PE - did it promote a life long love of sport or was it ritual torture?

[LuckyMum96]

Just that really, for me it was mixed - too much PE was focussed on the school teams though and not enough on general exercise and activity

[Noideawottodo]

It is not "A level sport" it is A level Physical Education. There is a significant difference

That's semantics. It's basically sports science. You wouldn't get a thing out of it if all you were interested in was yoga and youtube videos.

[PercyKirke]

@Janevaljane

I presume it's easier for the outside examiner to judge students if they are taking part in officially organised events with rules, rather than doing press ups in their parents sitting room.

It would be a bit bizarre to do A level sport if you didn't actually enjoy sport

It is not "A level sport" it is A level Physical Education. There is a significant difference.

[PercyKirke]

@ancientgran

If only the kids who were good at team sports had shown some team spirit to the kids who struggled. What I learned about team spirit was that if you were good at something it was fine to be nasty to people who weren't.

That is the abiding lesson I got from school PE as well.

[Topseyt]

@ChaToilLeam

Looking at this thread, it appears that probably the best thing you could do to encourage adults to participate in sport or physical activity in later life is to take PE right out of the school curriculum. If the way it is being “taught” puts pupils off activity to the extent that they avoid exercise for YEARS after leaving school, it’s clearly an abject failure. I can’t understand how such awful teaching gets through observations and school unaddressed.

Agree with that.

When I was at school the whole purpose of PE seemed to be fixated on trying to make competitive sports team members out of every single one of us, regardless of whether or not we had any aptitude or ability there or not. If you didn't you were simply regarded as a no-hoper.

[JohnMcCainsDeathStare]

I went out of my way to avoid any organized physical activity for years out of school. Did things like LARPing, running, outdoor swimming and reenactment. Have played squash sporadically but no other ball sports.

[ChaToilLeam]

*school inspections unaddressed, I mean to finish.

[ChaToilLeam]

Looking at this thread, it appears that probably the best thing you could do to encourage adults to participate in sport or physical activity in later life is to take PE right out of the school curriculum. If the way it is being “taught” puts pupils off activity to the extent that they avoid exercise for YEARS after leaving school, it’s clearly an abject failure. I can’t understand how such awful teaching gets through observations and school unaddressed.

[amusedbush]

PE was mandatory for the first four years of secondary school and my final PE lesson was the happiest day of my life.

To be honest though, I'd checked out long before that. I frequently "forgot" my kit and got detention for forging an excusal note from my mum more than once. When my friends and I did participate, we dicked about were a bit disruptive, like when we invented Tennis Badminton, which basically consisted of us grunting as loudly as possible while serving the shuttlecock.

By the final year of mandatory PE, the teacher took one look at me and my friends and sighed, "just go away and do... something". We found a ping pong table in a back room, which kept us out of sight for the year

[Valkadin]

A lifelong love, I was not exceptional though I did get on the cross country and hockey teams. I was however a very physical child and loved climbing trees, cycling at high speed and stuff like that. I have a spine issue that is worsening with age so my impact sport days are over.

One thing is I never gave a shit about was getting sweaty and grubby, I remember bare foot running through mud for the experience as a child through woodland, swimming in the sea in the snow, I got really told off arriving back home from that experience I was about 11 and my sister was about 8. I also remember running in a blizzard at a regional cross country event, I loved it. I was a pretty dangerous kid and hung out with quite a few boys as they were the tree climbers and jumping off the pier in to shallow water. It was incredibly dangerous but lots of fun.

About body shaming, when I was young in the 1970’s literally no kids were overweight. But I do remember many girls hating getting grubby and also worrying about showers and people seeing them naked. People were excused if they were having their period and I know some used to lie.

DH and DS are very sporty but really very decent, DH rowed for his college at Cambridge. His parents were the captains of their hockey team and met in their twenties at their hockey club. My Mother was a professional dancer and circus performer when young doing a high wire act on those ribbon things that hang down so we are both from physical families. She could still stick both her legs behind her head at almost 70 and his Mum taught yoga till she was 74.

So we were both raised by people who loved physical exertion.

[JohnMcCainsDeathStare]

Varsity sport has changed for the better in the past 20 years, just I remember at Durham 25 odd years ago it did kinda suck in that there were college teams as well as Varsity but some of my friends who were into team sports were told to sod off since there wasn't much in the way of C or D teams.

[TheoneandObi]

Actually at varsity level sport gets better again. In both DC's colleges there were such thi bc s as the fifth football and netball teams, so among a relatively small cohort there was wriggle room to be involved at any level. Then of course there were the stratospheric full varsity squads but that was fine because you could still have fun at the lower levels. It was horses for courses. So if you can weather school sport and PE there is light at the end of the tunnel. DD who hate school Pe and yes, was bullied over her lack of skill and shyness at team sport became head of her college gym and instituted a programme to get women members and had an all women's hour and specialist coaching. It's one of the things I'm proudest of - that she overcame the crap from school!

[TurquoiseDragon]

@Janevaljane

derxa it's pointless. PE teachers and kids who like team sport are all bullies who's primary role in life is to make other kids feel bad.

No one has said that all the kids who liked team sports were bullies.

No one's said that PE teachers are all bullies.

In fact, in one of my posts, I mention my DD had a much more positive experience.

But you are dismissive of the fact that significant number of people have had bad experiences of PE at school.

And despite recent initiatives (eg, derxa's Sports Partnerships), they clearly don't fully address the issues behind teaching PE in schools.

As a nation, we have an issue with obesity. Getting kids to relax and enjoy sports is going to be a huge part of the solution to this. But while we have an over emphasis on team sports in schools, then many kids will mentally switch off.

