The Importance and Significance of Physical Education for Children - Essay Example

?Introduction The physical education is extremely important for children because it is a good health activity, which promotes physical, intellectual and social wellbeing and development. It is also a way for children to make use of their full natural energy that makes them extremely active. Physical exercise can be outdoor or indoor activity. Physical education activities include dancing, twisting, jumping, swinging, flitting like butterflies, singing, sliding, running, walking, pointing fingers and gymnastics. Safety refers to prevention of accidents, abuse and injuries. Safety is important to protect children from extreme pain, incapacitation, dismemberment or even death. In addition, breach of safety by supervisors, parents or (and) equipment makers can lead to legal suits for breach of safety standards. Each year, institutions of learning in Britain pay thousands of pounds to compensate injured children within school premises. For example, Gloucestershire council paid GBP 7,000 compensation to a student after a teacher accidentally injured a pupil during rugby tackle demonstration (NSPCC, 2011). Safety Safety is in everyone’s mind in the playground. As much as children require a lot of opportunities to engage in physical activities, it is important to ensure that they are safe from potential harm or injury. Dangers inherent during physical exercise include; burns, drowning, poisoning, falls, getting knocked over, cuts, breakages, dehydration, rape, beating and extreme is death. There are a number of worrying incidents where children die during physical activities. Child’s serious injury during physical exercise is bad and death of a child during physical exercise is worst and unacceptable. When death in the field is reported, it sends cold shivers in people who listen and anger inhibits one’s heart. For example, according to Brighton and Hove Council, a child fell from the roof of air raid shelter when he climbed the fence to retrieve a ball. In Medway, a pupil was injured when goal post fell on him and at Cornwall; a student was injured by a ball kicked by a teacher. In addition, a child at Rotherham, South Yorkshire was hurt in the playground when another child splashed him with custard. Worst, Kyle Rees 16 year old boy at Portchester school, Bournemouth died when hit by a cricked ball on the head. Finally, a research conducted by NSPCC between 2007 and 2010 revealed that 75 percent of children were subjected to harmful treatment by coaches or their peers. Peers contribute significant portion injuries or harm experienced (NSPCC 2011). To ensure children‘s safety during physical education, teachers or guardians supervising then must be informed that children unlike adults may not be in a position to anticipate accidents or possible injuries. Therefore, it is the responsibilities and duty of adults to anticipate potential accidents and risk and prevent them from happening. According to Sportengland (n.d.), there is a safety framework that is useful in creating safe sporting environment, which prevent harm. The framework is a benchmark that is useful in making informed decisions, challenging harmful practices and promotes best safety practices. To prevent likelihood of accidents occurring, it is important to note below factors; Playgrounds need to be surrounded by handrails, fences, rubber surfaces and crash barriers to make children safe by preventing them from falling. Children need to be educated in safety measure to reduce injury risks. They also need to cover-up and gear-up during physical exercises. For example, children playing must wear helmets when riding bicycles to protect their heads from serious injury in case they fall and wear hats when playing in the sun to prevent sunburns. The people in charge with physical exercises should ensure that all sporting equipment and gears are in perfect working conditions and fitting properly. In addition, children need to shape up by preparing adequately before main physical activities to prepare their bodies and prevent them from falling or straining their soft tissues. Other safety practices include taking enough water, using appropriate sporting equipment according to age, reinforcing appropriately all playing equipments and using mulch in areas where children may fall to minimize fall impact. For effective children protection in physical education today, all the staff and the coaches should have a responsibility of safety for all the children under their care. Secondly, coaches should focus on three main duties namely; knowing and observing the stated policy of the employer and different health and safety procedures. The second duty is that any alarm regarding health and safety should be reported to the appropriate authority. The final duty is that staff should according to the best of their ability prevent any further harm which may result from the incident reported earlier. Thirdly, for effective protection today, the staff concerned requires specific competencies to enable them to monitor different groups. Here the major focus is the staff expertise in different activities taught in terms of the events’ technical knowhow and proper knowledge on the appropriate rules and safety. The concern staff should also possess appropriate skills in order to observe and analyze anything perceived to be unsafe. Teachers should also be able to manage classes assigned to them. This way they will be able to immediately stop an event that may be hazardous. Fourthly, in order to effectively protect children in physical education today the staff ought to possess adequate knowhow regarding medical and the needs of every pupil. Moral issues in coaching Lyle (2002) asserted that all the coaches involved in various sporting activity are expected to match the standards of ethics in different areas. The different areas under consideration include but not limited to humanity, relationships, teamwork, advertising and privileges of all parties involved. Each child has a right to be treated with respect, sensitivity and equity with no regard to gender, ethnicity, religion, political association, sexual orientation and even cultural background (Jo and Cale, 2006). Lyle and Cushion (2010) stated that a good coach main focus will be on the individual child’s well being, safety, protection and their future. Balance has to be created between the individual’s development of performance