To think that PE could be reconsidered in order to be a more meaningful and enjoyable experience for secondary aged pupils (and primary too!)?

Good god!

You’d argue with a paper bag wouldn’t you.

You can walk I presume?

And if you can’t, why are you applying these extreme exceptions to this thread and PE lessons for largely able kids?

Re- read my quotes - and not selectively either!

And LOL to me being ableist, but you saying anyone Can do algebra?

Ok then!

So now we have moved onto exceptions for people with disabilities? Which isn’t what this thread was about!

But you keep going.

Cant wait to see what pops up next.

Rubbish!

Anyone can get fitter, barring physical disabilities that may prevent them from doing this. Most people, and most young people, do not have these.

You are talking utter nonsense.

Comapring gaining physical fitness outside of school (which btw is required for general health in life and not just part of a weekly torture session as you seem to think for pupils) with algebra is a silly strawman.

Do better, arguing on here and re your fitness bill expectations for children generally.

Everyone knows how to jog or walk briskly and all parents know if their kid is getting enough exercise and is living a healthy life
This is a very privileged and ableist assumption.

Running is one foot in front of the other! Not hard.
Maybe not for you. I personally find it very difficult. Good technique needs to be taught. This assumption that everyone can just do it without instruction is a large part of the problem.

You’re being ridiculous.

Basic fitness is not chemistry is it. We are talking about fitness.

I can teach chemistry to mine, no problem. I have done it at degree level. Most haven’t so it wouldn’t be a reasonable ask others to do so.

But Everyone knows how to jog or walk briskly and all parents know if their kid is getting enough exercise and is living a healthy life.

Or is that also the teachers job too? To manage your kids health and fitness.

Anyone can get fitter if they work at it! Being more academically intelligent is harder to achieve.
I disagree. Anyone can learn algebra if they work at it. Whereas physical fitness is dependent on the body you were born with.

Quincy, not necessarily. In my school we were split into 2 groups for sports. They could have made one group competitive and one group non competitive.

I’d have been far happier having a quiet run around the hockey pitch with my headphones on and also gained a sense of achievement and health benefits.

I just felt it was a waste of time trying to get a non competitive child to complete in sports. …like trying to get someone who doesn’t like singing to take part in a school musical - pointless!

Running is one foot in front of the other! Not hard.

Teaching kids how to catch a ball, how to run?

WTAF?

And don’t latch onto the ‘speed up’ comment. It was one example of what a teacher might say. There are plenty of others.

They DO assess kids in PE - you are talking utter rubbish!

Why can’t parents encourage their kids to do this and give them more confidence that way?
Why can’t parents teach their kids chemistry? If they want PE (or anything else) to be done at school then they need to teach it AT SCHOOL. Parents can’t be expected to teach kids things they don’t know, understand or do themselves.

Anyone can get fitter if they work at it!

Being more academically intelligent is harder to achieve. In most kids, both of those things will improve with effort.

Why are you making assumptions about what I do with my kids, or how smart they are?

My kids are all top set btw, youngest two top 10 in their year across all subjects, top 5 in STEM 😂 Oldest taking maths, Chem and biology at A level - A, A, B predictions! 😂

So sorry, stay mad about that, but it’s not one or the other.

And it bloody well is the parents job to help their kids outside of school. Arguably, it is largely the parents job to do this. Yes teachers play a role, but as parents it’s our job to ensure our child is doing as well as they can.

And this here demonstrates the fundamental difference between how some of us parent, and some of us don’t.

But i do want them to stretch themselves, and reading a lot of the posts here i can't see who is going to teach their kids how to do that. They don't do it at home, and teachers are mean if they do it.
It’s not mean for teachers to stretch kids by assessing their current ability and choosing an appropriate stretch goal which is within the child’s range of ability, then supporting them to achieve it with appropriate techniques. It IS mean for a teacher to say “speed up” without assessing why the child isn’t going faster or providing any support or intervention to achieve the desired goal.

In other words, just telling a pupil to do something they don’t know how to do is pointless. A teacher’s job is to teach them how to do it.

Teachers, as we read here often, have massive amounts to do. The sports curriculum in the UK afaik is based at average ability and standards for what children should be able to do. The curriculum and lessons are pitched at that level.

If there are SN or other reasons why the children can't do what the other kids do then there needs to be a discussion with the school about how their PE needs can be met. It should not, as ever at schools, be to the detriment of all other kids in the class. (ie. no races because Tarquin can't run and it's unfair). At the same time, as with the maths analogy, it is also up to the child and the parents to work on it outside of school so they can take part as much as possible.

If the only reason they can't run is "not fit because lazy" parents should be right behind the teacher telling them to put some effort in.

It’s going to be a timetabling issue though isn’t it?

How can they do all this, in one class? They won’t have the manpower?

Why can’t parents encourage their kids to do this and give them more confidence that way?

OP I agree with you. The focus on competitive sports in my secondary school served to reinforce my perception of myself as a sporting disaster, to feel embarrassed, ashamed and alienated (and to go home and comfort eat!).

Sports achievers were more often academic achievers and non sports achievers were more often less academically successful. I do think a negative sports experience affects overall school education.

