to write to school about PE assessment?

[sidandlinus]

To be very brief - we live in France and sport/PE is a compulsory curriculum subject. Students are marked out of 20. My DD has never, ever been good at sport but believe me, she does try. The sports are varied eg: handball, basketball. wall climbing, circus skills, athletics, swimming, gym, football, hockey, orienteering etc.. However every year since she started senior school (10 years old - she is now 15) she has had the lowest marks of her class. When I say lowest she has never got beyond double-figures. Today we received a report and she had received 3/20. The lowest mark she has ever received and probably the lowest given out! She is not despondent about her marks or her ability in sport. However she is getting upset because her marks do not appear to correlate to the effort she is putting in. For the past five years she appears to have been marked on her sport's ability not on the effort she puts in to improving her ability. She is naturally very cautious so things like climbing up the climbing wall or diving into a pool are (for her) big achievements - but there seems to be no "reward" for the efforts she's making. DD also has some underlying health issues which make PE difficult - which we have told the school about, but not in great detail. Therefore AIBU in writing to the school and asking them to mark her accordingly (ie: not on ability but effort) or as DH and DD says leave it and just accept that this is the way things are. If it helps the marks she receives for PE affect her overall average and general academic score.

If the PE scores affect dds overall average scores then I would be up the school demanding to know why her underlying medical issues which you have told the school about have not been taken into account when scoring her. to get 3/20 implies that she has rarely taken part in sport, (if dd says leave it, i would be wondering about this in particular) and such a low score will seriously drag her overall score down, which I presume will affect her future/ further education.

Well other subjects are marked out of ability, not effort I presume, so from that perspective its not really unreasonable what they're doing. I presume someone with learning disabilities for example won't be getting good marks just because they put effort in?

PE in the UK is compulsory but it doesn't affect everything else. If it does where you are, and your dd has health issues which affect her achievements then you need to ensure there is some adjustment in the marking scheme to ensure she has equal opportunity in spite of her needs.

FWIW I was hopeless as sport and still bear the scars at 52 but it never affected my achievements in anything else or held me back as an adult. DD is the same as me - and gets very upset about the humiliation.

Personally, I don't think it should be compulsory - other "hobby" subjects such as Art and DT can be dropped after Y9 the option should be there for PE too in my opinion.

If its an attainment mark then you can't ask for it to reflect effort.

However, I would be straight down the school to ask how you can support DD to I prove her grade and also clarifying the situation with what they know about her health issues/what allowances can/are being made.

marriedandwreathedinholly the last thing we need in a country of increasingly unhealthy and overweight people, is even less excercise.

I thought it was standard to give a grade for effort as well as achievement, it seems to be in the UK, so if they haven't done it, I don't think YWBU to suggest it.

You could try, but the french school system is not known for rewarding effort over achievement! I fear they might just chuckle at the naive English parents... Having said that, the medical issues might be worth emphasising further - can you get a doctor's certificate spelling them out? Doctors word is still law in France, so that might have an impact whereas your word might not.

sideshobob not quite sure what PE has to do with being unfit and overweight. I walked everywhere, cycled everywhere and rode and swum a lot as a child. At 52 I'm well within my BMI. DD at 14.5 is well within hers and is fit and healthy. We have, as a family an excellent diet. Oddly DD has an obese PE teacher. I recall the sporty girls at school and when I go back home and bump into them, they are the ones who are a fair few stone overweight.

I see no correlation whatsoever between enforced PE and generall health and fitness.

I'm not suggesting you are naive, btw, but just to warn you that a letter simply saying 'please mark on effort not achievement because she finds the subject hard' would be a culturally very alien concept for a French school.

marriedandwreathedinholly oh well, that anecdotal evidence clearly proves your right.

Even away from health benefits lessons like working as a team are developed through sport better than most subjects,

marriedandwreathedinholly, Art and D&T are specialist subjects, not hobbies.

Oh I just don't remember that sideshobob. I do remember the very unteam spirit of leaving those who were hopeless on the bench to be laughed at. Now that did help me as an adult - it taught me to include people and be kind to people who were struggling rather than to humiliate and bully them. Helped me to be very successful in a contradictory sort of way. Ya - team spirit and all that - which meant the jolly hockey sticks brigade taking the mick out the ones who couldn't do it. Not acceptable nowadays in academic subjects where differentiation is the key.

Thanks everyone for your input - I think the doctor's letter may be the way forward. Her mark in PE will bring her other marks down, which is our concern as she's above average in other subjects. When she started this year she was told that she would be marked on improvements made not on being the best in the class. For example running 400 metres in under two minutes and then running it again and improving on her previous times or climbing to a point on the climbing wall and then getting further next time. She has made improvements in this but still this is not reflected in the marks. The only comments are that she lacks ability and confidence in this subject - I wonder why! Sadly the French system also means that your marks (if they are the lowest in the class or the highest) are available for all to see. When a trimester report is given it indicates the pupil's mark out of 20 for each subject and then the highest and lowest mark in the class. It isn't hard for others to see who is the worst at sport! Having said that she's fairly accepting of this just upset that her efforts are not being recognised. In many ways PE (in France and UK) can IMHO put people off from enjoying a range of healthy activities as you are labelled inadequate at an early age which is a shame as my DD loves walking, swimming and surfing.

SideshoBob - yes, lessons like working as a team may well be developed through sport, and yes, excercise has many health benefits - but PE lessons at school don't necessarily encourage either.

In my PE classes, pupils who were unpopular or bad at sport were routinely left on the bench, mocked and excluded, and the PE teachers made no effort to encourage or include the less able pupils (unless you count hurling abuse at kids to be encouragment). This was also the case in PE lessons that didn't involve team sports.

My school PE lessons left me with a dread of team sports and exercise generally.

Yes sport is not for everyone and should not be compulsory in schools.

My old headmaster used to say that....a bullying PE teacher could turn a good writer into a 10th rate athlete. (They should teach us to watch sport. Thats what many of us do)

I work in a UK independent school and we give out marks and effort marks for academic subjects but just effort marks for practical/creative subjects.

This works very well for the bright but non sporty/musical/creative.

However, I have taught many children who are well below average or struggle on the academic side but are brilliant at sport, music or drama. I think it would actually boost their confidence if their marks were raised due to the subjects they are strong in being counted for marks as well.

I think we should either just give effort for everything or give both effort and performance for everything.

So, on balance, I think YABU. It's unfortunate that the system brings your daughter's grades down - but that same system might be the only thing bringing another child's marks up.

Manic. \Your post seems to lack empathy. An authority characteristic perhaps.

Authority? Me? Nah, I don't have any.

I do have problems with empathy though

Empathy can be difficult, because it is difficult to walk in someone elses shoes. "No authority" Lucky you. Happy christmas