Innovative teaching of PE and sport

Childhood obesity is recognised as a major problem: there has been a 40% increase in childhood obesity within the UK over the past 10 years. Now over 60% of two- to 15-year-old children are overweight. Children spend a lot of their time in cars, on computers or watching television. Doctors have warned that overweight children are increasingly suffering from health problems usually associated with middle age, such as joint pains and diabetes. Not surprisingly, schools are being urged to tackle the issue by teaching nutrition and encouraging more physical exercise. The thinking is that if children develop an interest in sport and physical activity during their school years, such interests are likely to remain with them for the rest of their lives.

Conflict...
Schools are therefore being told to provide five hours of physical education a week as part of the curriculum. Sounds easy? As every primary head knows, that is not the case. First of all comes the problem of finding space within an already overstretched timetable since every subject has priority for one reason or another. Some schools concentrate on providing a short period of physical education during the week and focusing on provision of after schools sports clubs as a way of providing the maximum number of hours. There is a key problem with this approach – not every child will benefit. Some will have other things to do after school; some will not be interested in the sports on offer; while some simply prefer to go home.

The difficulty increases as children, especially girls, grow older. Many girls can lose interest in sports as they develop physically. They do not want to take part in contact sports because they feel conscious about their bodies.

There is also the problem of the teachers themselves. Not everyone will have happy memories of school sports activities and many will be reluctant to take an active part. They may not know much about teaching games and their lack of skill (and interest!) inevitably rubs off on the children. And what do you do when it is a cold, miserable day? Many children do not like going out to play football or netball or run around in thin sportswear in such weather. After all, getting cold and wet can lead to illness.

The final part of the problem lies in the mix of activities that are usually made available – rounders, football, netball, athletics, swimming and gymnastics. Such activities may not appeal to every child. Many children are simply not very good at these sports and so do not feel inclined to make an effort within the classes.

...and solutions
Thankfully there are solutions to what can seem like an unsolvable problem. The key issue is to get children interested in sport, which means schools have to be more flexible about what they offer. This will increase the opportunity of engaging the interest of all children. A child who is uninterested in traditional sports could well be much happier with dance, yoga or even skating. 

To begin with, find out what teachers’ own interests are. There may be someone on the staff who enjoys dancing and could do folk, tap, Spanish or Irish dancing with the children. London teacher John Ridgeway has school groups covering 100 years of dance styles including rock and roll, street dance and hip-hop. It is said to be a very popular session. There may be someone who enjoys skating and could do roller skating sessions; or take the children on a visit to an ice-rink.

The Adopt A School programme run by the Fitness Industry Association can provide new experiences and ideas. Funded by the government, this programme sets out to link primary schools with health clubs/leisure centres with the aim of introducing children to new and challenging activities not traditionally offered in schools. Since its inception in September 2006, over 530 schools nationwide have been involved.

The programme focuses on 10- to 11-year-olds. It provides a 60-minute activity session for at least six weeks. There is usually a range of activities provided over that period ranging from using gym machines to body combat, street dance, mini circuits, yoga and even power kiting. Two activities are available each week, with groups switching half-way through the session.  The final session normally provides an opportunity for children to choose their favourite activity.

At the end of the programme, children are encouraged to continue their new interests by offering other visits to the club or centre. Sometimes the instructors will go out to schools and give additional sessions. Feedback has shown that the programme is popular with both children and teachers. All enjoy learning new skills. It can re-enthuse teachers as to the prospect of teaching physical education and give them more confidence. Children have commented that they have enjoyed learning from other adults rather than the classroom teacher they know so well.

Pressures on the curriculum can be eased by combining some sports sessions with other activities. Picklenash Primary School in Gloucester uses an innovative programme called Wake and Shake, which utilises interactive whiteboard teaching. It is an initiative designed to help schools hit targets for physical activity and involves simple, repetitive aerobic exercises set to music. The Hitachi whiteboards display the exercises that children and teachers follow in their classrooms every afternoon. ‘The common perception of technology is that it encourages children to be sedentary, so we really liked the fact that the interactive whiteboard was so crucial to the success of a Wake and Shake, and that the children and teachers have great fun,’ said Amy Voss, PE coordinator at Picklenash. ‘The whiteboards have enabled us to get all parts of the school involved at once, and consequently Wake and Shake has quickly become an accepted part of school life.’