and the various needs which include; the social, emotional, physical and intellectual. This is done through effective and efficient interaction and communication with individuals in different professions. The needs of the children in physical exercise can effectively be met when a coach cooperates with medical and other relevant practitioners to help in diagnosing, treating and managing health and psychological problems in children. In most cases, coaches have regular contact with the children during the coaching and competitive course. Therefore, they should not abuse the privileges. NSPCC (2011) asserts that undue influence should not be exerted on children with the aim of getting any form of reward or winning. Coaches should not smoke during any sport session. In addition, they should not take alcohol prior to coaching as this will interfere with their competence and compromise the children’s safety. Case that was never forgotten was that of Keith Fletcher, a PE teacher who abused teenage girls 30 years ago in North Yorkshire. Keith Fletcher was guilty of indecent assault, attempt of sexual offence and gross indecency on teenage girls. The people in authority abuse their position of trust to offend children over and over again. The other reported case was that of Brian Moore who was also sexually abused by peer (NSPCC 2011). The abuses leave the victims highly traumatized, which can cause mental and emotional problems. Main form of child abuse is sexual harassment refers to bullying behavior based on sexuality. It includes forcing boys or girls to do something sexual. Abuse takes the form of unwanted touch, sexual remarks and gestures. According to DCSF (2009), in the year 2008 over 3450 sexual misconduct incidences were reported in England. Child abuse can lead to victim being overweight, compulsive eating, depression and fear among others. Counseling help the child victim recover and harsh penalties act as deterrents of the inhumane acts to offenders. Develop risk assessment skills Risk assessment and control of significant risks remains to be a legal requirement in the health and safety management and extends to the physical education context. This assessment is applicable in cases where there is foreseeable occurrence of hazards or risks. A hazard is defined as anything that may result in harm. A good example is a case where furniture is stored in an indoor hall and has pointed projections. Risk on the other hand is the likelihood that the hazard may harm an individual. The staff concern with child protection ought to decide whether a given hazard can be termed as significant. This way they will be able to establish and execute the appropriate precautions that will be useful in reducing or eliminating the present risks. The children need to understand through risk assessments that accidents are caused by numerous factors including bad weather, faulty equipment, falls, slipping and fighting. In addition, they need to know that common injuries during physical exercise include fractures, lacerations, abrasions as well as sprains and in extreme occasions death may occur. According to Graham et al (2007), using a risk assessment system which is all-inclusive, the physical education staff has an obligation to make appropriate decisions that will help in ensuring every child’s health and safety. Risk assessment may be classified into three; the first classification is the generic risk assessment where principles that are general applied to a given event despite of the location of occurrence. Secondly, it is classified as the activity specific risk assessment where it is conducted for each activity. Here, there will be certain considerations to be put in place. The considerations include the individuals concerned, the activity organization and its context. Thirdly, there is on-going risk assessment which is conducted while a given activity is ongoing. Emerging issues to be considered include various illnesses, weather alterations and occurrence of calamities. Summary Physical education is inevitable in children and should be a lot of fun for children to enjoy the physical activities instead of avoiding it due to its tremendous contribution to child’s wellbeing and development. It is the duty of adults to protect children from any harm because they do not have good judgment on potential risks surrounding them as they have not developed predictive or knowledge (Ball, 2011). Supervisors need to be alert at all times to signs of children in danger. It is the responsibility of the coach to ensure that every child is safe. Safe working environment ought to be established by utilizing all the reasonable steps. All the activities undertaken should be fit for the child’s age, ability, knowledge, and development both physically and emotionally. Coaches are also required to offer the necessary protection to children against any form of harm or abuse. It also the obligation of the coaches to organize for proper insurance cover to cover children involved in the various aspects of their activities. In child protection in physical education today, every pupil ought to: First, they have to be actively involved so that they can contribute to their own safety. Secondly, pupils should build up their competence in different areas such as; movement, techniques, skills, strategies and even choreography. Thirdly, in different movement events every child should have confidence. Fourthly, their behavior ought to be appropriate. This helps to avoid creation of situations that are risky. References Ball, D 2011, Risk and play changing positions in the United Kingdom, Middlesex University, London, viewed 22 March, 2012, . DCSF 2009, Permanent and fixed period exclusions from schools and exclusion appeals in England, 2007/8, DCSF, London. Graham, G, Holt, SA & Parker, M 2007, Children Moving: A reflective approach to teaching PE, McGraw-Hill, New York. Jo. H, & Cale, L 2006, ‘Professional matters; Good practice guidelines in physical education teacher education’, British Journal of Teaching Physical Education, vol. 37, no. 1, pp17 – 19. Lyle, J & Cushion, C 2010, Sports Coaching: Professionalisation and Practice, Elsevier, Edinburgh. Lyle, J. 2002, Sports Coaching Concepts: A framework for coaches’ behavior, Routledge, London. NSPCC 2011, Safeguarding children in sport, Issue 18 Autumn 2011, London, viewed 22 March, 2012, . Sportengland n.d., Child protection achievement for CSPs, viewed 22 March, 2012, . Read More