I firmly believe there are two types of people in this world: those who enjoyed PE in school, and those who would do everything in their power to avoid it. Whilst ostensibly PE is accessible to all, as it is part of the national curriculum in schools across the UK, the lessons themselves are often rendered increasingly inaccessible. Whether this be as a consequence of teenage insecurities, cruel PE teachers, or insufficient funding for state schools, leading to playing hockey with a tennis ball (which is virtually impossible), PE is a failing subject in schools that many are pleased to escape.
When PE is taught effectively and properly, I am certain that its positive attributes ring true. Exercise is known to reduce levels of anxiety and improve low moods, which would be a helpful act in schools, where academic pressure is at the forefront of most students’ minds. However, for the many suffering through physical education, this is not the case.
One reason for this is students being placed in sets based on ability. Primarily because setting children in PE has no function as it is an unassessed subject. Yet, more dangerously, this promotes an unhealthy and dangerous relationship with exercise as it categorises children from a young age into binaries of active and sporty, or lazy and discombobulated. Despite having done gymnastics since the age of two, upon starting high school I was placed in the bottom set, which fundamentally altered my opinion on sports for life.
As if being labelled an inactive slob is not bad enough, PE teachers can be some of the cruellest, most child-hating adults on the planet. Everyone is aware of the stereotypical image of a PE teacher wrapped up in several layers, screaming at a group of year eight girls that it is not cold, as they are forced to run around in a school sanctioned PE skort.
Yet, the blatant hypocrisy is not even the worst act a PE teacher can commit. They are infamous for body shaming, criticising and mocking those who are not gifted at running around fields and hitting balls with sticks. A common module in PE focuses on fitness, including the bleep test, cross country running, and conditioning. This often follows the Christmas break in the bleak months of January and February. What words of encouragement would be shouted from the sidelines during this torture? Well, for the girls, that would be the reminder that any weight gained from Christmas dinner would need to be lost if we ever wanted any hope of finding a husband!
These ruthless comments coupled with the fear of being picked last for the team, having to get changed in front of your peers, and the overwhelming dread that you might trip over, all contribute to the inaccessibility of PE for the individual. However, on a broader scale, the disparity in PE between state and private schools contributes further to the elitism that dominates the sphere of physical education.
State schools have severely limited funding often meaning the specific balls or bats required for different sports were substituted for something else. Hockey with tennis balls, badminton with tennis balls and dodgeball with tennis balls were definitely not the best way to learn how to play these sports, let alone enjoy them. Where private schools have the money to afford specialised equipment, state schools fall short.
Additionally, private schools are renowned for their sports departments with many privately educated children participating in some form of physical exercise every day. This draws a marked contrast to some state schools where two hours a week was the maximum, and often short staffing led to just sitting in the changing rooms and talking for an hour.
Ultimately, this shows that rather than fostering a nurturing environment to develop children’s enthusiasm for sport, PE classes encourage talent in forging parents’ signatures for sick notes, and a hatred for exercise. The contrast between state and private schools emphasises this, as it encourages a further divide between children simply based on their parents’ economic status — something within the PE system needs to change to motivate a sense of enjoyment within exercise rather than a fear of it.
Photo by Patrick Schöpflin on Unsplash
