PE remains constrained by lack of State certification

MANY PARENTS whose children are involved in sports will vouch for the fact that their own lives are made much easier as a result.

There's no more worrying about where they are and what they're doing, since children who are seriously involved in sport and physical exercise are far less likely to smoke, drink or indulge in substance abuse.

However, encouraging children to become involved in sport and physical activity can be problematic.

Educators are adamant that physical education is about education for life. Given our largely sedentary lifestyles, we must take regular, vigorous exercise. According to Professor Neil Armstrong of the Physical Education Research Centre at the University of Exeter "children should be encourage to internalise the motivation to be active, so that when the extrinsic motivation of the teacher is removed, the child will continue with an active lifestyle".

Speaking at the Irish National Physical Education Conference in 1994, he added that "to achieve `active independence' children need to understand the principles underlying healthy activity and be taught how to become informed decision makers, who can plan and implement individual activity programmes that - can be periodically re appraised and modified as they get older".

Michael McGannon, director of the Institute for Children's Sport in Ireland, agrees. "The Department of Education and Sports Council have a sports and promoting a culture of participation."

And we must start from the cradle. Already, in New Zealand, parents of young children are given guidelines to assist them in the physical education of their children, he says. By the time children start national school aged four or five years old they should have developed basic motor skills, co ordination and balance.

However, McGannon says, "we can no longer assume that children can go out and play. We have to provide safe play centres and play opportunities for them. A lot of work on movement can be done at preschool level."

Similarly, sport must be made more child centred. "Games need to be modified to meet the needs of children," McGannon says. There's a growing awareness that children are not interested in being cajoled into highly structured sports, and that there is a need to reduce the element of competition and change the rules to increase participation. In mini basketball, for example, the scoring rules have been modified so that each player has to have handled the ball before the team can score." Some teenagers go to great lengths to avoid sports because they are embarrassed about their bodily changes, Pat O'Connor says. "The differential rates of growth and development of youngsters, acne, and a fear that they have put on weight can make them reluctant to tog out for sports. It can be a source of stress and must be carefully handled," he says.

There's widespread concern that PE programmes are difficult to deliver at primary school level because of poor pre service teacher training and the lack of in service training, Michael McGannon says. However, he says, this should change once the NCCA introduces the new PE curriculum.

Dr Tony Watson argues in favour of the introduction of specialist PE teachers at first level. "PE is a very specialised area you can get injuries in PE and some teachers are worried about that. National school teachers don't have the in depth training necessary.

"At UL we spent four years training our PE teachers and we couldn't do it in a shorter period of time. If you don't have that amount of training you're not properly equipped," he says.

PE is a marginalised area in Irish schools, because it is not part of the core curriculum at second level and lacks the status of certification. Every child should have the right to a balanced PE programme, Grainne O'Donovan argues. PE, taught by specialists, should be compulsory at second level, she says.

"The vast bulk of the curriculum focuses on cognitive development, but it is equally important that children are educated so that they will take responsibility for their personal health and well being as adults," O'Donovan says. "This education must happen in schools - it must start in primary school and continue at second level."

Pat O'Connor concurs. "There's too great a focus on theory and on exams. If 20 per cent of the curriculum content was removed, we could provide children with a better balance by spending more time on personal development, health promotion and physical fitness."

However, the fate of PE lies in the hands of the Department of Education, which would be faced with huge resourcing bills if it opted to make PE a compulsory and certified subject at second level. On the other hand, what we would spend on providing health and fitness programmes, using PE specialists in well equipped sports halls, could well be saved in health bills in years to come.

There's a strong argument for a number of Government departments, including Education, Health and Social Welfare, combining forces and ensuring that every child (and indeed their parents) has access to well structured PE programmes.