Physical Education in Second Level Schools of UK - Coursework Example

PHYSICAL EDUCATION EVALUATION A critical discussion concerning evaluation in Physical Education in second level schools of UK January 29, Evaluation of Physical Education in UK Schools Physical Education – PE has to be regarded as one of the pillars of school education and gives support to the old proverb a sound mind in a sound body. A properly paced curriculum and its effective implementation can help to strengthen and condition a child, increase the mental and physical fitness and increase the stamina (Kirk, 2000). Contrary to common belief, PE is not about bodybuilding or turning participants into ‘muscular hunks’. It is firmly believed that the physical conditioning that a child in school undergoes would have a telling effect on its future and lay the foundation for a confident, fit and agile adult who could perform well academically and professionally (Talbot, 1998). Unfortunately, since PE is not regarded as one of the evaluation or passing subjects in school exams, students, their parents and the school management take it lightly. As a result, PE does not get the required support and the essential budgetary allocations and PE teachers do not get sufficient training and recognition. The result is that some children emerge from school in obese and unfit bodies that are not capable to take the stress and wear of professional lives (MacPhail, 2005). This paper performs a critical discussion about the evaluation of PE in second level UK schools, with reference to the current curriculum. The article would examine the advantages and disadvantages of PE and the policy aspects related to PE. Brief History of PE in UK Hopper (2000) notes first national policy on physical education was drafted in 1933 and called the Syllabus of Physical Training for Schools. The syllabus was amended and upgraded over the years a few times and we had the Planning the Programme: physical education in primary school - HMSO in 1995 and so on until we now have the latest one released in 2007. The author notes that in the early Pre World War II years, physical education received high importance. Both girls and boys were expected to be fit and ready to become soldier as and when Britain needed them and more than 2 to 3 hours of physical education and drill was imparted to students daily. After World War II, the interest in PE gradually declined and classes were reduced to one or two hours per week. Current Curriculum of PE According to Penney (1995), in UK, USA and many other parts of the world, the needs of business and industry are seen as more important and the only goals of schooling. There is an increasing pressure to make education relevant to industry needs so that students who graduate can be readily absorbed into the industry with the least training. Academicians lament at this precedence given to the needs and interests of capital accumulation and economy rather than the all-round development of children. To remedy this gap, The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority of UK has introduced the new National Curriculum from 2007 and the publication has a separate section on physical education (qca, 2007). The objectives of the curriculum are to develop a good range of abilities and skills that would allow the child to use strategies, tactics and compositional ideas for successful performance. The idea is to make children think, take decisions and act. The curriculum is based on certain key concepts that have to be developed and deepened. The concepts are: competence, performance, creativity and healthy active lifestyles. A number of key skills and processes would be developed and they are: developing skills in physical activity; making and applying decisions; developing physical and mental capacity; evaluating and improving and making informed choices about healthy active lifestyles. There are different levels for attainment targets, from level 4 to level 8. Each level has different skill levels that have to be combined and applied and certain advanced skills that have to be developed. Capel (2003) has proposed the following aims for PE. Figure 1. Aims and Objectives of Physical Education (Capel, 2003) The QCA document considers the age of children and has framed different key stages and certain expectations from normal children at each key stage. There is key stage 1, the child is expected to show certain skills in dance and games while in key stage 2, expectations are for games, gymnastic activities, athletic activities and outdoor and adventurous activities. Swimming remains as a statutory requirement and students are expected to swim unaided for at least 25 metres, develop confidence in water, know hoe to tread water, float and know about skills of water safety and survival. There are also other stages and games such as over the net category of games such as Tennis and Badminton; striking and fielding games and other such games (Fairclough, 2002). Figure 2. Key Stages of Expectation in PE Curriculum (Fairclough, 2002) Kirk (2000) has critiqued the current thinking about the relation between sports performance and PE and says that the traditional models of pyramids, foundation stones and trickle down effects are not effective. The author has proposed an alternative model with four components. The components are the use of modified games; clearly articulated pathways; policy development and education for sports, teacher and coach. This model would help to meet the needs of the majority student population for better PE and help to meet the needs of sports performance. However, this model needs to be tested and remains a hypothesis. Fairclough (2002) on the other hand speaks