Making kids choose 'teams' for PE - assumed this was an old fashioned thing?

[Devicey]

But told today that it happens every week at DCs primary.

Honestly thought this was something I have just seen on films and assumed wasn't done anymore?

Always similar kids left to the last couple that no one wants on their team.

AIBU or are there far better ways to divide up a class of kids for PE?

They shouldn’t and most of them will have been told not to when training to be teachers. A lot of sports teachers go for a system that appears totally random put also makes sure the teams are fairly balanced.

In the primary schools I worked in I don't remember the children picking who they would sit with for numeracy, literacy etc. The teachers decided this based on ability and support needed. Why wouldn't the same apply to PE?

If for a pe lesson then a 1 2 1 2 system would be nicer and fairer, if got a school team playing against other schools then you have to pick the ones that excel at the particular sports.
It's not just popular people that are picked to be team leaders, it just so happens that sporty people tend to be popular.

I used to be good at hockey, but average at netball, I nearly always played for the school hockey team, but rarely a first pick for netball, more a b team or sub, yes I was disappointed, but it gave me drive to try harder

We are talking about PE lessons not school teams playing against each other
If you join team it would be voluntarily and obviously the best players are going to be picked that happens irl,too I imagine the Manager of England selects the players they think are the best and play well together
I don't suppose they get the players to publicly humiliate their team members before every game though.

I think the main problem is with the compulsory PE lessons. Obviously actual teams you choose the best people. But normally at least the people trying out to be on a team want to at least try and play even if they aren't very good. Plus actual teams that play competitively aren't chosen by the other players. The coach will choose who gets in.
I am not sporty. I am aware I am not sporty. I generally do not enjoy sports. So I would never put myself forward to be on an actual team nor would I expect to be chosen. This isn't what PE lessons are though.
You have no choice but to be on a team. You and everyone else knows you're shit at the sport so they don't want you on their team and make it well known to your face. If I'd have been given the choice at school to be humiliated every week in PE or go and do another maths lesson I'd have skipped off to maths. But I wasn't given that choice. I was forced to stand there while being laughed at and told I wasn't wanted in any team.

Good grounding for the real world where you will get chosen to do things based on your ability.

No wonder kids can’t cope with real life any more.

Don't be ridiculous.

This is choosing teams in a PE lesson, not choosing teams for competitions. PE lessons should be enjoyable.

The equivalent of that would be auditioning for a school play or trying out for a sports team. How many situations in your real world are there where a couple of peers argue about who they don't want in front of all their colleagues? Why can't some people cope with acknowledging it's a shitty thing to do - wonder how they cope in the real world when people pull them up on their twisted ways.

PE is part of the national curriculum children have no choice but to participate regardless of their ability
In real life if you have a natural aptitude for a particular sport you could CHOOSE to try out for a team the key word is CHOOSE.

I was the fat kid, always picked 2nd to last (90s) and (this combined with repeated humiliation by bastard PE teachers) then didn't do any exercise for 20 years. By chance found a really inclusive, body positive sport and never looked back.

But secondary PE didn't make me resilient, it made me scared to exercise and contributed to disordered eating.

To be honest, I'm stunned by the number of parents and even teachers who are supporting this outmoded method of team selection. I wonder what sport (if any) their coaching qualifications are in? Because anyone who has coached at any level in the past 15 years would know that this is not acceptable in inclusive/all-ability youth sport. It's been proven to be counter-productive (see studies posted by PPs) and serves only to drive less immediately able participants out of sport and physical activity. I'm a national level 2 coach in my sport, focusing on youth athletes and if I saw anyone using this method I would be correcting them immediately.

'Morning kids! It's Thursday, so time for our weekly maths quiz. Olivia and Zack are this week's captains. The rest of you stand up and go join your team when picked.'

I'm sure that will give the kids that are picked last every week a love of learning for maths, will motivate them to work harder rather than cement their view that they can't do maths. It can steady them for the real world (if they work in a fucked up organisation). Having their peers bear witness to their regular humiliation will do wonders. In the real world, you can find a job in a less toxic place - kids have no agency to do that with schools.

