Are Physical Educators On the Way to Extinction?

“Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later: Ten Years Later and Have We Seen Any Change?” was the title of an article I wrote 10 years ago. It appeared in a monograph issue of the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education that presented multiple perspectives on the 1996 Surgeon General’s report (USDHHS, 1996). It was my attempt to optimistically capture the history and future of the Physical Educator’s role. Now, 10 years later I once again find myself in that same reflective space, except I am even more guarded in my optimism. Yes, change does take time but my patience grows thin.

In the 1970’s, there was a FRAM oil filter commercial in which a mechanic holds an inexpensive oil filter and then points to an expensive engine repair job. The tag line was “Pay Me Now or Pay Me Later.” This tag line reflects attitudes toward physical education and physical activity. Our profession offers ways to stay healthy, but society seems content to pay for expensive repairs (Cone, 2004).

Today, I still believe that we are like the oil filter, yet we are confronted with a structure and reward system that make it increasingly more difficult to become the solution. Principals and superintendents are rewarded for grades, STEM, and standardized test scores, not for health promotion. Instead, it’s the medical profession, the engine repairers that get the respect. Surveys have shown that the general public believes that physical education should be part of the curriculum. But when decision makers see programs that don’t offer quality physical education experiences, it leaves them wondering whether we truly are a contributing partner. And this leads me to contemplate, “Are physical educators on the road to extinction?”

My frustration is based on empirical and anecdotal data that indicate the general malaise in our profession. Yes, there are a few quality physical education programs, but they are clearly in the minority. Unfortunately, the majority of programs act to speak for all programs and the message is not flattering. My belief is that if this trend continues then we are on the path to extinction. Physical educators will be replaced with physical activity specialists who run programs before and after school.

These activity specialists will not be paid teachers’ salaries and will not have full-time employment status. They will become the “service industry” component of education. The offerings will benefit students but not all students will have access to them. Physical education will neither be a part of the curriculum nor a part of the mainstream educational process. Does that sound negative? It does from my perspective. Although I believe that physical activity specialists are valuable, they simply aren’t replacements for physical educators. Each has different goals. I believe that Physical Education is an essential component of a quality education, but to gain a place at the head table we must be willing to change. Here are some suggestions I propose we consider:

1. Everyone must embrace the concept of teaching ALL children regardless of ability and providing them with the skills and experiences they need for an active and healthful lifetime. The “roll-out-the-ball” teaching strategy has to end and, yes, it’s going to involve a culture change from both the teacher’s and the student’s perspectives. It amazes me (actually it dumbfounds me), when physical educators meet classes for the first time, take roll, mention a few skills, and then move quickly into games and tournaments. Would these same physical educators do that with their coaching responsibilities? Would they scrimmage for the entire practice? I doubt it. Invariably, they’d spend time working on fundamentals and breaking down skills and strategies. We should be doing the same thing in our physical education classrooms.
2. Our assessments must be based on our students demonstrating knowledge, performance, and attitude changes. We can no longer afford to grade simply on whether or not a student changes into a uniform, shows limited participation, and is generally agreeable! I frequently ask my students if they received a good grade in math class by simply showing up with a pencil and a smile on their face. You can’t tell me that math is less difficult than physical education, yet we defend our grading practices with claims that “movement” or “athletic” activities are difficult to learn. Education should be taking someone from an entry level, or their starting point, to a level of competency. This can and should be assessed.
3. Physical educators have to become part of the school culture. More specifically, we should embrace the educational changes taking place in our buildings as participants not reactionaries. We far too often isolate ourselves in the appendage know as the gymnasium rather than engaging in the whole school dialogue. We tend to react to program or policy changes (often negatively), rather than being proactive and helping to shape the direction. Our voices and concerns will not be heard if we aren’t part of the conversation. We need to be strategically represented and not let our coaching and other responsibilities stand in the way. It’s possible to rotate representatives to accommodate coaching seasons. The bottom line is that we must be present to be heard.
4. Let’s act like educators. If we don’t, why should we expect our teaching colleagues to respect us? SGOs or SLOs are two of the current acronyms that dot our educational landscape. Why do we find it so hard to identify student goals or learning outcomes? Why do so many in the profession choose to use fitness test scores? Is it because this is the only data they are collecting and the easiest solution to the assessment expectations? Surely all of us are aware of the cautionary comments about using fitness scores to assess learning? As I mentioned, we need to change how we teach and what we assess to be recognized by others as educators. If we don’t assume the role of teachers, our future may lie in simply providing supervised activity before and after school.
5. We have to become indispensable in the school curriculum. We have missed huge opportunities by isolating ourselves rather than embracing curriculum connections. Physical education and health are the most interdisciplinary subjects in the curriculum. We have the most to offer when connecting to other subject areas. However, we frequently indicate that it is all we can do to cover the physical education content and simply don’t have time for any cross-curricular efforts. There is a huge opportunity for physical education to shine if we would only accept the challenge to use cross-disciplinary or interdisciplinary content and approaches in our teaching.
6. The recent Common Core State Standards (CCSS) are a prime example of how we can contribute to student learning. In the CCSS the focus is on critical thinking and analysis and there is no reason why we can’t connect this with our teaching. Even when our students are involved and active we can still seek the deeper layers of learning. As we continue to reinforce successful attempts, let’s ask the “Why” questions. “Why were you successful?” or “What can you do to correct that error?” This will not only improve the learning experience, but it will better equip our students with the thinking and analytical skills essential for future success in life.
7. Let’s refocus our curriculums to meet student needs. We far too frequently design a curriculum around what we enjoy teaching. Times have changed since we were students. We need to periodically revisit our mission, goals, and offerings and present curriculums that are rich both vertically and horizontally. The vertical offerings are our units. These should contain content beneficial to students in their future lives. The horizontal offerings include those themes and concepts that move across all of our units. These frequently will directly relate to school initiatives, educational reforms, or annual school goals. If we do this, physical education will become an integral part of the school-wide curricular process and an invaluable contributor to our children’s education.
8. I will leave number 8 to you. You can insert your concern and develop a solution. Consider it a type of New Year’s Resolution to help us move forward. Feel free to email it to me!

My disposition for our professional future is not the optimistic one that I had ten years ago. I thought then that we had so many supporting events it would help us move forward. In all honesty, I don’t think we’ve changed much but I do remain hopeful that we have not completely lost the opportunity. I’m convinced that if we don’t collectively make changes ourselves in the teaching of physical education, our roles as public school physical educators will be changed for us. We will no longer have a presence in the school curriculum. We will become physical activity specialists offering experiences before and after school. While this role is not bad, it will be different. Today, we have the knowledge, skills, and attitudes to elevate physical education to a higher place. But we must change what we are presently doing. We have to reach inside ourselves and activate the necessary changes or risk extinction.

References
Cone, S. (2004). Pay me now or pay me later: Ten years later and have we seen any change? Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 23, 271-280.

United States Department of Health and Human Services. (1996). Physical activity and health: A report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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