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

the team sports exclusive focus of MANDATORY PE lessons leads to making it far easier to be bullied with no option of escape, is often facilitated if not actively encouraged by teachers and staff who have no empathy for the children that don't fit into their favoured groups, and actively deters people from doing any form of exercise in their adult lives

There's so much wrong with this I can't actually be bothered to reply.

I hope you manage to get over these things thst happened years ago.

Not really. I make sure my boys do their best for PE but as for Sports Day - if it is mimimally participative and no thought is given to make competition meaningful - i.e heats in the previous weeks to ensure that people are competing at similar levels - they have the option of ducking out with my blessing.

We will do our own sports day with actual physical activity.

Ritual torture and humiliation.

I can still remember one of our teachers encourage the sporty girls to gang up on those of us who weren't good at running, jumping and catching. And the same teacher saying it would "do me good to not be top in something".

Our teachers tolerated pupils being rude and cruel about other pupil's abilities in a way that would never have been tolerated in academic lessons ("Miss but she's crap, I don't want her on my team" was ok in PE, would I have got away with "Sir, she's thick i don't want her in my group in English ??), and in no other lesson was not being good at something - but trying - rewarded with being yelled at, punished and belittled.

Focus on team sports does nothing for long term fitness and wellbeing. I hated it and the behaviour of most of our teachers was appalling.

And this was a comp in the 90s.

@Janevaljane

the team sports exclusive focus of MANDATORY PE lessons leads to making it far easier to be bullied with no option of escape, is often facilitated if not actively encouraged by teachers and staff who have no empathy for the children that don't fit into their favoured groups, and actively deters people from doing any form of exercise in their adult lives

There's so much wrong with this I can't actually be bothered to reply.

I hope you manage to get over these things thst happened years ago.

Me, and the (again) literally hundreds of other people just on this thread. But sure, you're right and we're all wrong, even though somehow you can't actually say why because you "can't be bothered" and definately not because you don't actually have a reason beyond your "I'm alright Jack".

Low energy can be caused by not enough exercise you know, maybe you should crack on with that.

In terms of team sports, PE told me that school and my home town are not places were my skills in a group will ever be valued. It also told me that if you have to rely on others you're kinda fucked.

I focused on staying as fit as I could (body weight, martial arts, not smoking) because my survival depended on it - I suspect that wasn't really how PE was supposed to teach me!

I hated it and I was shit at all of it except bizarrely the high jump. I was so small but used to throw myself at it. Everything else nah. Especially anything with a bat and a ball. I'm still not great. I would have preferred some sort of fitness thing like zumba

I hated it.

A good games lesson should consist of warm up exercises, skills teaching and thenapplication of skills in a game then cool down. So yours wasn't a good lesson. So many examples of bad teaching from decades ago

There was none of that. This was in the nineties. I hope it has changed.

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.

@Janevaljane

the team sports exclusive focus of MANDATORY PE lessons leads to making it far easier to be bullied with no option of escape, is often facilitated if not actively encouraged by teachers and staff who have no empathy for the children that don't fit into their favoured groups, and actively deters people from doing any form of exercise in their adult lives

There's so much wrong with this I can't actually be bothered to reply.

I hope you manage to get over these things thst happened years ago.

You really are argumentative, and soooo determined that you are right and the rest of us are wrong!

hated the PE teacher. Put me off organised sport completely, fortunately I discovered other forms of exercise I enjoy.

What was on offer at my child's school was not much different to mine.

@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

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.

@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.

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.

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.

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.

@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

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?

@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.

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.

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.

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

@callistography.
Describes it perfectly!

@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.