Since my focus shifted from competing to supporting my physical and mental health and well-being, running has become part of my life. Couch 2 5k gradually taught me self belief and it built my self confidence. There is an emphasis on helping you to realise what you are capable of doing through your own personal progress which was lacking in school.

Unfortunately this is some forty years later and I wish this mindset could have been cultivated in school.

Could there be an option for children to choose either competitive sports, activities such as Pilates, dancing or running, or to choose from either options?

Maybe this would give everyone the chance to be seen to be achieving something in physical education.

again for those who aren't understanding my point: stretching children is fine, bullying them is not

Agree entirely. A general (non-specific wording) ‘get a move on/speed up’ whatever to a group of kids, is not bullying them at all!

Should they stand there silently and not say anything as the kids run by? Should they ignore the fact that some of clearly pissing about and not actually taking it seriously at all?

All these people making excuses for their unfit kids when you are the reason they are like this. It’s the kids I feel sorry for with the expectation for them that there is no accountability or desire to improve.
People make excuses for their thick kids all the time, when you are the reason they are like this. Because you don’t read to them or do maths activities at home. There is no accountability or desire to improve. Why aren’t you spending your evenings playing maths games with your kids at home? I do.

Interventions put in place to help them speed up? 😂 Go for a jog, or a brisk walk, daily, in your own time.
The teacher’s job is to assess the pupil and put a plan in place AT SCHOOL during lessons to progress their skills. Whether that’s maths or PE. It’s not the parents job to do it outside of school. And it’s not up to the kids to teach themselves either. Parents can help with homework, but the teacher has to set the homework.

This is insane.

How to catch a ball?

Are we talking kids In secondary?

Diet and health IS part of PE nowadays. It is part of the GCSE curriculum!

As is sports psychology, history of sport etc.

It is not like it was when you went to school.

And LOL to wanting ropes out for some kids who can’t catch a ball?

Have you any idea of the strength/skill required to use a climbing rope properly?

If you can’t catch a ball, a climbing rope would be assessed as not being safe.

well, @Dadaya you went to the bother of quoting my whole post and then wrote

Yelling “speed up” is not ok.

which is something i didn't write. I get it, nobody wants their kids to be upset, i didn't either.

But i do want them to stretch themselves, and reading a lot of the posts here i can't see who is going to teach their kids how to do that. They don't do it at home, and teachers are mean if they do it.

again for those who aren't understanding my point: stretching children is fine, bullying them is not

How is telling someone to speed up criticising them, if they are moving at a snails pace.
Because it lacks understanding of why they’re going so slowly in the first place, and it fails to provide any support for the desired behaviour of speeding up.

The correct approach is to assess why is this person going so slowly? Are they able to speed up with appropriate support? If so, what support do I need to provide in order for them to be able to speed up?

I know. So many excuses on here!
And I am not speaking about children with established medical reasons for not being able to undertake exercise. That is of course completely different.

Tell your kid to go for a jog or a run, or a walk, or a swim. Go with them in fact. Why not?

It is ok!
FFS.
People are so soft!

How often do they even do perimeter runs??!

Barely ever - it’s a non event.

All these people making excuses for their unfit kids when you are the reason they are like this. It’s the kids I feel sorry for with the expectation for them that there is no accountability or desire to improve.

And I am in no way mocking the kids for this, I feel bad for them that they’ve been allowed to get like this.

If your maths was shit, you’d try to make sure you improved wouldn’t you. Should be the same for your fitness too, but I bet people aren’t encouraging their kids to get better/fitter for homework.

Interventions put in place to help them speed up? 😂 Go for a jog, or a brisk walk, daily, in your own time.

If it wasn’t for school PE, what else would they be doing.

The problem is that the PE teachers and curriculum leaders, and the national sports people campaigning for more competitive sport in schools were the sporty ones when they were at school and don't understand why others hate it so much. Lots of bad memories for me in the early eighties.

@Quincythequince

Sounds just like my kids school. Mine go to an inner city state. This thread is out the ark and has undertones of PE lessons decades ago. I’m 34 and I clearly remember being able to choose what I would be participating in over the next term (girls football, gym, track etc).

My PE teacher was also very nice but she was firm when we were either just being lazy or taking the piss (yeah it happens…) Options were always presented to us in a fair way.

People literally do love to moan. Even my DD likes PE and she’s a natural sloth. For many kids it’s a break from being confined to a classroom all day.

It is fine. Everyone can keep trying, and keep trying to move on How is telling someone to speed up criticising them, if they are moving at a snails pace.

You’re telling me that all kids try in events? 😂 My kids (two out of three) are elite athletes and they also get the ‘Come on John, do better’

This verbal exchange is not reserved for less able kids only.

People love to moan about nothing.

Ans who said anything about criticising bodies?! Where has that come into it.

I would say telling people to speed up Is stretching then, because nobody, nobody works as hard as they should in PE, most of the time.

And yes, they do differentiate in PE. Of course they do.

You won’t get first XV rugby players playing with the kids that can barely handle a ball. What would be the point. Better kids gets pissed off, worse off kids are at real risk of injury.

Unless of course my kids’ school is the only school that does this (seems unlikely).