Far from setting people up to be physically active for life, school PE lessons can put people off sport forever, according to research carried out by the University of Birmingham.
Of the 1,800 people surveyed for
The Big PE Conversation, half said school PE didn’t help them to become more physically active. One quarter of males and one third of females said they never, or rarely enjoyed, PE.
The research was sparked by the current high levels of physical inactivity in the British population: according to ukactive, 17 per cent of premature deaths in the UK are a result of inactivity.
“Given that we are not sufficiently active, we thought it would be fascinating to ask people about their school PE experiences,” said Professor Kathleen Armour, from the University of Birmingham.
Being sent outside in all weathers in short sleeves and embarrassment about body issues were all considered off-putting issues when today’s adult population were at school, but have things improved?
Schools now put the emphasis on teaching skills rather than playing the sports and more recently there have been curriculum changes to increase the level of competition in schools. However, according to Ofsted, there are still a number of issues about primary school sport in state schools: it is not strenuous enough, not frequent enough and teachers don’t have sufficient knowledge.
In recent years, various suggestions have been mooted to increase engagement, including hairdryers in changing rooms for the image conscious and offering Zumba, but so far the magic formula is yet to be found.
Meanwhile, in her editor's letter for the
latest edition of
Sports Management magazine, Liz Terry said the wider sports industry is waking up to the huge impact which bad school experiences have on sports participation, but believes more needs to be done.
"There’s often a gulf between attitudes and behaviours – kids may say they love sport, but not take part, while others claim not to be interested, but take part on a more regular basis because of motivation from friends and family," she wrote.
"There’s much to change if ‘PE’ is to become the bedrock of adult health we know it could be. We need more awareness of the needs of young people, greater skill in engaging with them and in the delivery of experiences which are habit forming and leave them with the motivation to make it part of their adult lives."
