A basic principle of high quality PE and sport is that all young people improve and should achieve in line with their age and potential (DFES 2004b). In conjunction with the ECM agenda and outcome ‘be safe,’ pupils being taught in chronological age at school provides a protected learning environment where teachers can place similar ability opponents in a PE lesson to oppose another. Through matching similar ability pupils of the same age, the likelihood of any sporting accidents or injuries are decreased due to the involvement of individuals during any practice or game scenario.
The stay safe principle in ECM is paramount in all PE lessons regardless of the sport played, gender, ability or age of pupils. When undergoing lesson planning in PE teachers should ensure that the safety of pupils is fundamental. Obviously being an active and sociable subject, during lessons there will be a risk of accidents or injuries but the teacher must ensure they minimise such a risk and take preventative measures to reduce the likelihood of any injury. When planning for a Dodgeball lesson for instance, a teacher conditions the game rules providing regulations such as players are out when the ball is hit beneath the waist and pupils throwing the ball cannot move. Additionally, the teacher requests when pupils are out, they sit in a designated area away from the game-play. Such conditions, therefore, reduce the chance of any accidents occurring whilst pupils can still enjoy and participate in such a sport. This also relates to the subject knowledge of high quality PE standards set out by the DCMS.
The third basic principle of high quality PE states that all young people, whatever their circumstances or ability, should take part in and enjoy PE and sport (DFES 2004b). By schools providing a diverse range of sports and activities for pupils to engage in, pupils are therefore more likely to be given the opportunity to perform in one or more sports they enjoy. This increases the likelihood of pupils partaking in such a sport during out of school hours. For example a year 7 male pupil having enjoyed and played Rugby successfully during lessons, may seek to further his knowledge and ability within the sport and participate in extra-curricular school Rugby training sessions. This links PE with enjoying and achieving in the ECM agenda.
In addition, such time spent pursuing a hobby in spare time therefore occupies and is likely to improve a pupil. In some cases this could lead to youngsters reaching levels in performance in which they are rewarded financial success through bursaries or scholarships or appearance and match bonus salaries. In such a case, the teaching of PE therefore concurs with the ECM agenda of achieving economic success. Furthermore, PE teachers working with Gifted and Talented (GT) or young professional athletes provide an opportunity for youngsters to develop to enhance performance where a career in sport is possible. Many professional performers across a breadth of sports can achieve a good salary through wages, marketing, advertising or branding, a further factor which shows how PE teaching relates to the programme of ECM.
There are several pertinent aspects that relate PE lessons and the ECM outline. As an example, following a sequence of football lessons a pupil is eager to further improve his football skills and progress within the sport. The pupil has many professional role models who follow a strict training, diet and lifestyle regime. In order to aspire to such role models, the pupil improves his diet, eating less chocolate and snack foods and attempting to replace them with fruit and vegetables. He also hydrates throughout the day to maximise the benefits of training in order to enhance performance. Such lifestyle changes are likely to benefit the pupil and relate to all topics covered in the ECM. Through improved training the pupil obviously improves his health while enjoying the training and finding improved football performance rewarding. His friends may also begin to train with him having observed such benefits and his improvement in football. This in particular demonstrates making a positive contribution from the ECM programme. One aspect of such changes to the pupil’s lifestyle following a sequence of PE lessons, could also promote staying safe from ECM. The time spent training and progressing to become a more able footballer provides a stimulus for the pupil and increases his avoidance into any distractions from society. In detail, school pupils, especially those from less economic or insecure social backgrounds could be influenced by friends or local gang members into illegal activities such as vandalism or drug dealing that would affect their personal safety, learning or economic status.
There are various aspects in which ECM is related to the nature of PE teaching within the curriculum. In line with the principle of personalised many sports such as Tennis, Badminton, Athletics and Gymnastics are all individual sports where children’s learning can be easily adapted to suit an individual. During such sports pupils’ progression, with adequate and effective teaching methods, coincides with the individual’s personal ability and learning speed. For instance, during an initial preparation lesson in Gymnastics, PE teachers assess pupil ability of essential skills relevant to the sport including balance, hand eye coordination, flexibility and strength. In subsequent lessons the teacher can therefore plan a variety of practices working on basic principles of Gymnastics where all members of the class are challenged in a safe, yet structured way to improve pupil ability
In contrast, teachers could also use mixed ability teaching for personalised learning in both individual and team sports through peer assessment. As an example, a teacher provides all class members an evaluation sheet of shooting in football with illustrations and teaching points of the correct demonstration. Pupils then in pairs assess their partner’s execution of the technique and evaluate any strengths and weaknesses. Each pupil then undergoes feedback with their partner for an individualised learning tool, in addition to understanding the principles of a certain technique. Such assessment indicates how mixed learning and individual subject knowledge can be incorporated into the 21st century curriculum and personalised learning, the basic principle of the ECM agenda. Such a method could be utilised at all levels of PE covering key stage (KS) 3 – 5.
