AIBU to think games lessons should be more inclusive

[ScoutFinchMockingbird]

DS is hopeless at games - I'm the first one to admit it. So was my mother and so am I - just no coordination.
But DS is keen and enthusiastic and likes the thought of tennis. Class of 21. Class asked to CHOOSE partners - guess who got left until last and then got send to bang a tennis ball up against the school wall?!
My mother was made to do this in the 1950's and I was hoping (given the obesity crisis etc) that things may have moved on and become more inclusive. I don't expect any child to choose my DS - I wouldn't have myself as a child! But surely the games teacher could have come up with a more inclusive activity, given the odd number in the class?! Something like rotating partners every 5 mins or something?
Hey ho - back to the drawing board on how to engage DS in games!

You can't have a proper game with swapping five minutes though and it is frustrating for better players to play with the less experienced, it's just a waste of time for them. I say this as someone who loved tennis and always got stuck playing with my then best friend out of guilt even though she was hopeless! I find it's best if people play with others who are a similar level to themselves.

It's better for the teacher to choose pairs. It makes sense to match up similar ability kids but not to leave one kid out doing an obviously filler task.

I'd have thought the teacher would have made one set of three and the three would have taken turns playing against each other.

I say this as someone who loved tennis and always got stuck playing with my then best friend out of guilt even though she was hopeless! I find it's best if people play with others who are a similar level to themselves.

Precisely - it is laziness on the part of the teacher not matching up similar ability students. In an odd number class, the less able students should be in a group of 3 or 5 and rotate partners.

Agreed teachers should choose pairs or groups and not leave one kid out. And that each group should get input during the lesson rather than be written off and ignored.

Ds is similar, and in Y2 quite enjoyed PE because he and some others who were malcoordinated or very unfit or both were taught separately - how to run, how to kick and throw a ball, practicing catching a basketball, etc. Sadly since then it's been whole-class ball games so he and that group are ignored except when being moaned at for being rubbish.

It’s weird that the last 3 weren’t put together as a group and able to take turns. Leaving a single child out is not very helpful.

On the other hand, it is sometimes really hard to balance out the different abilities in PE, and the middle option often benefits no one at all. DS2 is a really good swimmer (he’s one of the best in the county for his age group and is just off the national times for one stroke) and found the school swimming lessons laughable. He’s done 2 years of them and gained absolutely nothing from it. But, I’m really not sure what the school was meant to do given a range of kids from total non-swimmers to one (and he was the only one) competing at county level. They have neither the staff nor the space to do anything meaningful with everyone.

And, frankly, my DS2 shouldn’t be the target audience because he doesn’t need to be (apart from anything else he gets 8 hours a week of coaching with his squad); it’s much better to focus on making sure all the other kids reach the level set out in the national curriculum. DS2 found it annoying and frustrating but just had to get on with it. And, at least, he was in a lane with kids that could swim 25m and were needing stroke development (rather than going for a one-size-fits-all lesson plan). He got to provide demonstrations for the rest of his group mostly, and to overtake people a lot. And to complete a badge (1500m) he’d already done 3 years previously 😂.

In contrast, my DS1 is dyspraxic and was useless at PE. He would have been picked last and left bouncing the ball against the wall too. But, in all honestly, I can understand why the other kids wouldn’t want to be paired with him.

Does this happen every time, or as a one off?

Every time, not fair.

One off. This is possibly fair because of the different abilities. Like others have pointed out, it's a complete waste of time for a good play to play with a bad one. Say, for arguments sake, the other 20 are good players. Then every other time when matched with your ds, that player is also not getting a work out.

@Crustaceans
I'm a swimming teacher. What I do for my better swimmers, as I have to give them same distance and same length of time as others in lane, is to give them a much harder/slower drill at the same time as the others. So, for example, if everyone else is doing 50m full stroke, they'd be doing 50m kick.

Have one of the better ones play against two who are not much cop. We'd often have 5 to a court at school due to space if nothing else.

That may well have helped a bit @arethereanyleftatall, although he’d still have been too fast. He could just kick or pull 50m considerably faster than the kids who were working at stage 4/5 level could swim the full stroke. I think trying to reasonably include him was just an unrealistic ask at school swimming. It might have been different at another school (half his squad go to one of the local private schools, and are probably grouped together at school swimming) but his particular school doesn’t have many swimmers (he’s the only competitive swimmer in his year group).

Why do you need to make sure they all swim the same distance? And to give them all the same time/attention. That must make it harder than necessary really. I wouldn’t have cared if the teacher had more or less ignored DS2 and just kept him busy for the time they were in the pool.

