Physical Education and School Sport

The link between a lack of exercise, over-eating and obesity is well documented, as is the correlation between obesity and type 2 diabetes. There is nothing new in recent suggestions that physical education should be “tested”. I have always been an advocate that specialist PE teachers should be deployed in primary schools, not to teach formal sport, but to educate young children about the importance of movement,  balance, flexibility, agility and skill learning.

I have empathy with those who are disaffected from the traditional team sports. In my view, we will not engage with the exercise agenda through those activities. In the early 1990’s Professor Neil Armstrong, at Exeter University found that the only activity which raised the heart rate of teenagers, (especially girls) to significant levels, was disco-dancing.

A year ago, I watched a television documentary, where two of the professionals from “Strictly Come Dancing” went into a London school and selected twelve couples, whom within a month were able to dance in formation and as couples at Blackpool Tower Ballroom, to a very high standard. These were teenagers whom from the outset barely wanted to talk to the opposite sex let alone touch them and dance with them. The results were amazing and showed that if one finds the right physical activity, which is taught well and is fun, children will engage and enjoy exercise. That seems to me to be the real challenge for teachers and parents.