The school says it has seen a real benefit to implementing the Wake and Shake programme, including improved fitness, greater concentration and positive feedback from both pupils and teachers.

In London, schools have been experimenting with Tai Chi sessions developed as a result of video-conferencing sessions with a school in China. The Chinese children taught the Tai Chi positions to the English children, who then went on to pass on their new skills to other children in the area.

Many young children gain much of their physical education from simple music and movement sessions. Consequently, some schools are introducing Tatty Bumpkin movement sessions. These involve telling a story to which the children have to make suitable movements. For example, they have to move through the Giggle Tree where they end up in another land. The journey itself could be the entire story, investigating different ways of moving; alternatively it could carry on into whatever land the teacher desires such as a jungle or a farm. While in the other land they have to make suitable movements perhaps like animals, or stretching exercises. At the end of the story there is a settling down time when the children practice deep breathing exercises. Then, depending on the age of the children, they continue the theme with art and craft, or discussing the structure of the story they have heard thus linking into literacy sessions.

A more conventional option is available through the Yazoo tag rugby programme. The aim is to introduce tag rugby – a non-contact sport ideal for primary school children – to around 450,000 school children. It is also donating balls, tag belts and other equipment to thousands of schools across the country. Over the next two years, the programme will deliver 50,000 training sessions each year in schools. Once trained, teams can join in tag rugby festivals where they can compete against other teams.

Many football clubs throughout the country offer special activities for school children. This can include sports coaching as at Ipswich Town football club where children get an opportunity to learn football skills from a professional. Simply meeting up with players and club staff can invigorate children as they can see for themselves why healthy activity is important. Sheffield United, for example, runs a Fit for School programme specifically designed for five- to seven-year-old children. It aims to both entertain and inform children. Sessions include talks about the pre- and post-match nutrition and exercise regimes of the players, visits to the pitch via the players tunnel; discussions with a player about his lifestyle and fitness regime.

Schools with an ethnic mix that includes strict Muslims can experience problems encouraging girls to take part in sports. This is a situation which has to be sensitively dealt with as it relates to the need for girls to wear suitable clothing. Strict Muslims do not like girls revealing parts of their bodies – even arms and legs. As teacher John Ridgeway discovered, this can be overcome by discussions with parents. Parents want their children to be healthy and fit and if the reasons are explained clearly, will often relax their clothing rules. Often wearing a tracksuit will be sufficient.

Costs can be a deterrent to developing sports activity within a school. Sports equipment costs money. As a result schools have to be inventive. Sponsorship may be possible for school teams or special activities. Local businesses may be willing to supply a new set of football shirts, balls or goal posts in return for having their name displayed and mentioned in school publicity.

Sports equipment vouchers
Every year, supermarkets such as Tesco and Sainsbury’s run voucher schemes. These involve massive collection initiatives in which the whole school and local community become involved. Vouchers are given for a specific amount of money spent in a store. By collecting up the vouchers, schools can gain enough vouchers to exchange for sports equipment.

Such schemes are undoubtedly popular. The 2005 Tesco Sport for Schools and Clubs involved 32,000 schools and clubs receiving a share in £11.6m of sporting equipment and coaching. While the Sainsbury’s Active Kids scheme involved over 31,000 schools and nurseries receiving a share of £34m worth of equipment.

It does require quite a lot of collecting on the part of children, teachers, parents and the local community. It takes a long time to collect vouchers. Typical schemes provide one voucher for every £10 spent in store. Anyone collecting Nectar points can also convert these for Sainsbury’s Active Kids vouchers (500 Nectar points equals 50 Active Kids vouchers). The redemption value is low. Under the Tesco scheme, a £3,000 zinc and steel trampoline will require 99,990 vouchers to be collected – this represents a total instore spend of almost £1m. Likewise in the Active Kids campaign, parents would have to spend £1,500 in store to get the 150 vouchers needed for a tennis racket.

London 2012
Further impetus to school sports is likely to come as a result of the decision to hold the 2012 Olympics in Britain. The London 2012 movement has said that they will be seeking to develop a schools programme but no information is at present available. It is unlikely that much information will be provided until after the Beijing Games.

Clearly sports education will remain on the agenda for primary schools for many years to come. It is up to schools to decide how they can maximise the benefits for their pupils but there is no doubt that it will have long-term effects on the wellbeing of both pupils and staff.

Angela Youngman is a teacher and freelance writer