To think PE is a waste of time

[ICantfindagoodusername]

I'm totally prepared to be flamed, but please take the time to read the thread rather than just saying YABU because of the title.
I think PE is a waste of time because:
•Why is it the school's job to make sure our kids get enough exercise? An example of the government parenting our kids for us.
•Why does it always have to be team sports? Schools could do other more interesting PE choices, such as zumba, aerobics, and other things that don't involve running around outside in the cold and rain.
•What good does it do for your education? If a kid is overweight, a couple of hours of standing on a football pitch won't change anything. The time could be better spent covering more of the curriculum. Kids run around at lunchtime anyways.
•PE is supposed to make kids foster a life long love of sports. But in reality, lots of kids LOATHE it, and as soon as they are 16, quit PE, never to do it again.

It's not a waste of time, but they need to realise that some kids HATE it, and it puts them off exercise for life and therefore has a harmful effect on them, and fuels the country's obesity crisis.

I hated P.E - got straight As in everything else but P.E was just the worst. In the end I brought a note in every single day for a year - I was having a very, very long period

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-37703068

PE has been the Cinderella subject for far too long and this has been recognised.My DC has an SEN and the support he has had has been shameful. The focus has been on the more able and winning matches the majority are excluded from for far too long. Hopefully things are going to change now with those that need it getting the right support just as they would in any other subject vital for life.

Those that struggle the most at PE are those that need the lessons the most.

Back in the 60s, my aunt broke her left wrist & so naturally couldn't do PE.

Long after it was healed, my DGM was surprised to get a note from the school expressing concern that the injury was taking so long to get better.

Turned out at that point that she'd been sneaking her sling into school and using it as an excuse to avoid PE for over a month.

I get that sport is competitive and all, but if any other subject teachers systematically focused on the best performing students to the exclusion of everyone else and used lack of ability as a pretext to openly humiliate and belittle, everyone would be up in arms, yet with PE it is par for the course.

Certainly the way it was taught when I was at school, its status as a Cinderella subject was fully warranted. Football would consist of three laps of the pitch as a warm up, a piggy in the middle type passing exercise, then comes and bibs out for 5 a kick around. No actual skills or technique were taught. Likewise when it came to running, it would be a case of '7 laps of the track...go' last one back has to take the equipment to the sheds. No one taught us how to do things like better running technique, how to pace yourself for longer distances etc. Nothing was taught, nothing was learned and as such it didn't deserve its status as an academic subject.

As a result the only people who got any better were those who were members of sports clubs out of school and they formed the bulk of the school football and athletic teams.

It is the schools job to make sure children who don't have parents who ensure their children have a healthy lifestyle get exercise.

Narrow minded and short sighted to think it is all about team sports. For GCSE it is a requirement that you choose an individual sport i.e. Badminton, tennis, table tennis . Children learn collectively in school so are obviously going to be taking part in team sports.

Have you researched the effect of physical activity on brain development and learning? If parents have a good attitude towards sport from a young age and instil this into their children, taking them to activities, it is much more likely they will enjoy PE.

Team sports can encourage and develop social skills, team work, well being, discipline and resilience.

GCSE pe is a difficult subject but a very worthwhile one. My son bumped his science grades up by two grades due to a lot of overlap.

YABVU

At my school they scrapped traditional sports for the girls and made us do aerobics, dance and (the worst) synchronised swimming. That made me loathe PE! I quite liked netball and running.

Sports day is a case in point.

No other subject Apart from PE has an institutionalised day designed to make kids loathe the subject even more.

Can you imagine the same concept in maths? Let's dress the kids up in embarrassing costumes then invite parents and the whole damn school to watch and jeer while they struggle to do sums in public while handing out prizes to the kids who find maths easy and enjoyable.

There are so many benefits of doing pe. Individuals not liking it is not a reason to scrap a subject. Realistically pe is one of the subjects most adults will keep up in one form or another.

Of course schools should try and make it as relevant and appealing as possible. pe (and music) provide balance and stress relief within school life and allow different students to excel.

I don't advocate scrapping it.

But I do think it needs a massive overhaul.

And I think a lot of PE teachers need retraining

I disagree and agree with OP.
Some aspects of PE need to be looked into. It doesn't suit all. There's room for improvement, because it's not suiting all.
Mind you, school is mainstream, it can't possibly suit all, can it?

I think that if you are not sporty or good at pe, it is a horrible experience. Everyone's talent in pe is visible. So if you are no good, everyome can see it. If you are not great at maths, or geography etc, it's not immediately obvious to everyone around you.
Dd is yr 9. She was dreading pe last week cos she can't do a forward roll. They had to line up and take it in turns. The whole class had to queue up behind her and wait and watch whilst she tried time and time again. She finds it really humiliating.
That is the reason pe needs an overhaul, no other subjects cause such humiliation if you are not good at them. If you get a maths question wrong, the whole class does not have to stop what they are doing and whatch while you struggle to get it right.
This puts her off any form of exercise. It is counterproductive and of no benefit to her or other like her at all.

Maybe it would be good if P.E was elective week by week. Those who choose it as a GCSE obviously do but those who don't want to do it have the option to attend or to have time studying for a different subject. I know I hated P.E. Saying that, if I knew we were playing rugby I would attend however I stopped as we were only allowed to play tag rugby while the boys were allowed to play full contact rugby. I never found that fair either. It seems to change P.E lessons to gender - boys would be playing full contact rugby while girls would be made to do dance mat dancing or aerobic exercise/gymnastic type stuff like walking on a bench etc.

BitOutOfPractice I couldn't agree with you more

Also 100% agree. It is absolutely not an effective way of keeping children healthy and yet when people argue for more PE, child obesity is always trotted out.

