His esports program began as an extra-curricular activity and has evolved into a school-wide initiative, incorporated into the digital technologies' curriculum for Years 7-12, focusing not only on technology skills, but also positive engagement, relationships, growth mindset, health and wellbeing.
The results have been a revelation. With more than 200 students at his 1680-student school participating, and absenteeism significantly reduced, with its authentic links to industry, the program has resulted in new career pathways for students in an evolving industry.
So MJ, you’re Head of Department for Information Technology at Forest Lake High School in Queensland – how long have you been at the school?
I transferred from North Queensland (Townsville) in 2004 and have had many roles in that time both at Forest Lake SHS, and other schools as Head of Department, and Principal Project Officer in Head Office (with the Intranets in Schools Project).
I lectured at University of Queensland in Digital Technologies for more than a decade and I’ve always innovated, so presented at all major Australian and State based Education conferences such as the Adobe Summit, EduTECH, iEducate, QSITE, etc.
I've been a Head of Department for over 18 years and made a choice to stay as a HOD because it affords me the ability to still be able to teach in the classroom and impact on students lives directly. It keeps me grounded.
What do you most enjoy about your current role?
I love changing kids' lives by helping to facilitate my staff and students’ gaining a great understanding of wellbeing through the lens of esports and encouraging a growth mindset in all that we do as a team. I enjoy growing students as global citizens – we have world champions here now! And I love the gamification of tasks within the class to help motivate and inspire students to do better.
I also love helping to provide students with a pathway to a job and, for many, to not have to wait for university or TAFE or college to become a functioning member of society. Let’s get them involved in responsibility and resilience from an early age – that’s got to make society better!
To combat increasing student absenteeism and disengagement, you’ve incorporated students’ interest in gaming into the curriculum in an innovative and highly impactful way, haven’t you…
It's really a three-tiered approach. We started with external comps, so UQ Union launched League of Legends, and we now compete in several comps outside of school time, just like standard sport.
We have a full coaching model to help and support student growth and it’s led by the students and a students coach model, with leaders trained by Valor Esports and teachers here, plus I coach mindset in gaming.
Our students are now coaching outside of our school and making money (or volunteering), and we even have students working with sponsors like Endgame Sumner – building computer systems from the late ‘90s to support the retro-gaming industry. They’re just such real skills, and employable skills.
We also introduced a club which runs three days a week with more than 10 sessions each week, which covers all our key games. Our Just Dance crew have won the world championship this year in The FUSE Cup Global Finals, which is a magnificent effort in a really tough comp, but was super fun for everyone involved. The program has given students a massive reason to come to school and there’s been so many wonderful friendships formed.
It’s all about one word – belonging – it’s why they come. It’s about connection with friends, staff and the wider community. Our kids feel protected and have a team to support them, and most of all they feel respected. We ask for student guidance and leadership in the program, so students really feel like they have a voice .
Importantly, we introduced a curriculum, so students get to choose it as a subject linked to the Australian Curriculum Digital Technologies (Year 7-10) and Information and Communication Technology (Year 11-12).
They also now have a direct pathway to a Diploma of Esports (which I led the creation of in 2020). I worked with a team of four awesome educators to build a fun pathway to several Bachelor degrees – where students get a full year credit once they have completed the Diploma of Esports (QUT). Pathways to a job is just so very important for their future.
Head of Department for more than 18 years at Forest Lake High School, Raatz has made a conscious choice to stay hands-on as a HOD, because it affords him the ability to still be able to teach in the classroom and impact on students’ lives directly. “It keeps me grounded,” he says.
Can you give me an example of an improvement at the school?
I can give you heaps, but a good example is, seven students in my Year 8 class in 2022 each had more than 33 days off last year. That is obviously not good. The Hattie research states attendance has one of the highest effect sizes. For Semester 1, 2023, their average was less than one day per term, with the most absent days from any individual being three days. This is amazing. This is directly related to engagement, fun, academic success and wellbeing and most importantly, belonging.
I believe inclusion has been a big focus too, what have been some observable great outcomes in this area?
Absolutely! One of the highlights of our program is inclusivity. Twenty-five per cent of participating students in esports in our school have a disability. Students are catered for at an individual level and we complete differentiated group work in every lesson, it really depends on the class activity. Success is celebrated at every stage.
For example, in our Year 11 class this year – we have students who will likely achieve ATARs over 95 and in the same classroom, students who are at a Year 4 cognitive level. We celebrate success every day with their achievements. In that class some of our students are on a QCIA pathway, so they complete alternate activities and portfolio work (most would see this as assessment). But we do it in an achievable fun way.
