Report tells schools to shun team sports
By Pete Hayman
Schools should cut down on competitive team sports and concentrate on individual activities, according to a new study from Loughborough University.
Laura Ward, of the university's School of Sport and Exercise Science, launched the report at the annual British Educational Research Association in Edinburgh. It follows a recent pledge by the government to increase the amount of compulsory sport provided by schools in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics. The report describes how schools have been required to teach pupils about health-related exercise (HRE) since 1992, as well as team games, in an attempt to encourage lifelong involvement in physical activity. But the research from Loughborough University says that although some schools do offer non-competitive activities, such as aerobics and hill-walking, too many PE teachers are still pushing the importance of team sports within the curriculum. The result, according to the study, is that HRE is used mainly as a means to test fitness, and is putting children off PE. The report also reveals that the vast majority of 112 PE teachers questioned believed HRE to be a valuable part of the PE curriculum, but many have a poor understand of how to promote such activity. "The limited experience that many teachers had of health-related exercise in their initial training may be a key contributor to the narrow views and limited understanding that many had," said Ward. " Teachers' own deeply-embedded attitudes are also influential. "The cycle is unlikely to be broken without more training. Continuing professional development, focusing specifically on health-related exercise, could help to equip teachers with the knowledge, skills and understanding to promote physical activity more effectively."
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Schools should cut down on competitive team sports and concentrate on individual activities, according to a new study from Loughborough University.
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