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PHYSICAL EDUCATION EVALUATION

A critical discussion concerning evaluation in Physical Education in second level schools of

UK

January 29, 2010

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.