I remember a girl throwing an absolute fit in secondary school because she didn't want me on her team.
Or school got turned into a specialist sports college after I started there. All the pe lessons were basically just for finding out who the talent were and coercing them to join the school sports teams to make the school look better.
It just made me hate exercise.
Found out later I had severe anaemia and that's why I was out of breath so quickly. Teachers didn't notice/ care, there was never much actual "education" in PE.

Another reason that this is a daft comment, aside from those above, is that PE lessons are supposed to teach sport. Students who aren't picked might just be those who can't play that particular sport yet because they've not tried it or learned the techniques, but they are not going to improve if they are put off before they start. They may have plenty of ability which is not yet obvious.

Don't get me started on PE teachers not telling people that they shouldn't just pass to their mates too... My DC had one who did that - they still remember her fondly.

@Chaotica hopefully things have changed, but we were literally shown a few types of pass and that was it for games. We weren't even told the basic rules or what positions did what or any strategies. Also remember teacher shouting at the slower kids to hurry up, not because they were messing around or taking their time for the sake of it, but because they were just slower. Imagine doing that when kids are reading aloud in class. Kids were shown exasperation, rather than encouragement. It's so weird, yet was so commonplace.

Another reason that it's stupid is that it is a popularity completion rather than purely skill based

My daughter's school assigned everyone a different colour at the beginning of the year, they wear that colour PE T-shirt and that is their team

I’m tempted to agree. They don’t do this at our secondary school but I fail to find the energy to be bothered about it. Like, life is going to happen and you’re not always going to be picked first so I don’t understand why we’d go to great length to ‘protect’ kids from situations they will encounter - better to build their resilience I think.

This is horrid and super old fashioned. I think PE is one of those areas where it can be a bit like that, my son has dyspraxia which massively impacts in PE and we had to pull him out until the school put extra measures in place after the pe teacher they had made them all race 1 on 1 until he could "rank" them and my 6 yr old literally tried to escape school and had a total breakdown at being "worst" in the class. You'd never teach spelling or maths like this, they don't all pick the best readers for their reading team, or best multipliers for maths. It's hard because sports are competitive by their nature but I'd like my kids to grow up feeling they can be fit, healthy and try anything, rather than that sports is for exclusively "good" people. Surely the message should be that anyone can try anything and that sports and fitness is fun and good for everyone! Whilst I wouldn't say I was scarred from being bad at PE I've grown up thinking I'm "not sporty", being intimidated by gym types and as a result it took until 35 to get into a proper fitness regime with a PT I trust, that's not how I should've been left feeling about something that's so important for my health.

Also those saying its a good grounding for life is nonsense- when does anyone at the local pool, gym, running club pick teams or rank their members as most or least fit - never, bar the pdd fun competition! Most people as adults interact in a fun, local, "join up even if you've never played" way or they do solo sports at clubs where anyone can join and everyone is welcome - most cycling or running clubs absolutely pride themselves on this and most gyms work crazy hard to try and encourage people to join, make them feel welcome and not feel like they don't belong. It's mad to me, I'd never do any sports if it was like pe at school!! I know there are the few people who do very competitive football/running/cycling where they do want good times or want to make a team but most of us are just doing our best, making new friends, trying a new sport and desperately attempting to fit into our jeans! Imagine joining a walking football team for the over 50s to try and get fit and the first step being picked last to be part of a team - they'd not keep their new members!

You think its fair that the same kids are picked last every week and those that are night also be unpopular and might not be academic either
How much resilience do.you think they need ?
In the real-world people, are not publicly humiliated. at work on a weekly basis
I assume you can't find the energy to be bothered about it because it never happened to you

I was often the last picked but I didn’t care. It wasn’t important to me, why would it be? It’s just PE. There is so much more to life than being picked in PE. Thats what we should be teaching our kids.

I bet teachers just use it as a fast way to get organised. There is too much overthinking.

I was alwas picked last too.and it did bother me ,no I'm not still scarred by it
But it's a lazy and unnecessary teaching method if teachers want it to be quick the 1/2 method is much quicker and doesn't humiliate a child