Making the unfit kid who comes last run round the field again?

[Veuvelily]

Can anyone tell me the logic here.
What is the games teacher trying to achieve?

The child has tried his best and feels like he’s being punished unfairly
Plus he’s then used up all his energy, so is tired for the actual games lesson

@DrCoconut

This is why traditional PE should be optional for those that like it and are good at it. The same as choir/chess/cooking/whatever are. The rest should be taught about health, why a good diet and exercise are important etc but not humiliated on a field 1950's style. I bet uptake would be better if the lessons were things like yoga, dance, fun games where no one cares who wins and the kids could wear whatever comfy clothes they choose rather than a horrible PE kit. It comes down to whether the aim actually is promoting health and fitness or forcing conformity. I suspect it's still the latter in many cases.

of for god's sakes. Do you realise how ridiculous that sounds? And comparing PE with "choir"?!

if the lessons were things like yoga, dance, fun games
that's half the PE lessons in my kids schools....

If nothing else, schools do not have anywhere near enough PE lessons, there should be at least 1 hour a day. Kids don't move enough, don't have opportunity to do enough sports.

It's great if you have well off parents who are happy to pay for after-school sports, but the ones who need that the most don't get it.

Sports is like anything else in life, someone will come last and need to practice more until they progress. Nothing horrendous about that.

this might sound really harsh but the only way you stop being unfit is by exercising more, so running around the field again is actually beneficial to the child's fitness

rubbish. That is not how you learn how to run further. Couch to 5k is a well known process (involving lots of walking intervals). I didn't learn to run that way, I just added on 5 minutes each week but I wasn't typical.

@Veuvelily I had a similar issue with a child, they were made to clear up for being the 'worst' at an activity they couldn't do.

I escalated it via the head of PE (useless, same neanderthal attitude) to the senior leadership and eventually got a very satisfactory outcome.

YANBU and I would refuse to allow my child to participate at all until this public humiliation is stopped.

Formal complaints are sometimes the easiest and fastest way to go.

It's shocking how people are willing for kids to abandon all exercise, for schools to remove all competition and pretend everybody is great and there's no need to put any effort anywhere.

It's great if you have well off parents who are happy to pay for after-school sports, but the ones who need that the most don't get it

And the ones who play sports outside school get the most attention inside school from the teachers. I was rubbish at sport and ridiculed by the teachers (and other kids). My son played football and did athletics outside school and surprise surprise did ok in PE lessons.

However, although I'm never going to be Paula Radcliffe I'm not a bad runner now (can do a sub 25 minute parkrun) and could have been decent-ish in my teens if someone had spent time teaching us.

@poppycat10

this might sound really harsh but the only way you stop being unfit is by exercising more, so running around the field again is actually beneficial to the child's fitness

rubbish. That is not how you learn how to run further. Couch to 5k is a well known process (involving lots of walking intervals). I didn't learn to run that way, I just added on 5 minutes each week but I wasn't typical.

so increasing your running time.. and exercising more...

That's exactly the point.

This is just pure bullying. Also, I was that kid, and it turns out I've got a heart defect.

Oh god I was that child, the PE teacher even told me I disgusted her obviously this didn’t motivate me and I just hid in the English staff room for the next two years instead

@tattleandbagels

It's shocking how people are willing for kids to abandon all exercise, for schools to remove all competition and pretend everybody is great and there's no need to put any effort anywhere.

I am happy and keen for my children to exercise. But school PE is too often absolutely shit, it is culturally out of line with teaching in every other subject and it needs to change.

School PE puts children off exercise for life. We need to prioritise health over competitive sport. It is stuck in the dark ages in too many schools (not all).

@tattleandbagels

It's shocking how people are willing for kids to abandon all exercise, for schools to remove all competition and pretend everybody is great and there's no need to put any effort anywhere.

Nobody has argued for that. Maybe spend more time reading the thread instead of building strawmen?

The thing about sport is that unless you play professionally or are in an actual team, sports skills aren't actually important. No-one has ever been concerned about the fact I am completely ignorant of the offside rules in rugby or that I can count the number of times I hit a ball in rounders on one hand.

However, I made it my duty to research other means of exercise and staying fit - I do NO team sports yet I can lift and run marathon distances. A stronger focus on the basics of fitness and training with team sports optional would actually boost them not undermine them.

Unfortunately, it seems that PE is one of the last bastions of magic and ritual outside of RE perhaps.

