Policy Study Of The Opening Of School Sport Facilities To Community Use

Currently, the sport and recreation facilities managed by the Leisure and Cultural Service Department, Hong Kong government, are already fully used. Many sport/recreation organizations are lacking venues for athlete training and mass sport participation. This situation has existed for a long time. On the other hand, the school sport venues and facilities are under use off the school time such as after 5pm - in the weekdays and most of the weekends. If these sport facilities can be well organized and used by the sport/recreation organizations, it can help soften the problem and maximize the school sport facilities resources. Consequently, the community can benefit with the existing facilities on sport training and participation. Approach: Objectives of the study are: To understand the current situation of the opening of school sport facilities to community use; To explore the barriers and major concerns originated from this issue in schools; To propose recommendations which may provide incentives and comprehensive understanding of the benefits to schools and communities. Method: a questionnaire related to the opening of school sport facilities to community use was developed and validated based upon the literature review. Questionnaire content covers the current situation of the sport facilities and venues usage in schools during school time and non-school time; the school concerns when considering the applications from community; what are the possible solutions to eliminate the worries and barriers from school’s perspectives? Focus interviews investigated the concern and barriers of schools. Interview questions based upon the findings from the questionnaire analysis. Participants: invited 840 primary and secondary schools to respond to the self-constructed questionnaire and the interview. Among them, 16.4% schools returned the questionnaire and four schools accepted the interview. Conclusion: 23% of the surveyed schools responded that they are willing to open their sport facilities to community, which is under most advanced cities and regions in the world. In the application cases, 82% of the applications are approved and openness of these schools is demonstrated. Among all the reasons of successful applications, “know the applicants/organizations” is significant to the school’s decision. To summarize, the reasons for the approval are: (a) identification of the school’s role as a contributor in the community; (b) impacts of the opening on student’s learning; (c) legal liability; (d) security and (e) safety considerations. The main reasons for disapproval are: (a) operating resources, (b) legal liability and (c) insurance. Recommendations: Government legislation is of great significance, which could reduce schools’ hypothetical concerns; financial implication, government should be responsible for the expenditure and schools/sport organizations may apply for funds and share costs as well. Government should provide a template for schools and communities in case of unnecessary apprehension and conflicts. Volunteers could be an effective and efficient option to solve the human resources issue. Liability, security, safety, injury, insurance and so on, need to be dealt with distinctively according to the local features and resources.