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Esports education is one area of the industry that has grown massively in recent years, with the Esports BTEC being delivered in more than 200 schools and colleges to some 10,000 students, with multiple degree courses available and esports lecturer jobs often posted.
While esports may find itself in a tough spot, with some organisations closing, esports courses are giving students transferable skills to bring into a variety of industries, giving hope for the future. Nik Turner, founder and MD of ntesports, is an award-winning journalist turned educator that’s having a big impact in UK esports education, and at times has flown a little under the radar. Here, he talks about providing the world’s largest shop for downloadable esports teaching resources, sponsoring student esports teams, the upcoming BTEC reforms, and more.
Nik Turner is a man who wears many hats (his Linkedin page lists 27 different experiences!) so sitting down to write this article and knowing where to start was a challenge.
Let’s go back to the late ’90s, a golden era of console gaming, to cover his background. Nik actually started out as a journalist, working for radio companies including his own Phoenix Radio Network. There, he won a National Training Council journalism award for setting up a training scheme for broadcast journalists.
After this, he was head of department at Farnborough College of Technology (rated outstanding by Ofsted) for a decade, from 2009 to 2019.
“I was originally in charge of media and performing arts, and I asked to take over IT, so I could bring in games design,” Nik explains. “We did that and doubled the size of the department, after I became head of media, games development and computing.”
Nik saw first-hand the benefits of games in education, and was working in esports a few years before the Esports BTEC launched in 2020.
He then met another esports educator, James Fraser-Murison, who offered him a job at QMC (Queen Mary’s College) to run the esports side of things there as head of esports. QMC was one of the first colleges in the UK to really embrace esports, with their QMC Samurai teams in the British Esports Student Champs and impressive facilities.
Nik continues: “James and I get on well and we are good friends, there is sometimes a misconception that we always work together in esports and education, but we are independent of each other, athough we have, and I’m sure will continue to work on some projects together, we complement each other well.”
“One day I was asked about esports BTEC teaching resources, and at that point, there were no resources available as it was a completely new course. So I spent all summer making resources, and thought I’d upload them to the TES website, where teachers go to find resources. Sales went through the roof.”
Nik Turner, ntesports
“So I kept on adding to the shop and I now have level 2 and 3 resources all over TES, on the Nik Turner esports shop, which has had more than 11,000 downloads.
“And now, I have the ntesports shop on my website, making the resources more affordable. TES takes a cut of about 40% from each sale. So if I sell a unit for £25 on TES, I get £14. But I can sell it for £22 on my own site, ntesports, and I’ll take £21. So I’ve tried to channel shift my resources. But I still get a lot of sales through TES.
“I was writing a blog for [education provider] Pearson and British Esports about a year in the life of an esports teacher, giving advice to new esports teachers. When I spoke at the [education focused] Bett show, I dispelled myths and spoke about the reality of teaching esports.
“So all of this brought lots of teachers to me, who asked me to help them with other things. And that’s where the esports arenas work came in – colleges wanted to open them but didn’t know where to begin. So I decided to formalise things, set up ntesports and that’s how that started.”
Nik left QMC after three years. Today, he runs his own business, ntesports, providing teacher resources and consultancy in esports, helping schools and colleges to enter the space.
He also works part-time at gaming hardware, esports classroom and solutions provider Yoyotech.
Nik, who has an autistic son, says: “SEN (special educational needs) is becoming a significant part of Yoyotech’s work. I’ve taught SEN students from level 1 to 6 in my career, from pre GCSE to degrees, so I’ve taught the whole spectrum, and it gives me the ability to empathise and give students extra help and support.
“It’s not just esports education that Yoyotech focuses on, either. We’re fitting out a games company in Cardiff at the moment who wanted to set up an events space, with racing rigs and so on.”
Aside from this, Pearson, the education provider and supplier of the Esports BTEC, brought Nik on board as a quality development writer and standards verifier.
“I wrote the first core unit for the new Higher National Diploma that’s just launched. And with the standards verifier role, I check other colleges’ work for quality control,” Nik says.
“I also offer quality assurance services for college and training centres, so Guild Esports have their centre where they teach the BTEC and I support the delivery and quality asurance behind the scenes. There’s a brilliant tutor there, Adrian Jones, and I support him with whatever he needs including internal verification. I’m responsible for ensuring all of the work and assessment is to the required standards associated with the BTEC.
