035 visit: www.classof2035.com #ClassOf2035

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