PE Teacher: Should our focus in physical education be on teaching skills or getting students physically active?
PE Philosopher: Yes
I recently listened to America’s PE and sport philosopher-laureate Scott Kretchmar and just as intended it made me think. To the delight of our diminishing but indispensible cadre of PE philosophers, the seemingly frustrating and unresolvable conundrum that physical education teachers face is in fact answerable: Well at least from a philosopher’s world view!
As we near the end of 2013, I decided it would be interesting to highlight some of the year’s most interesting and impactful professional events. Here’s my top 10 list:
Well that’s my 2013 year-in-reflection list. Perhaps there were other professional events you’d choose to include? Well, you have the chance! At pelinks4u we love to hear your views and share your news. If something is happening in your state or school district that you think might interest your teaching colleagues let us know. We’d especially like to include stories illustrating exemplary physical education programs and teachers. Published stories on schools are great public relations and advocacy events. Please contact us with your ideas.
Since AAHPERD president Gale Wiedow announced the proposed new name for AAHPERD, similar to Chuck Corbin I’ve had mixed personal feelings and heard both positive and negative comments from others. But on one thing we can all agree. For our professional association to move forward it’s pretty obvious that everything can’t stay the same. So it makes sense that we should consider a new name.
As a former NASPE President I confess I’m pretty attached to the NASPE name and its public recognition as the professional association for physical educators. A few years ago our Canadian colleagues converted themselves to PHE Canada – a name that I also like but recognize that the thought of copying Canadians would be an anathema for many Americans! More recently, our nutrition colleagues renamed themselves to the daft sounding acronym “AND” yet it doesn’t seem to have negatively affected their 75,000 and growing membership.
So where does that leave me? For the past few years I’ve spent much of my time deliberating about the future of public school physical education. It’s something that concerns me, especially in this era of rapid and often irreversible change. I’ve asked myself not only “What is the future of public school physical education?” but more worryingly, “Is there a future for public school physical education?” Of course I’m convinced that there is a need for America’s youth to be physically educated, but worried about the status and support for physical education and the teaching profession.
In case you missed it, there was what appears good news for school physical education and its mission this fall. Here’s a sampling:
According to a CDC report, the worrying perceptions many of us have had of ongoing program and position cuts and declining support for K-12 physical education were wrong. In the recently released 2012 School Health Policies and Practices Study (SHPPS), a 10% increase was reported in the percentage of school districts requiring elementary school physical education over the past 12 years.
At the middle school level there was almost a doubling of the percentage of states providing lesson plans and tools for evaluating students’ progress. And nationwide there was a 20% increase in districts adopting policies requiring schools to follow national, state, or district PE standards.
I write this preparing to fly to Singapore to attend the country’s biennial conference for physical education teachers. Smaller than most US states, Singapore’s education system is government coordinated and dedicated to sustaining the future needs of one of today’s most successful Asian nations. Supporting this mission, the country’s physical education leaders are focusing on creating effective school PE programs that will reverse the sedentary living trends threatening the nation’s health. It’s no easy task. Similar to the US, obesity is trending upwards in Singapore. And Singaporeans, like most nations worldwide, are seeking solutions.
For two reasons, as a physical educator I’m not inclined to take much responsibility for worsening obesity. Obesity’s tripling over the past 30 years has paralleled most of my professional career – a spectacularly unimpressive record that I’d prefer to ignore. But more importantly, physical educators simply don’t have much control over most of obesity’s causes. Reports of worsening obesity do however alarm me, because it is symptomatic of declining physical activity and physical activity is something that I do believe physical educators should be trying to promote.
Last month, I suggested that the newly created Let’s Move, Active Schools initiative offered physical educators a special, necessary, but time-limited chance to transform K-12 physical education. I’m optimistic that some teachers will respond to this challenge, but concerned that for far too many business will continue as usual. It worries me when colleagues assume that physical education’s future in public education is somehow guaranteed. It isn’t. Ask any of the dozens of teachers around the country whose programs and positions have been cut in the past few years.
Like most of us, those teachers assumed their jobs were secure until suddenly, and often with little warning, they found themselves victims of the current obsession to raise academic scores, or victims of budget cuts resulting from the economic recession. Too late and without much support they protested their relevance. Instead, they discovered that many education decision-makers neither appreciated nor valued physical education’s contribution to children’s education. Like switchboard operators, typists, milkmen, travel agents, elevator operators, and others in vanishing professions, these unfortunate physical educators learned that nothing lasts forever.
Physical educators are forever destined to be the victims of the decision-making whims of others unless we show more initiative in shaping our professional future. It was this desire that motivated the creators of NASPE’s PE2020 initiative that began in 2011 with a national forum at the San Diego national AAHPERD Convention. The resulting recommendations proposed a framework for futuristic thinking. Since then, some of the suggestions have contributed to a rethinking about where physical education should be headed.
Sadly, the anticipation all of us shared for a joyful and peaceful Christmas was shattered by the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. As educators, an event like this was especially traumatic because it could have happened to any one of us who spend much of our time in our nation’s schools and colleges.
Since the shootings I’ve once again tried to comprehend America’s addiction to guns. Although originally from England, I’ve now lived in the US for more than 30 years. It’s been my home for more years than many native-born ardent gun supporters. I’ve listened to, and read the views of gun advocates. I wish I could dismiss them as a tiny crazy minority, but of course most of them are quite sane and their views are widely held. They just hold beliefs that I’ve found pretty much anyone who has lived outside the USA finds incomprehensible. I certainly do.
It’s not surprising then that the recent proposal by the CEO of the National Rifle Association to place armed guards in every school alarmed me. I wondered how much time he’d spent in and around our public schools.