“SCL (the comany partnered with Guild Esports) set up esports with Guild as their first centre – hopefully this will be expanding and I will be there to help support this expansion.”
Nik helps with quality assurance and paperwork for the likes of Nova Training and Southbank College, and is an education adviser for The Squid Academy in Thailand, and Esports Scotland (who asked him to help advise them on education partnerships last year) among others.
He’s also produced the content and designed the course for Minerva, as they launched their first online esports BTEC qualification in the UK, and managed the launch of Newcastle United Foundation’s esports arena with Yoyotech.
He’s also just been appointed Chief Education Advisor for KhelShaala, the education and skilling division of Indian esports company Crowd Control Esports.
Nik Turner was also made Chair of the Education Committee at the US-based Esports Trade Association last year, after being a part of the committee for three years.
So, who are the Esports Trade Association and why did Nik join?
“I found one of their business podcasts in the early days when I was consuming esports left, right and centre, and went on to join them,” Nik answers. “We meet every month, we host Linkedin live events to help educate people about esports with various different guests. Our role is to help educate others and look at how education works.
“In the UK we have a formal esports education system, whereas in America, they’ve had scholarships for players but it’s less formal. So for me it’s about exchanging ideas. I’m in Chicago in July for their main conference, and I’ve been nominated for their ‘Beyond the Classroom’ award.”
Amidst all of this, he wrote a degree for the University of Surrey.
Like we said, many hats.
But things could’ve turned out very differently. Nik quit teaching because he felt like he was done with education. But it was the rise of esports that made him think twice about leaving the education space entirely.
“Esports has been a revelation for me in that I was kind of at the end of my tether with teaching, I was head of department, I’d reached a stage where my teaching got in the way of management work I needed to do, so I started to resent teaching. I didn’t like [feeling this way] because I taught for a reason. So I jumped out. But then the Esports BTEC came along, and that gave me an opportunity to come back in.”
Nik Turner, ntesports
“While I didn’t intend to return to the teaching side of things myself, at that point I realised something,” Nik explains.
“How many experienced educators are there – experienced management-level department heads – who have worked in esports and have an understanding of it? At the time, there was probably no one.
“But I’d been working within esports and I was at a higher level in education. So I saw this as fate, an opportunity for me to carve a niche. That’s exactly what ntesports did. I’m really grateful to esports for this and it’s also the most exciting thing: watching something grow from nothing, from 24 students in the first year at QMC to 150 by year three. The money that generates the college, the Yoyotech facilities we had. Walking from your office into an esports arena, it was the best few years ever.
“Then the ability to share that and help other people… yes my teaching resources make me money, but they aren’t expensive to buy, I’m not charging through the roof for them.
“There were loads of colleges that started esports, and teachers were just told, ‘by the way, you’re gonna be teaching esports’, whether they’re sports people, business people or IT people or whatever. And they’re going, ‘huh? What do I know about esports?’
“They look on the TES site and see my resources. The amount of time it saves them is crazy. It’s all there structured with examples, videos, activities… I’ll bump into people all the time at Bett or ESI. I’ve given someone my email and he said, ‘wait, are you Nik from ntesports? I downloaded all your resources, you’re a legend, you saved me so much time, I love you!’
“He high fived me! It’s not why I do it, but it’s bloody nice to know you have people in the classroom with my Powerpoint. When you’ve got 11,000 downloads, you can only imagine how many colleges are using my stuff. So esports gives me that warm feeling.
“I like to give back. If I see young people desperate to get into the industry, I try to help them. I offer work experience to students remotely. And if they produce stuff that’s good, I’ll use it, and tell them, and they can put it in their portfolios.
“Things like scrolling ntesports text on my website, that was a student that made that. The controller graphic [below] is too, made by T-Level work experience Henry Allen.”
With his connections across esports education, Nik has established links with many teachers – and students.
Nik got so passionate about esports education, he decided to support students and organisations in a different way.
Why ntesports started sponsoring esports organisations and student teams
Nik began sponsoring student-run esports organisation CTRL Esports, which was set up by students from Queen Mary’s College.
He’s been with them at events like Insomnia and some of the team at a recent tournament at Chichester College.
Nik’s ntesports also sponsors a team in Chicago called Take Back Control, led by 15-year-old Travis Smith, who set up the org to support ethnic minorities and people in poor backgrounds in Chicago.