of his reported the results of a survey of 51 heads of PE from different UK schools. The research was to find the effectiveness of lifetime activities such as running swimming, walking, and trekking, over team activities. PE teachers have to understand which of the activities students would continue once they become adults. The respondents agreed that adults would more often practice lifetime activities than team sports. Dagkas (2007) reports that schools give more importance to team games than lifetime activities and this is a disservice that schools promote. This has a direct bearing to the need of the outside world that has a demand for team sports such as football, cricket and so on. Students who played these games in school would more likely to become paying fans in later life. Curtner-Smith (2007) argues that the socio economic background of students also plays an important role and students from improvised or middleclass backgrounds would prefer sports such as football, boxing, and basketball while students from upper middle class families would prefer golf, cricket, tennis and even athletics. Analysis and Discussion of advantages and disadvantages The previous sections have presented various issues and factors related to physical education. A cross sectional analysis of the advantages and disadvantages is presented in this section. There is common consensus about the advantages of physical education as taught in schools. Students get a gradual exposure to different varieties of sports that helps them to develop their motor skills, increase concentration, develop fit bodies that can weather the stress of adult professional life, increase team play and endurance and help in developing concentration. However, sports activities like academic activities are oriented towards the industry and the economic gains that seem to be the goals of every student. Each graduating student wants to be imbibed with an academic education that would provide him entrance to further studies or obtain employment. This is also true in the case of physical education where students are taught basic motor skills in the initial stages and then they participate in team events, if their skills permit them. Hopefully, this system would produce sportsmen such as David Beckham, Mick Rooney and so on, else the system would equip students with a desire to remain fit for life. Such an approach has certain disadvantages in that there is an over emphasis on team sports with lesser importance given to lifetime sports such as walking, swimming, running and so on. The approach is again in line with the industry requirement for footballers, cricketers, basketball players and these sportsmen are known to make considerable money. Therefore, PE is in line with the academic trend of turning students into doctors, engineers and so on. Such an approach would be argued as being excessively money minded, but PE teachers and schools have to be pragmatic. Therefore, the inference is that the PE curriculum in schools looks towards the commercial sports industry and it should again noted that today’s schools hold the future Beckham’s or Rooney’s. But then again, a school can only provide the infrastructure for education and training. Making use of the facilities is up to the students acumen and capacity and the school or the PE teacher cannot be blamed if some students are not interested in PE. Summary of Findings The paper has evaluated physical education curriculum in second level schools of UK. Important details of the curriculum have been examined and it has been seen that there are different key stages in which varying levels of physical and mental activity are taught. However, PE is not an evaluation subject and therefore only interested students take an earnest interest in different types of sports. More efforts are required from the department of education and the school management to tighten the scores requirements in sports for graduation. Only after this is done would students take PE more seriously and take up activities that would keep them fit for life. References Capel, S., 2003. Learning to teach physical education in the secondary school: a companion to School Experience. Routledge Publications, London, UK. Curtner-Smith, M., June 2007. Health-promoting physical activity and extra-curricular sport. European Physical Education Review, 13(2), pp. 131-144. Dagkas, S., October 2007. Exploring social and environmental factors affecting adolescents participation in physical activity. European Physical Education Review, 13(3), pp. 369-384. Fairclough, S., 2002. The Contribution of Secondary School Physical Education to Lifetime Physical Activity. European Physical Education Review, 8(1), pp. 69-84 Hopper, B., 2000. Teaching physical education in the primary school. Routledge Falmer Publishers, London, UK. Kirk, D., 2000. Challenging Thinking About the Relationship Between School Physical Education and Sport Performance. European Physical Education Review, 6(2), pp. 119-134. MacPhail, A., 2005. The implementation of a revised physical education syllabus in Ireland: circumstances, rewards and costs. European Physical Education Review, 11(3), pp. 287-308 Penney, D., 1997. Naming the Game: Discourse and domination in physical education and Sport in England and Wales. European Physical Education Review, 3(1), pp. 21-32 qca, 2007. Physical education: Programme of study for key stage 3 and attainment target. The National Curriculum 2007, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Crown copyright, London, UK. Talbot, M., 1998. Physical Education: Contested Positions, Competing Discourses — The Need for Renaissance? European Physical Education Review, 4(2), pp. 104-116. Read More