Faculty Information |

YAMAMOTO Hiroki Faculty of Literature Department of Education Associate Professor

■ Title
Effects of extracurricular sports activities on personality development : A review of empirical
findings on motivation to learn, cognitive ability, non-cognitive ability, and moral character.

■ Outline
In this paper, we collected Japanese and international studies related to the effects of extracurricular
sports activities in schools and organized the evidence on children's motivation to learn, cognitive ability, non-cognitive ability, and morality.
First, school extracurricular sports activities can be expected to promote students' motivation to learn and cognitive abilities, and may play a role in school adjustment and correction of educational disparities, especially for students with severe life circumstances and ADHD tendency, but this assumes that club activities are friendly to academics. Excessive practice and excessive athlete orientation may also be associated with poor academic performance.
Second, regarding non-cognitive skills, school extracurricular sports activities are expected to foster social skills and GRIT. However, it is undeniable that a significant portion of the generally recognized "educational effects" may actually be due to selection effects, such as the fact that students with better non-cognitive abilities are more likely to continue to participate in club activities, and further research is needed.
Third, regarding morality, there is no evidence that school extracurricular sports activities by themselves cultivate children's internal morality, but rather, there are widespread concerns that children bring sports specific aggression, competition, and in-group favoritism into their daily lives and identify with harmful jock identities. However, appropriate team building and conscious sportsmanship education have been shown to promote children's prosocial behavior.
School extracurricular activities have the potential to function as a place for "holistic education" that provides authentic learning, but if the dosage is wrong, it can have holistic negative effects on children. Extracurricular activities are "high-risk drugs" with many precautions. Rigorous quality assurance is necessary to ensure the proper effectiveness of activities, whether in the school or in the community.
Single 2024/04