To think that PE could be reconsidered in order to be a more meaningful and enjoyable experience for secondary aged pupils (and primary too!)?

[EveSix]

This week, I'm hearing so many of DC1's school friends and parents express their frustration with the experience of PE in school (secondary age in our case, across several schools, two counties / local education authorities). So many pupils seem to loath it and struggle to participate with any real sense of enthusiasm or enjoyment.

In DC1's friendship group, PE gives rise to lots of anxiety about changing bodies and comparison; nobody seems to feel better for a stint on the field. I'm an active adult now and love physical exercise on my own terms, but remember feeling very much like DC1's friends when I went to school.

Looking at the National Curriculum for PE (KS3 copied in below), I can't help but to feel as if there could be another way of teaching young people to actually enjoy physical activity and feel good and safe in their bodies. There are so many ways to be active, and some of them, if approached sensitively and creatively, would be bound to appeal to kids who don't feel there is a place for them in PE lessons at the moment.

Across the schools I know, there seems to be a big focus on competitive team sports and track, which just isn't going to be everyone's idea of fun. I'm sure many more pupils with SEN and anxiety are exempt from PE than geography or food tech because it's can be such a high stress environment. When I exercise, I'm definitely not looking for a stressy time.

Does anyone care to join me in musing on what alternative provision and activities might be enjoyed more broadly if made available?
If you didn't like PE the way it was taught at your secondary school, is there an activity you think you might have enjoyed? Or perhaps a different approach to teaching PE altogether? Contributions from DC welcome!

YABU: young people just need to crack on with it; PE is character-building

YANBU: PE could be made more enjoyable and relevant to a wider range of pupils

My suggestions would be (some might involve travel to facilities not within easy walking distance):
Yoga
Pilates
Nordic walking
Mindfulness walking
Archery
Fencing
Badminton
Table tennis
Rollerskating
Ice skating (DC1's school is in spitting distance of an ice skating rink, for instance)
Gym sessions for cardio (exercise bikes, treadmills, rowing machines etc) and free weights

I am convinced that if I'd had the experience of learning to enjoy a range of physical activities that made me feel good about myself in a relaxed environment during OR lessons, I would have been happier in general at school.

Here's the the first part if the PE Programme of Study for KS3:

Purpose of study
A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness.

Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect.

Aims
The national curriculum for physical education aims to ensure that all pupils:
 develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
 are physically active for sustained periods of time
 engage in competitive sports and activities
 lead healthy, active lives.
Attainment targets
By the end of each key stage, pupils are expected to know, apply and understand the matters, skills and processes specified in the relevant programme of study.
Schools are not required by law to teach the example content in [square brackets].

Well, my daughter's private school has a choice of things like trampoline or fencing and her previous (also private) school had horse riding. I don't think that's possible in state schools due to the huge cost. Figure skating is just as expensive as horse riding

Nice idea. Time? Money? A lot of schools are struggling to pay for coaches to get kids to swimming pools as it is.

I think secondary school PE is often a dismal experience with sadistic teachers making kids run round football pitches in the rain, hardly inspiring a love of exercise. Primary PE is often sub-standard due to a lack of specialist knowledge (I say that as a primary school teacher who can teach decent gymnastics and tennis lessons but not much else). CPD for primary teachers in PE is often very lacking as it's not considered a priority.

Having said that, all the solutions involve money that isn't available. Private venues will want paying. It would cost money to bring specialist teachers in to primary schools.

The cost of some of your suggestions would be a problem. Otherwise these are great ideas! Although I have a feeling lots of kids would still moan....

I absolutely hated PE as a kid and would have only been happy if we had skiing or figure skating at school, which obviously we did not, but my daughter seems to really like PE - especially netball and cross-country 🤷‍♀️ Kids are different and many actually really like PE. She would definitely rather do PE than English

My child is at a comp with 240 entry.
Kids are streamed for PE. This sounded crazy to me but it's actually a good idea because people play sport with similar skilled people- the sporty kids can be competitive and the less sporty aren't having a pointless lesson where nobody is passing a ball to them and they don't have to worry if they miss. As with all subjects, it needs to meet the needs of a wide variety of people not just people like me who aren't sporty.
I'm not sure about the sports that you list (team sports are presumably easier to teach) but we know that the government doesn't believe in investing in education. Badminton is taught at our school and there is a table tennis club at our school.

Yes it should be about being active for health, or learning skills, not ALL about competitive sports.

PE is a very public and humiliating misery if you’re not sporty. It’s ridiculous that competitive sport the default in what is supposed to be a school lesson. People argue that it teaches children about competitiveness in life which is bullshit. They learn that the very first day at nursery when some little shit snatches their toy.

IMO it is primarily the way it is taught rather than what is taught.

