To think that the tories should leave school sport well alone

[ReallyTired]

The UK has more medals that it has ever had the olympics for a long time. Surely the UK's PE teachers must have done something right. I feel that tories should not be micro managing how schools teach PE.

The majority of medals were won by people who attended state schools.
I also suspect that many of the olympicans who attended private schools had sports scholarships and prehaps thats why private schools are over represented.

www.guardian.co.uk/sport/datablog/2012/aug/06/team-gb-medal-winners-background#school

Our teachers do a good job and primary school sport should not be messed about with. I would rather the governant provided more funding for after school clubs than force primaries to do competitive sport.

"I think everyone should be compelled to do sport."

I agree, however there is difference between making physical exercise complusory and making competitive sport complusory. Being the loser EVERY week makes children miserable. The humilation of being publically useless does nothing to encourage life time fitness. Many adults do no sport because of bad experiences they had as children.

I think that school sport should be about fitness for life and a healthy body should be a prize for all. Provided that exercise raises the heart rate it doesn't matter what it is. Happy children who enjoy PE are more likely to continue.

I think the indian dancing comment is yet another Tory gaffe. Ignorant feckers don't have a clue what they are talking about - just providing more evidence that they are bunch of posh twats who think brown people and women are beneath them.

I hated games at school until I was 14. Before then it was only netball & rounders which I was spectacularly shit at. At 14 they introduced badminton, trampolining & hockey which I enjoyed much, much more. The key is having sports that appeal to everyone, not just the bog standards.

I don't understand the difference between sport and 'academic' subjects. Lots of kids feel losers in this and, for some of them, winning in sport provides a balance and prevents them feeling worthless.

"I don't understand the difference between sport and 'academic' subjects. Lots of kids feel losers in this and, for some of them, winning in sport provides a balance and prevents them feeling worthless. "

In modern teaching teachers differentiate and plan their lessons to capture the interest of the child. For example in literacy there is a range of books available that teachers can use. For example some children prefer fiction to non fiction. If you forced some child to read nothing but magic key books then they would be turned off and it would be a struggle to get them to read. If you are learning to read you need lots of practice and frankly it doesn't matter whether you read about dinosaurs or magic key books.

In the same way school PE is there to build up fitness. An unmoviated child will do nothing if they are forced to play hockey. Prehaps Indian dancing might enfuse some children more than playing football. I feel that selection of activities to build up fitness should be left to the PE teacher.

A child who is seriously good at school needs to play with children of a similar standard. It is not going to help a future Olympican to win a raise against Billy Bunter (who ate all the pies). It wastes everyone's time.

Children are in sets for maths and english so why not PE? In English children are provided with differentiated activities. Ie. at my son's school the SEN kids are taken out for small group work to practice phonics and the top set children read "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". Its not about being "winners" or "losers" but meeting children's needs compassionately.

I would like the exceptionally unfit to be taken out of class for extra PE.

I feel that tories should not be micro managing how schools teach PE

The coalition you mean. And even if they did it would be macro management.

Pathetic, really pathetic.

I love that the Tories base a policy on a Daily Fail pc gorn mad myth you know they whole 'no one does competitive sport anymore' and 'everyone wins these days' ...not in ANY school I have worked in or my kids have attended :)

Well, don't give a shit about the politics but what shocked me as a first time mum was when my only ds was at nursery they had a massive sports day involving the nursery, infant and junior schools - there was nothing competitive but rather demonstrastions of sporting stuff and a load of junior school girls dancing to lady ga ga. I was laughing. Let's drop the sexy stuff and get the kids doing some competitive sport and if my kid doesn't win then it's a good lesson for him - he'll find some things easy and others not - just like life really.

You aren't going to gain much competitive spirit or fighting edge as a non sporty child playing a sport you aren't any good at. That is the thing about team sports - they need a whole team at the same level for it to work,and as an adult unless you reach a certain standard you won't be able to be involved.

I am genuinely shocked and depressed at how anti-sport people are on here. There must've been a dozen of these threads already. Introducing more sport, competitive or otherwise has to be a great thing given that so many of our children are obese. As for the points made about losing being dispiriting I would say it shouldn't be. My dc have been on winning teams and losing teams and have benefited from both experiences. In actual fact, I've seen a lot of competitive matches betwen children of primary school age and most of the time it's the parents, not the children who can't bear to lose.

