Are you forever defending a subject that you are so passionate about? Do you feel like it's never getting easier? That's where I am right now.
I remember during my teacher training (PGCE) year, my lecturer telling us all that we will have to fight the stereotypes of being a PE teacher. Someone who lets the kids play games and just blows a whistle every now and then. I only wish teaching PE was as easy as that.
From my own experience, it wasn't much of an issue when I was in the UK, but I've really felt it on the international scene. Now, I've taught in an IB school in Malaysia, where PE has to be passed to get your MYP certificate, so students and parents are generally more on board, although they sometimes question the written side of PE. However, in Egypt, following a British Curriculum, PE is not recognised by the Ministry of Education (MOE), and therefore the older students and their parents have a dismissive view of the subject. If you've every watched family guy, there's an episode where Peter Griffin talks about 'what really grinds my gears?' and that's where I am at right now.
I'm not going to spend the rest of the blog post listing out all the benefits and reasons why Physical Education should have the same weight as every other subject. There is research and other practitioners that can vouch for the many benefits, but that's for another blog I suppose.
Although the MOE may not recognise it, both students and parents are too focused on the academic value of these subjects and not on the holistic growth of their child, where certain life skills are only developed through physical activity and sports alone.
What really got me going this week was that I was just finishing up a Yoga unit with my Year 8's and as part of their assessment (Evaluating and Improving) they had to complete short evaluations/reflections based on 4 different types of feedback (self/peer/video and teacher). Each evaluation was given as a homework task (max 5 - 10 minutes) and they were supposed to submit the evaluations on a weekly basis with the final one being submitted after their final performance. Over half the class did not complete the task and when questioned, it wasn't that it was too difficult, or they had no time or forgot etc. Their excuses were that we are not used to written work in PE or that they are not too bothered about their grade in PE, as it's not recognised. When this was communicated to the parents, to those who replied, shared the same viewpoint.
I know 'written work' in PE is another debate of whether it has a place or not or whether it should be done in school or not, but this is the only unit that I asked them do 4 evaluations, which would have taken them 5 minutes to complete. I am very conscious of how much homework student's are taking home anyway, so I wouldn't give them too much.
I know it will take time and patience to implement something new but it's the comments that I got from the students and parents that troubled me. I understand this is a cultural/traditional viewpoint and it will take time to break down these barriers, but I just wanted to know if others' have been in similar situations and what have you done to overcome this or are you still battling it out? I feel that this is going to be an uphill struggle for the rest of my career but with the practitioners I have seen doing great things, maybe we will get there one day?!