If you look at the issues across sport generally they crop up in school PE. The whole subject needs a culture shift.

Agree that a broader choice would be brilliant for many children; money is the issue for state schools.Yoga, Pilates need specialist teaching. Fencing equipment and coaching is very expensive. Basically only sports and activities which don’t need very pricey equipment and which most decent P.E. Teachers can deliver are achievable for most state schools.The private sector, of course, receives huge fees and can generally afford to provide a wider range of opportunity sadly. Don’t know the answer (well I do,it’s ££££).

This. You are talking about the Eton experience of PE. Nice idea but not really the budget or facilities in state school for the special instructors and/or facilities.

I went to Private school and i hated PE. I didn't mind tennis and trampoline and rounders. I hated athletics, hockey, netball, dance, cross country and gymnastics.

I then went to state 6th form where I got to do yoga (which we used to laugh at) and ice skating which I liked.

Don't think there's the money for this now.

I am now a fitness fanatic and get great joy from exercise. But it took a long time to get there because school PE was just dire. In my view they'd be better removing it from the curriculum entirely until they've got a way of delivering something that isn't so alienating to so many.

My school gave a choice of activities for P.E., though possibly only from ks4, I could usually find something non competitive but it was mostly limited to stuff that could be done at school.

Most kids can't skate. i say that because I skate & my kids skate well, but most can't. Not fun to fall over constantly. DS is supposed to take his old mum skating this weekend, actually.

Badminton is popular & on existing curriculum at secondary.

I don't remember anyone having an issue with changing or showers when we did PE in 80s. You would have been considered height of disgusting human being if you didn't shower after PE, though. I'm athletically declined, btw. Slowest runner in the class, etc.

I was never a sporty kid but pe could have been bearable with separate changing cubicles and private shower cubicles.

I only heard of PE streaming recently and think it’s a fantastic idea. I think part of the problem is that sporty kids are turned off school sport by the less able and willing, and the less able and willing are turned off because they think they can’t compete with the sporty ones.

I do also think there is a responsibility on parents to continue to encourage sport and exercise beyond primary years and that goes especially for girls. I’m a recent Y6 class less than 20% of the girls continued any sport of exercise outside of school, compared to at least 80% of the boys.

So many of DD’s friend’s parents just say “oh, xxx doesn’t like sport” etc rather than supporting them to find a form of exercise they do like. It continues into PE lessons - “oh why do they have to have shin pads/ boots etc, they hate sport” with no alternative exercise suggested.

It would’ve helped at my (selective all girl) school if the bloody uniform for pe hadn’t been so harshly enforced, hideously unflattering and embarrassing to wear. Literally teachers checking you were wearing bellybutton high granny knickers under your gym skirt - humiliating! Everyone changing into swimming costumes together - horrible. Let kids wear clothes they’re relaxed in for pe and give them better more private space to change!

Look up Lee Sullivan and Phil Mathe, both working very very hard to change things at secondary level, especially.

Lovely. How are you going to pay for it?

It did more to put me off sport than anything could possibly have done, and 50 years later it's no better.
Truly horrific, unless you are naturally sporty.
I took up running at 50. I could have done it years earlier but school sport made me think I couldn't do it.

U, this is so true "PE is a very public and humiliating misery if you’re not sporty."

Peek, streaming for PE doesn't sound so nutty when you think about it. I was talking about this with DC1's mate's dad the other day, or perhaps more about introducing an element of selection, as in "Sam doesn't like boisterous and noisy games, this term he's going for Option B which is badminton doubles as opposed to Options A and C, which are hockey and football respectively. Next term, he's choosing Gym Cardio instead of Cross-country."

Hates PE at school. We did get to do dance in Y11 which was so much better. I didn't mind gymnastics

Hated Lacrosse and team sports

PE streaming is a stupid thing at our school. If you don't play football, you are demoted to a lower stream, even if the said pupil is one of the top swimmers in the country in their age group.

I loathed PE until I was 14. It was nearly all games lessons and I had very poor hand/eye coordination. Picking teams and being left until last made me feel worthless. No sets/streaming, like in the subjects I was good at, so no safe place for learning and being taught at the right pace.

From age 14, we had a weekly games afternoon and options. Meeting an independent school some of these were costly, like riding and the gym. I loved games afternoons and it changed my attitude to sport.

But I could have enjoyed the much cheaper options with:

1. sets/streams according to ability
2. breaking down and teaching skills (eg keep your eyes on the ball) rather than endless games and getting no better
3. some choice - I loved cross country but couldn't sprint for love nor money
4. no team picking by students, which is just cruel

I would love to see less competitive sports available in schools. If options such as walking, yoga and pilates etc had been options I would have enjoyed them. The sport I did enjoy was swimming, again generally it was non-competitive.