Comparable to peer assessment in PE are Sport Education programmes that many schools are introducing into schemes of work to teach and improve the pupils’ subject knowledge within the curriculum from KS4 onwards (PESSCL 2004). PE departments have recently collated packages containing basic lesson plans for a certain sport covering the schemes of work. This pack is used by pupils to organise and teach themselves the coaching points and principles of many skills relevant to sport over duration of lessons. Throughout the lessons, pupils alternate between roles (such as warm up coach, equipment manager, referee, sport scientist) to enhance their learning. Through such learning pupils therefore work as individuals, in groups and in teams, developing concepts of fairness and of personal and social responsibility. They take on different roles and responsibilities, including leadership, coaching and officiating. Through the range of experiences that PE offers, they learn how to be effective in competitive, creative and challenging situations.
Such a programme that could be accessible to many educational systems not only teaches pupils principles of PE, but also skills that are relevant in a social context that could assist in areas such as the working environment and higher education courses. In addition these skills could also be applied in theory lessons during tasks such as group work or research to enhance their personal learning.
The use of ECM provides an instructive tool in the development of PE teaching addressing many issues across society. PE within the curriculum gives all youngsters access to exercise through various modes of sports and activities which can help tackle issues within society. In relation to ECM, physical activity can improve a child’s well being and therefore enhance their involvement, impact and positive contribution within society. There is substantial evidence to support the role of physical activity from PE in promoting good health. Within society, of particular concern are the rising levels of obesity. Over the past twenty years obesity levels has tripled, with continuation of such a trend leading to a quarter of all adults in the UK to be obese by 2010 (www.dh.gov.uk).
A recent survey outlines that in one year obesity accounted for:
- 18 million days of sickness absence
- 40000 lost years of working life
- 30000 deaths, of which 9000 related to obesity before state retirement
- £0.5 billion cost to the NHS
- £2 billion indirect cost to the economy
High quality PE with an increased time period within the curriculum could obviously help prevent the severity of such conditions. In response to such research the DfES and DCMS set out a public agreement target outlining 5 – 16 year olds to spend a minimum of 4 hours in high quality PE each week by 2010. Such an objective shows dramatic increases of original targets outlining a minimum of 2 hours PE for 75% and 85% of pupils in 2006 and 2008 respectively as previously documented (DCMS 2004) This highlights the importance of the government’s impact in effecting the society through education.
As a result of the expected increase of PE pupils will learn about the value of healthy, active lifestyles. While in school discovering what they like to do and what their aptitudes are at school, in addition to how and where to get involved in physical activity, pupils are likely to make informed choices about lifelong physical activity. This could lead to improvements in the number of many preventable diseases in the near future, in particular coronary heart disease (CHD).
CHD kills more than 110000 people in England each year, with the government committed to reducing the death by at least 40% by 2010. CHD is estimated to cost the UK economy over £7.9 billion a year, with almost 60% related to productivity losses and informal care (). Such costs, as with obesity, could be dramatically reduced with continued physical activity. Through discovering and experiencing the benefits of regular exercise from an early age during PE lessons youngsters are likely to continue participation through to adulthood and decrease the incidence of CHD and obesity deaths (). This could reduce government spending and free up money and fund’s that could be spent otherwise.
The national curriculum programme of study and schemes of work for PE also provides starting points for valuing diversity and challenging racism in the classroom. In conjunction with the ECM programme the national curriculum statutory inclusion statement sets out schools’ responsibilities for meeting the needs of all pupils and provides examples of how this can be achieved. The six kinds of physical activity covered include dance, games, gymnastics, swimming and water safety, athletic activities and outdoor and adventure activities (www.qca.org.uk). In performing such activities, pupils are required to develop specific skills that not only advance their knowledge of the PE activity but also by their nature, help pupils’ value factors such as diversity and challenge racism. For instance, during dance pupils explore cultural expression. In more detail, PE activities offer pupils prospects to develop key skills and citizenship skills that can help them value and challenge issues within society such as racism, providing opportunities for pupils to:
- Develop a sense of their own identity by making decisions about what they do and how they do it
- Work together in teams to achieve a common goal, respecting and valuing everyone’s contribution and those of others
- Explore sports, challenges and dances from their own communities, religions and cultures
- Share and respect different peoples values, perspectives and ideas
- Identify and discuss moral and social issues surrounding PE, sport and dance
- Recognise how competitions and festivals can give people a clear sense of identity and belonging
- Learn how to recognise and celebrate their own and other success and how to cope with losing
Such examples highlight how PE not only provides physical activity benefits upon pupils, but also an opportunity to learn social skills that are valuable in many environments within society.
In conclusion PE has many central and pertinent links to the ECM agenda and will play a key role in the development of pupils’ in the 21st century. As schools begin to develop a personalised learning approach the teaching of PE can assist not only the physical development of pupils, but also their professional development for continued learning. The importance of PE in school is now being highlighted, with long term targets set to increase youngsters’ participation in sport which relate to both the ECM programme and many issues facing society. With ECM providing a modern stimulus for all levels of education the future of PE teaching within schools plays an exciting and significant role in developing pupils for a modern society.
Bibliography
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2. Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) (2004) Do you have high quality PE and sport in your school? A Guide to self evaluating and improving the quality of PE and school sport.
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6. The British Heart Foundation (2007) Economic costs of CVD and CHD
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7. The Department of Health (2006) Forecasting Obesity to 2010 prepared for the Department of Health
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9. The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (2006) Physical Education
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