Well I think if people are being anti-sport it's probably because they had such bad experiences of sport when they were at school.

I personally am not anti-sport, or anti-competition. I certainly don't think kids should ever be given badges saying 'I won' when they didn't, etc and I agree wholeheartedly that kids need to engage in competition to learn to be good winners and good losers.

What I am opposed to is the bullying and often sadistic methods that were used to teach games when I was at school and as far as I can see this is exactly what Dave and Boris are advocating a return to.

I think things that went on years ago frankly wouldn't be tolerated now which means if competitive sport was more widely introduced it'd be more positive and inclusive than it was in the past.

IMO the best thing that they can do for PE at school is abolish team picking. So unsporting and bitchy. The PE teacher should create mixed teams and dictate them. Any moaners should get sent out and no more wasting that excrutiating 15 minutes at the beginning of a lesson where the popular kids choose their mates to be on their team. [bitter emoticon]

physical activity is good for children. Doesn't have to be old-fashioned competitive team sports with sadistic PE teachers allowing their favourites to pick teams one by one, humiliating the poor kids left until last. That kind of shit made me really anti-sport - it was only when ds started gymnastics that I realised I wasn't always crap at sport, I actually enjoyed gymnastics and was quite good at it. But it wasn't on the curriculum at high school - it was all flipping hockey and tennis.

What I am opposed to is the bullying and often sadistic methods that were used to teach games when I was at school and as far as I can see this is exactly what Dave and Boris are advocating a return to

And exactly how have they advocated that?

Before he spouts on about providing more sporting facilities and enabling youngsters into sports, he ought to make sure these things are affordable.

Yes we can have state of the arts leisure centres, all weather tracks etc, but from what I've seen of the admission prices I doubt all young people would be able to access them. He has cut EMA for poor youngsters and everyone's feeling the pinch now, so I just feel that a lot of what he spouts is only for the selected few.

I also feel that those who are inclined to take up sports will whether or not he has any say in the matter and he'd be better off ensuring that every child leaving school has some kind of employment future.

The lack of competition thing is a red herring. It's not even true for a lot of schools.
For once, I agree with Boris Johnson: they need 2 hours sport every day - and it should be varied sport.

Even my distinctly unsporty, academic son is fit and healthy on 2 hours at his school. He has found a sport he actually excels in that is not normally available at state schools.

Children need to be allowed to try as many of those Olympic sports as possible if the powers that be are serious about an Olympic legacy. That way, we'll give everyone a chance to show their potential.

Increasingly pushy competitions will just turn them off completely.

He has cut EMA for poor youngsters and everyone's feeling the pinch now, so I just feel that a lot of what he spouts is only for the selected few

Is EMA the holy grail or something?

It seems in some eyes it's the payment that will cure all social ills and somehow deliver national success. In everything .

thebestisyettocome - I hope you are right - many things seem to have improved in education. I hope this is one of them.

sparks1 - that is just the impression I have got from everything they have said which has been reported in the media, given that we don't have the actual policy yet. All the language being used, like that of a lot of Conservative policies, harks back to a golden age of the past that never existed. Words such as 'traditional' 'compulsory' 'regime' and the unpleasant bashing of Indian dancing all make me twitchy. When Boris talks of how he 'thrived' on a compulsory regime of 2 hour daily sport, all I can think is yes, but how many others were destroyed/made miserable by the same regime. Dave insists that hockey, netball and football will be given prominence - again why? Why turn the clock back to the old (and sexist) days when these were the only sports available?

Funny that several posters mentioned team picking. Hurts, doesn't it? Even 25+ years later.

No, EMA isnt the holy grail, no need for sarcasm. But if entrance fees are around £5 a throw and you want to keep training, don't you think it would help?

Why do we have to stop doing anything? The private schools manage to fit it in.

I'd rather have stuck pins in my eyes than done 2 hours PE a year day! Horrible idea and a waste of time that could be given over to the important things like reading and writing, the education that schools are actually there for. A bit of basic keeping fit and learning about a healthy lifestyle is one thing but "traditional" sports should be after school clubs or for the parents to organise if their DC is interested. You don't get compulsory orchestra or chess club but there are those who would argue that these activities are good for you, broaden your horizons, exercise the mind, develop skills etc.