Yes, team sports are good for learning about team work, in theory, but in practice not everyone likes team sports. And they aren't the only way to teach team work either.

There needs to be a re-think about PE in schools. If we want to keep the kids exercising into adulthood, they need to be introduced to a variety of activities, not just team sports. Many, many people are choosing solitary activities because of crap experiences in the past.

We need to look at the drivers behind the decisions girls make while at school. Why so many try to avoid sport. Things like body shaming, feeling embarrassed at being seen while changing, and so on, and on.

There's a major campaign running (has been for a while) called This Girl Can, that is aiming to get women back into some form of exercise/activity. Why do you think it's aimed at women? We don't have an equivalent campaign targetting men. When women are asked about why they don't do sports, the answers most frequently mention something to do with school.

Men are far more likely to carry on some form of sporting activity after leaving school. I see evidence of that when looking at the sports news in my local rag, which tends to feature a disproportionate amount of men in sports. I bet others can see a similar attitude in their local areas too.

[Bargebill19]

@callistography.
Describes it perfectly!

[callistography]

Apologies for the language.
I'm clearly very passionate in my dislike 🤭

[callistography]

Ritual torture
Hated every single sodding second of it. I clearly have dyspraxia but as that was undiagnosed as a kid, PE was sheer hell. Hated hated hated it.

What pissed me off (and still does) is the basic unfairness of PE.

There is no other subject at school where you are ritually subjected to humiliation in front of others, including parents. I'm talking about Sports Day.

It's fucking awful!

We don't make children sing on their own in front of absolutely fucking everyone but yet we make them run.

I used to feel physically sick before the day. Could never sleep and did everything I could to get out of it as the teasing/bullying before and after it was just too much to handle.

[JohnMcCainsDeathStare]

Yes, just because you are a good athlete doesn't mean you are a good teacher. Similarly, a good coach need not be an elite athlete if their knowledge and application is on form.

[Eaumyword]

@ConfusedcomMum

I went to an all Girls' secondary school and I really wish they taught us useful things in PE like how to correctly exercise pelvic floor muscles, self defence skills, the female version of push ups and drowning prevention skills in swimming. Life skills basically.

I agree too, although I did giggle at kegels for my workout! One I could get on board with! But seriously, I completely agree with your point - useful physical life skills as well as health and fitness and the ability to choose a preferred activity.
The school where I work offers trampolining, sailing, golf, fitness suite and swimming, as well as netball, football, hockey etc. We also do optional free clubs like aerobics, street dance, ballroom dancing and yoga. Ok, it is a fee paying school, but bloody hell, I'd have LOVED that!
Derxa - your dance festival sounds lovely and I wish someone like you had taught me PE at school.
I wonder why so many adults went I assume willingly into sports/PE teaching in years gone by, when they were so wrong for the role. I think you aren't necessarily a good teacher just because you're good at sport.

[JimmyJabs]

Janevaljane what a contrary person you are. I think if you read back over the thread, you'll struggle to find anyone saying that the sporty kids should be penalised or that team sports should be done away with. We would just like to have had the CHOICE to do something like aerobics or learning proper running techniques, and for the teachers to do their jobs and actually provide basic instruction. You're the one who seems to think that only team sports should be offered and that kids who don't want to do them should just be allowed to opt of PE altogether. How does that help kids to integrate exercise into their lives?

[Runningdownthathill]

@ConfusedcomMum

I went to an all Girls' secondary school and I really wish they taught us useful things in PE like how to correctly exercise pelvic floor muscles, self defence skills, the female version of push ups and drowning prevention skills in swimming. Life skills basically.

Totally agree

[ConfusedcomMum]

I went to an all Girls' secondary school and I really wish they taught us useful things in PE like how to correctly exercise pelvic floor muscles, self defence skills, the female version of push ups and drowning prevention skills in swimming. Life skills basically.

[JohnMcCainsDeathStare]

Also I've seen that Varsity sports are a special type of suck for team sports fans - you had to be elite or don't bother. So those wanting to continue with football/rugby/hockey etc didn't touch a single ball if they weren't good enough to be elite - there was less on offer for more casual sporty types.
My institution has made inroads into being more inclusive like more informal games and 5-aside but when I was an undergrad it was much more exclusive.
Doesn't do much to keep people in sport or to widen participation.

[JohnMcCainsDeathStare]

No they're not. I have nothing against those who like team sports - it's more the environment where negative behaviour is not corrected or to deny the reality of those who do not work well with team sports.
Not to mention the lack of inclusion for those with disabilites, injuries or other SEN. The 'sit on the sideline' workout was all too familiar.

For instance no-one in my immediate family is NT. This will tend to mean that most attempts at teaching my boys team sports will be about as useful as herding cats.

[derxa]

@Janevaljane

derxa it's pointless. PE teachers and kids who like team sport are all bullies who's primary role in life is to make other kids feel bad.

I was a PE coordinator at a tiny village school with quite a high number of pupils with SEND. Everyone was included. I'll never forget our contribution to a dance festival. One of the parents did the makeup which was so dramatic. The kids composed the dance themselves. It was stunning.

[Janevaljane]

derxa it's pointless. PE teachers and kids who like team sport are all bullies who's primary role in life is to make other kids feel bad.

[derxa]

@Merlotmum85

Primary PE was shocking when I look back (early 90s). She wasn't even qualified, just some random woman who played a bit of netball and was clearly one of the 'mean girls' back in her school days.
Too much emphasis on competitive sports.

Unfortunately some primary teachers didn't teach PE very well in the past. However if you look back at my link waaay back in the thread the Sports Partnerships started in the early 2000s addressed this. Huge amounts of training and funds put in place. I was a PE coordinator at this time. Opportunities for pupils to try all sorts of activities. Festivals competitions taster days etc