Fine Gael on sport in Schools
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Fine Gael’s Jimmy Deenihan outlined some of Fine Gael’s proposals on sports. While it was mainly about what we should spend more on rather than how we will actually pay for it, it has some interesting ideas with in it and would advise you to give it a quick read. But the one that got me was this:
Fine Gael will make 2 hours Physical Education a week compulsory in our primary and post-primary schools.
Now, the first question I have is if you are going to do this, what subjects are going to lose out to accommodate this. Being Fine Gael, I guess Irish. In my school we had about 90 minutes of compulsory PE, but what happened was that the boys would grab a football and kick it around for the entire length of time of PE, while the majority of girls in the class “forgot” their gear and spent their time chatting. Only one or two would bring in gear and either play basketball, join the boys in soccer, or get bored with being the only one with gear and spend the time chatting. The PE teacher’s time (sometimes we had two teachers supervising as we shared a PE class with another class) was involved trying to get the girls involved because the boys would go out and play sport and thus they left us to our own devices.
The problem with participation in sport in schools is often not the facilities (my school had indoor courts and a pitch) but with the students attitudes. And that is a lot harder to deal with. Indeed, children spending longer in doors than before is all about attitude. When we grew up what facilities did we have? I had a bike and a football. If it was raining, I got a coat. True, I lived in the country and the roads are safer and green spaces bigger. But what ever happened to the kick about in the estate?
While Fine Gael are right when they say that:
In many schools, the taking of a PE Class depended on the weather, as 51.4% or (over 700) had no indoor facilities. 25.3% or (350) had a multi purpose room, only 23.3% had a sports hall and 90% of sports halls were less than 170m² or smaller than two badminton courts.
But I don’t believe that is the sole issue.
But another question is, if you are going to take extra time for PE, should the school year be made longer so no subject loses out?
What happened to the kick about the estate? Moaning parents who were worried about their cars, and residents associations that cared more about how the grass looked than who was using it.