Our concentration is on wellbeing, so while academic success is celebrated, it’s not our focus. This helps students succeed in a low stress environment. Imagine turning up to work every day, and relaxing into your work. Yes – kicking goals – but doing it with less stress. We provide tools and support. They provide the awesomeness!
One of our sponsors Prodigy Learning has gifted our students Microsoft Office Specialist certification. We have gamified this test, and our students are rocking 100 per cent perfect scores for the first time ever. We even have two students now under the 10-minute mark for the test for the first time since we invested in the process more than a decade ago. These students are amazing, and wonderfully supportive with each other. The testing conditions are tough, but we talk about how to be resilient, and analyse where we can improve mentally, and skills wise for the next test. It’s amazing.
I believe you’ve had some programs that have had some uptake by other schools and teachers across the country?
Yeah, that’s right, we’ve run workshops for teachers at Forest Lake SHS and several state and national conferences now on how to create curriculum and get kids motivated/engaged in schools. The biggest achievement for us was mapping esports into different curriculum areas – Digital Technologies, Business, Health, Physical Education, Tourism, Sport and Rec. We know with a little bit of help, we can make many inroads into other subjects. The subjects lead to degrees. These degrees and knowledge lead to jobs.
Interestingly when I launched the Facebook group – Esports Teachers – in the first 24 hours we had just over 100 teachers from across the state join the list. That’s amazing!
All information is shared via that Esports List – so teachers, feel free to find it on Facebook and join up if you want to know more.
You enjoy sharing your expertise through conferences, online meetings and workshops? Why – and where do you find the time!?
Haha… with much kindness from my wife Nikki. My family is really supportive, and they inspire me. Our two daughters and both our son-in-laws are teachers. We have a family focus – it’s a strong focused lens on 'let’s make kids’ lives better'.
I love helping and supporting those who can help kids. Life is really tough for many these days with social media, society, etc. We need to increase resilience within our youth in a supportive and kind manner.
“I was honoured to have the amazing David Gonski AP present me on-stage with the award,” a proud Raatz says.
Can you tell me a little more about Australia’s first Diploma of Esports?
Sure. I was approached in 2021 by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) College. They’d heard we were doing really cool stuff in Esports and wanted to help and support both us and society by providing a genuine pathway for students as well as adults. I accepted the challenge after my team and I ideated what it would look like and mapped it out over a several hours of thinking and discussion. It was a fun process.
From ideation, I put together a team of awesome teachers, some with esports experience and some with entrepreneurial experience. A few months later with the support Dr Michael Trotter, we finished up and had a functioning working Diploma.
The best part is we hired two of the graduates from the inaugural year (2022) to be employed, one as a teacher, one as a teacher aide at Forest Lake SHS. Simon has since moved into a roll at the Diploma of Esports at QUT – and is loving that, while Bailey has moved into a technician role, with his sights firmly set on becoming an esports teacher in the future.
What is it that drives you, what do you love about what you do?
For me it’s about changing kids’ lives! Seriously, wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we all turned up to work loving what we do?! I actually hop out of bed every morning excited about going and hanging out in a classroom, changing the mindset of my students and staff and working with the community.
I love connecting with industry and community, too. There are so many little projects going on at the moment, from my local Bridgestone Cup (supported by Bridgestone Select Forest Lake) where we’ve had more than 150 staff and community members come along to afterschool events and drive Formula One cars and compete against students.
What are you looking forward to in the coming few years?
My eyes are firmly set on Olympics and Paralympics in 2032, it’s so cool to have Brisbane in the spotlight.
In the short-term, we’re heavily investing in our grassroots program, which has been going for three years now. I’m looking forward to year number four and working with our local feeder primary schools, our students in Year 4, our cubs!
I’m also really keen to understand more about the wellbeing and mental health of our youth. How we can make lives better has to be the focus.
I also want to keep investigating how gamification can change all subjects in a school environment – not just in an Esports Curriculum room, but in any classroom. How can we make school more fun and get students to invest in their own education, by choice?
How did it feel to win one of the Commonwealth Bank Fellowships and what are you looking to do with your prize money?
There are so many teachers doing so much awesome work around Australia. It’s generally a pretty thankless job and there is a lot of work to do. I was so honoured to make the top 50 and I am so proud and happy to be able to spend the wonderful bursary on our community, as it will have such a massive impact.
The award’s not mine alone – it was with the work of my awesome wife Nikki, my daughters and their partners, as well as all the other really cool people like Michael Smith who nominated me, along with all my team and especially my boss who allowed the vision to happen – Denise Kostowski – a true visionary leader who supported the crazy idea of gaming as a curriculum.
It’s just so much more than gaming – it’s the connection to kids and mental health. Wellbeing and belonging is forefronted to making kids’ lives better.
For more information on the Commonwealth Bank Teaching Awards presented by Schools Plus, click here.