Then in Kenya, he sponsors CZY Esports and is supporting the growth of the org and their upcoming launch event, which he is very excited about.
“I’m working on an African project with the association to give African people a better voice [in esports],” Nik explains. I’ve been working with Gabriel at Esports News Africa [to try and improve things]. I’m working on this with him behind the scenes, looking at the tiered structure for Africa in terms of membership [on the Esports Trade Association], to give them a voice.
“The way my sponsorship works with grassroots organisations is they pitch to me, I try and cover their overheads for a year so they can develop their org and business and use that money effectively,” Nik continues. “All I ask for return is a logo on a jersey. It’s not about seeking a return on investment or getting money back, it’s about mentoring them.
Nik tries to help schools and colleges with their own events, too, including Chichester College, and Cottesmore School, which is running the first prep school esports tournament in the UK. Nik will provide prizes from Yoyotech and College of Esports.
“I’m a big fan of College of Esports, I talk to them all the time and worked with them early on. They’re providing peripherals for Cottesmore School’s esports tournament,” Nik says.
On the UK Government’s T-level/BTEC reforms
One area of concern for esports educators in the UK right now is the Government’s planned reforms.
The Government is set to cut funding for BTECs that overlap with similar T-level subjects, including the Esports BTEC.
Nik Turner, founder and MD of ntesports, shared his views on the matter: “I’m a bit nervous about the funding issue with the BTEC, as everybody is. The Government need to hear the success story that esports is in education.
“British Esports and Pearson held a webinar back in April, so I watched that and wrote an article on the Esports BTEC reforms. If the Tories get in, as educators we’ll have to adapt, it’ll be about esports but it won’t be an esports qualification. With the Government, I think it’s embarrassing. We’ve created a brand new qualification for a growing industry and within those five years we’ve gone from five to 300 colleges and 10,000 students studying it, with universities and more. So we have new degrees coming out, there are new facilities being opened with investment coming in.
“So by pulling funding for the new qualification that’s proven so successful, is a real insight into the way the Tories perceive education, with their snobbish academic roots. To me, it’s wrong. Ask that question to anyone who teaches a BTEC in the country and they’ll say the same thing: Exams aren’t for everybody.
“The fact that the Government doesn’t recognise the Esports BTEC as a valid qualification worth funding is embarrassing. My view is that esports will find a way through education regardless, but it shouldn’t have to jump over the hurdles being put in front of it.”
Nik Turner, ntesports
“I wrote a degree for the University of Surrey, and I’ve written media degrees, and we had a student who got a first but couldn’t make a film. Her paperwork was immaculate, and she’s gone on and got a job in it, but she couldn’t make a media product at the time. However, you also have people who are so talented and creative, but aren’t going to pass an exam.
“What use is an exam in media, if you want to become a cameraperson, if all your work is coursework, essays and other written work? You need to express your creativity and learn those practical tasks, like event management and shoutcasting and performance analysis – you can’t assess that in an exam.
“The fact that the Government doesn’t recognise it as a valid qualification worth funding is embarrassing. My view is that esports will find a way through education regardless, but it shouldn’t have to jump over the hurdles being put in front of it.
“I find it frustrating. At the end of the webinar, there was nothing really concrete that came out of it, however, that’s not really Pearson’s and British Esports’ fault. They are doing everything they can and put the webinar on to keep people informed, they ran through potential options. We just have to work around it.
“What you really need is a Government minister in education to visit an esports facility at a college, speak to the students, have a panel discussion at British Esports and so on. They need to hear the success story that esports is in education, and understand it.
“Whatever happens, esports is here to stay.”
How to contact ntesports
You can visit the ntesports website or email [email protected] for more information, or to ask Nik about anything. Initial consultations are free and Nik only charges for work completed.
If you’re a teacher you can download esports teaching resources on the ntesports website or on the tes website here (fees are lower on the ntesports site).
New centres can also reach out to Nik around quality assurance and verification and curriculum, and the training of teachers, as well as opening their own arenas.
Nik has also been a consultant with gaming hardware supplier Yoyotech externally for three years, and is now a part-time account manager for them, so interested parties can either get in touch with Nik direct or via Yoyotech.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He has almost two decades of experience in journalism, and left Esports News UK in June 2025.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He also previously worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation.