Im going to be unpopular but in for a penny in for a pound. All of those saying it's like something from the 70s, can I just point out there were a lot less unfit/overweight kids in the 70s.

@tattleandbagels

It's shocking how people are willing for kids to abandon all exercise, for schools to remove all competition and pretend everybody is great and there's no need to put any effort anywhere.

Bu that isn't what we are saying. We are saying that PE teachers treat everyone as if they should have the same ability. In other subjects you differentiate the tasks and the teaching to match the ability of the kids concerned. But PE teachers just assume that if you are slow or can't catch a ball, you aren't trying, rather than teaching you ways to get faster or improve technique.

Wrt diets- I’m treading
very carefully here.
Puberty, growth spurts, special needs, rock bottom self esteem, self consciousness.
He eats plenty of fruit and vegetables and is exercising off his own bat. He doesn’t respond well to being told how to do things, so It’s not easy to impose an exercise regime.

@poppycat10

It's great if you have well off parents who are happy to pay for after-school sports, but the ones who need that the most don't get it

And the ones who play sports outside school get the most attention inside school from the teachers. I was rubbish at sport and ridiculed by the teachers (and other kids). My son played football and did athletics outside school and surprise surprise did ok in PE lessons.

However, although I'm never going to be Paula Radcliffe I'm not a bad runner now (can do a sub 25 minute parkrun) and could have been decent-ish in my teens if someone had spent time teaching us.

again, proves the point, we need MORE PE lessons, daily ideally, we certainly do not need any less.

Schools need more FUNDING. Getting outside coaches has a cost. My (primary) kids schools employ some to run some of the PE lessons, it's great. Of course it should be the standard, but there's no money!

@Hellocatshome

Erm this might sound really harsh but the only way you stop being unfit is by exercising more, so running around the field again is actually beneficial to the child's fitness. Obviously has to be done in the right way with the right explanations etc and not done to humiliate the child.

No not really. Regularly exercising for slightly longer each time yes that would improve fitness gradually. But during PE twice a week, having to run an extra lap in front of everyone else alone when you’re exhausted serves no purpose other than for the teacher to get a kick out of being a bully.

@Hellocatshome

Im going to be unpopular but in for a penny in for a pound. All of those saying it's like something from the 70s, can I just point out there were a lot less unfit/overweight kids in the 70s.

Nothing to do with school PE though. To do with diet, lower car use, more active play, less cheap chocolate.

Bullying kids on the school playing field is not going to address the UK obesity issue.

@Hellocatshome

Im going to be unpopular but in for a penny in for a pound. All of those saying it's like something from the 70s, can I just point out there were a lot less unfit/overweight kids in the 70s.

Nothing to do with PE lessons and everything to do with more walking/cycling, less car use and less processed food.

I was a child of the 80s mainly, but it didn't magically make me good at sport.

This was me - in the 1970s.

However, I think we should have more PE, but things like keep fit/aerobics, rather than competitive Games which thoroughly put me off as I was subjected to constant humiliation.

Things haven’t changed. There’s no longer the humiliation, but the dcs report that they just stand around in Games/PE whilst the sporty ones get on with it.

As ds said, can you imagine in Maths being told to sit at the side because you couldn’t do it? Or only bothering with some of the pupils in English and telling the rest to sit and chat at the back?

Snap! @poppycat10

Oh no! I'd hoped that PE had changed since I was at school. I used to hide in the changing rooms to avoid this kind of bullying...

Bu that isn't what we are saying. We are saying that PE teachers treat everyone as if they should have the same ability. In other subjects you differentiate the tasks and the teaching to match the ability of the kids concerned. But PE teachers just assume that if you are slow or can't catch a ball, you aren't trying, rather than teaching you ways to get faster or improve technique.

exams are not designed around or cater for different abilities though..
The basic requirements for most sports is perfectly suitable to reachfor average children, the fitter ones just do better.

Yes running and exercise is good for overweight children but there's a time and a place. Doing extra laps whilst the class watches on is not fair on the child, it's humiliating. If the pe teacher is concerned about ops child's weight and level of exercise they can talk privately with the op not punish the child.

Er, could it have been this guy OP? (3 minutes in) You have my sympathy.

Schools need more FUNDING. Getting outside coaches has a cost

Yes but we're not talking about getting outside coaches in, we're talking about PE teachers doing more teaching, and less humiliation.

Obviously it helps to have specialist coaching but I would expect a PE teacher to know the basics of teaching someone how to run further than a sprint distance.