Honestly it's a perfect platform for messing about and bullying. Taught well I imagine it develops confidence, teamwork, physical skills and awareness of the range of sports/exercise out there. But, unlike say music or art, badly taught pe could be actively damaging to a child's self esteem and attitude to exercise.

I never did physical activity outside school and am a slim but very unfit adult with few hobbies. I really want my children to develop a love of something physical through well taught out of school activities.

Henry,

Firstly that is not true about maths. As long as they do tests, they will find out one another's scores. Even more obviously, they will be settled. If they are selected to answer a question, the class will see them struggling.

Everyone cannot be good at everything.

What is somewhat coming through in this thread is parents allowing children to think pe is unimportant. That is really dedtructive. Even the 'untalented' can achieve a lot with practice and the teamwork skills learned (and fitness gained) will serve them well throughout adulthood.

Mens sana in corpore sanum.

And I think a lot of PE teachers need retraining

Good luck with that. I'm always reminded of the Woody Allen line:

'This that can do, those that can't teach and those that can't teach, teach gym'.

Developing a fit and active child costs money. For example dd does swimming lessons @ £28 a month, synchro swimming @ £28 a month, gymnastics for an 1 1/2 hours @ £120 term and she wants to join the swimming club @ £20 a month. Not all families can afford to spend so much on sport. Dd also walks/ cycles to school, but the distance is minimal.

Dd's primary school PE lessons are taken by an external company. The activites are most boy focussed. The company employ two male coaches. Their attempt at a gymnastics class was so boring that dd almost loss the will to live. Dd isn't interested in football or basket ball. The problem with team sports at primary is that girls get sidelined.

There is also the issue of differentiation. Dd will have swimming lessons in two years time. I really don't think she will learn much in a class of 15.

Secondary is better. PE lessons are single sex and setted. Ds has orthopedic problems and is dyspraxic. Yet he is one of the better ones in his set.

I feel some parents need to have a serious look at their parenting. Parents need to take some responsiblity with physical fitness. Two hours a week is not enough to make a difference ti fitness.

Two hours of active fitness a week will make an immense difference! Great for actively involved parents like you whose children do a lot more. However those two hours are additional to anything else.

If a child is struggling at an academic subject, they will be offered help to imrove. One to one, differentiated work, ta support, etc. If they struggle at pe, nothing. Just week after week of humiliation, breeding resentment. I really wish my dd was sporty, but after 10 years of pe she still can't manage a forward roll, let alone a cartwheel, and she has had no help from school what so ever. I've tried to help, it just ends in frustration, because I'm not a trained gym coach. I can't afford to pay for her to have private lessons. So the pain continues for her. Only three years left until she can stop the nonsense. Then perhaps she might find a form of exercise she enjoys as an adult.

ReallyTired I generally am clumsy so when I did do P.E in the first few years I used to fall over at least once a lesson (either from slipping on wet gravel or tripping over something). My P.E teacher loudly asked me how I would feel about being tested for Dyspraxia because I was falling over so much she thought it was a problem. If she had took me to one side I would understand but everyone was staring at me, I was so embarrassed - knowing she would be teaching on a given day would make me want to avoid P.E even more!

Really, can you not see how the first and last paragraphs contradict one another? You listed sporting activities that must run up to 100 pounds a month per child even before traveling and equipment is factored in. That's not just some families who are priced out, but a majority.

It is comparatively easier for parents with lots of disposable income, access to a car and living in a green and leafy suburb with plenty of safe spaced for children to play out in to ensure they get plenty of exercise and eat well.

Imagine you're living off benefits or minimum wage on the 14th storey of a high rise where the streets aren't safe. It becomes difficult to the point of impossibility to live a healthy and active lifestyle.

Sporty DD has obviously been very lucky.

In primary she did: Netball, hockey, football, Judo, swimming, athletics, tag rugby, cross country, yoga, dance, cricket, boules, archery, rounders and basic gymnastics. They did a half term a time at some of the activities the school couldn't teach (Judo, yoga, archery etc)

As a result she joined out of school clubs for netball, gymnastics and Judo and did afterschool clubs for netball, tag rugby and 'running' (it was C25K for kids really)

She's just started secondary and so far has done netball, athletics, Pilates and had a couple of sessions in the gym (on the machines)

As a result she has joined the afterschool netball club and gym club.

PE has changed a lot since my day when it was netball, hockey, rounders and track only - but even then I did swimming and life saving as an 'option' instead of cookery - and that was over 30 years ago.

I think team sports are important as well as individual efforts - learning to work as a team is useful in later life.

I disagree with the claim that sports are boy-focused. Encouraged your daughters to play football, rugby and hockey, rounders and other curriculum subjects. Such gender stereo types from parents do not help our children.

Not all families are lucky enough to have highly motivated parents who enjoy physical activity

And that, right there, is one of the issues that I have with PE. The implication that someone who doesn't like physical activity is unmotivated, that their children are to be pitied. Not everyone likes running about in the freezing cold trying to hit a ball somewhere that someone else can't get it, or run faster than someone else - some people are motivated by creativity, music, philosophy, learning, charity, helping others - doesn't make them lazy or their kids, unfortunate.

But sadly some people seem to think that PE is the be all and end all, sport isn't the only way to get exercise and the way people are forced into it at school just puts many people off for years.

There is the same argument for other lessons but now people have the option to give most of those things up for GCSE, my niece in Australia has been able to give up maths and science too and focus on what she enjoys and is good at. For now it seems to have done her the world of good as she is off to a prestigious art school at the age of 15.