That said, DS2 clearly enjoyed being the best and impressing the other kids with his diving and fly demos 🙄.

And while attitudes remain unchanged, PE will continue to be a nightmare activity for so many.
Targets, teaching methods, groupings and comments that would be unacceptable in other subjects are not only tolerated but common in PE and sports. OK for my child to be mocked in PE, not ok for them to respond ‘You are rubbish at maths’
Such limited choices too.

Well I think that's awful really. The only thing it does is make that child stand out

@Crustaceans
Space.

Ah. I guess that makes sense.

I’m not a games teacher, however I deliver sport in games lesson.

Kids choosing partners is lazy from the teacher. I will virtually always assign partners, apart from “free” sessions (usually the last or term)

Odd numbers shouldn’t mean any child does nothing during the lesson.

On MN you'll be told it builds moral fortitude, didn't do me any harm, nation of snowflakes etc... as the parent of one child with dyspraxia - fuck that crap. Mine goes for small group motor skills activities with the PE coach on top of normal PE lessons (they use register time to do it) and generally school are pretty inclusive about things - although last year there was a grandparent from another class howling with laughter at her on sports day (never did manage to identify the child the adult in question belonged to to challenge it) and I was bloody livid - it's only because of how things are going to be divided up class-wise this year and the fact they're not going to be doing it at the same time that means I've left that one.

And to be honest if a teacher can't work around a class having an uneven number of kids in for whatever reason - they really need to get some common sense and empathy for the kid left over (there's usually at least one set of kids who'll willingly volunteer to go into a three if required - usually more than one set which means you have that one to sort out mind) - just lazy as fuck teaching from someone who doesn't "get it" going on (speaking both as a teacher myself and the parent of a child with coordination problems whose teacher this year really cannot tolerate the idea of reasonably adapting anything for SN here).

and, I always give all my children regardless of standard the same amount of time and attention. In my opinion, that's fair. You might not have minded him getting none, but another parent would.

Please, please don't label your child as uncoordinated. This is something we develop through practice and improving hand-eye skills.
Negative reinforcement isn't helpful. He might never play at Wimbledon, but it doesn't mean he can't improve.
If there's a local tennis club, they'll have courses for complete beginners - e.g our club is running an LTA one for 6 weeks which costs £25 and they get a free racquet and balls.
Sport develops a child in so many ways, including boosting confidence and emotional resilience, don't cut off those opportunities.

On the other hand, it is sometimes really hard to balance out the different abilities in PE,

Why is it harder in PE than e.g. English or Meths?

Exactly. It requires imagination, a degree of empathy for all abilities and a willingness to model acceptable behaviour by the adults.
It’s basic teaching.

Good teaching should involve challenging the most capable pupils, whilst ALSO including the less able and helping them to improve (ie, actually teach them).
The attitude of many PE teachers is sadly very different to what we expect from most subject teachers.

Can you imagine an English teacher: "Johnny is not as good at English as the rest of the class, so I left him to read the dictionary by himself all lesson whilst the advanced kids discussed with Shakespeare with each other. I stood at the front of the class and shouted out vague instructions to read better every now and again"

Lazy teaching.

I loved PE at school as I’m very sporty and played semi professional rugby until fairly recently.

We were left to pick our own team mates etc, so you would end up with really mismatched teams, it would have worked much better if teachers chose instead, it would stop arguments as well as you couldn’t be upset that a mate didn’t choose you.

I was that child (diagnosed with a muscle myopathy as a young adult). nearly 3 decades since I left school and it still bugs me. The humiliation of being picked last, or being last - always. I can only imaging the trouble I'd have got into if I'd pulled a face and rolled my eyes when paired with a less able person for a different lesson though. Now I see my boy coming last in races (primary school). He's not got my problem but just can't run fast. My heart aches for him.

Class asked to CHOOSE partners - guess who got left until last and then got send to bang a tennis ball up against the school wall?!

Isn't it depressing that this sot of thing still happens?
I remember more than 40 years ago when the PE teacher would ask two of the popular, sporty kids to pick teams and then the humiliation of being one of the two or three left until last, trying to look as if you didn't care while the two captains sigh and agonize over which of you will be least bad. Sometimes they would be so reluctant to choose that the PE teacher would lose patience and assign the remaining pupils to teams herself amidst much groaning and eye rolling from the captains.

One would really have hoped that these days PE teachers would have a bit more empathy and common sense.

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