|  | Current Issues | No.50 May 2007 |

European Parliament: Committee on Culture and Education Public Hearing on “ The Role of Sport in Education” 28 February 2007, Brussels Ken Hardman |
The content of the “Public Hearing” programme comprised four themes: 1. The situation of physical education in Europe – findings of the study commissioned by the European Parliament (key-note presentation by Ken Hardman); 2. The health situation of school children and physical education in school – challenges and opportunities with presentations by: Mr. Karner on an ongoing Austrian initiative concerned with the health situation of school children and ways to improve their physical condition; Csaba Istvannfy providing a Hungarian perspective on physical education in schools – practical experiences and recommendations Tapio Korjus on Finnish initiatives in the area of teacher education: future challenges and opportunities 3. Social inclusion: the added value of sport - presentations by: Ken Hardman on the situation of minorities (disability and ethnic/religious groups) in school sport Brigitte Degen giving an overview on European activities on social integration through sport in the context of the 2007 European Year of Equal Opportunities for All Jean-Claude Mbvoumin outlining projects for the integration of children through sport 4. The EU Commission White Paper on Sport: the European approach to sport in education - an overview of the context of the ‘White Paper’ presented by EU Commissioner Jan Figel. For ICSSPE members’ information, a summary of the European Project (Current Situation and Prospects for Physical Education in the European Union) presented at the “Public Hearing” is included here together with an extract of some of the policy recommendations requested. Details of the full Report are available on the European Parliament website. Current Situation and Prospects for Physical Education (PE) in the European Union I. Situation of physical education in EU member states The review of the current situation of PE is marked by ‘mixed messages’ with indicators of stabilization in some countries set between positive, effective policy initiatives in other countries,???m??¨ and reticence or little political will to act, and continuing concerns in others. Generally, governments have committed themselves through legislation to making provision for PE but some have been (or are being) slow in translating this into action. Actual practice in schools exposes a range of deficiencies and issues, which are a source for concern. 1. General Education System, Legal Framework and Status of School PE and Sport In a majority of countries, national or regional governments have at least some responsibility for the PE curriculum but administrative and delivery responsibility is frequently devolved to local authorities or even schools. All EU countries have legal requirements (or it is generally practised) with either prescriptive or guideline expectations for PE for both boys and girls for at least some part of the compulsory schooling years. Legally, PE has the same status as other subjects but its actual status is perceived to be lower in a third of countries. 2. PE Curriculum Time Allocation Curriculum time allocation is complicated by ‘local’ control of timetables and practices of offering options or electives, which provide opportunities for additional engagement in PE and/or school sport activity. PE weekly timetable allocation across the EU is 109 minutes with clusters around 60 and 90 minutes in primary/basic schools and 101 minutes with a cluster around 90 minutes in secondary and high schools: there is a gradual ‘tailing off’ in upper secondary (high) schools (post 16+ years) in several countries and optional courses become more evident. Notably, figures in the year 2000 were higher, with an average of 121 minutes in primary schools and 117 minutes in secondary schools, thus representing a reduction in curriculum time allocation in the period 2000-2006. Pervasive throughout the EU region is the low priority accorded to PE in Vocational Schools, where minimal provision is reported. 3. PE Curriculum Content Some curricular changes are occurring to include broader lifelong educational outcomes such as promoting active lifestyles. However, a competitive sport performance discourse with an orientation primarily to motor skills development and refinement of sport-specific skills prevails: schools have a predominantly Games (team and individual) orientation followed by Track and Field athletics and Gymnastics. This situation runs counter to trends outside of schools. Changes in movement culture of young people, have not really penetrated or influenced official PE programmes hence, there are discrepancies between what occurs in lessons in school and what is going on in the movement culture outside the school. 4. Resources 4.1. Facilities and Equipment There are widespread inadequacies in provision of facilities and equipment, which are exacerbated by problems of low levels of maintenance in some countries. There is a marked geo-political differentiation in quality and quantity of facilities and equipment in the EU community: in the more economically prosperous northern and western European countries, quality and quantity of facilities and equipment are regarded as at least adequate and in some instances excellent whereas in central and eastern European countries, there are inadequacies in quality and quantity of facilities and equipment. There is an ‘east-west divide’ with central and eastern European countries generally far less endowed with facilities and equipment. Transcending this divide is the view that in 67% of countries there are problems of low levels of maintenance of existing PE sites and whilst there are higher expectations over levels and standards of facilities and equipment in more economically developed countries, even here there are indicators of inadequacies and shortages in facilities and equipment. 4.2. Teaching Personnel A common scenario across the EU is ‘generalist’ teachers at primary level and ‘specialist’ PE teachers at secondary level, (though some countries do have specialist physical educators in primary schools). In some countries, the generalist teacher in primary schools is often inadequately or inappropriately prepared to teach PE, especially where minimal hours may be allocated for PE teaching initial training. In 63% of EU countries, there are opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD) but there are substantial variations in frequency and duration of provision. There have been significant regional developments in CPD in the form of European Master’s programmes. 4.3. Financial Issues Funding of PE with its initial high capital costs of facilities and recurrent maintenance, apparatus and equipment costs is a contentious issue in many countries. Over half of European countries indicate reductions in financial support for PE in recent years. Inadequate funding has had a number of impacts on school PE/sport: deficiencies in facilities, equipment and their maintenance and teaching materials is widespread in central, eastern and southern Europe; cancellation of extra-curricular lessons because of lack of money to pay teachers/coaches; employment of lower salaried unqualified teaching personnel; and exit of physical educators to better paid jobs. A chronically under-funded area in the region is in provision for pupils with disabilities. A widely reported impact of funding limitations is on swimming: the financial costs of maintaining, or gaining access to, swimming facilities exposes this component of PE to cancellation of lessons or even omission from curricula in some countries. Part resolution of deficiencies in facilities and equipment and maintenance lies with wider community sharing of resources through multi-purpose and use provision with schools seen as one community entity in a wider community setting. Such provision implies shared cross-sector funding including operational and management costs. 5. Other Issues Differential variations between central and eastern European EU Member states and the ‘older’ 15 Member States. The ‘east-west divide’ in facilities and equipment provision extends beyond this resource issue to embrace post-2000 PE curriculum time allocation reductions and provision for pupils with disabilities. Compared with the older, ‘western’ Member States, the level of stabilisation is less in ‘newer’ central and eastern EU Member States and since 2000, PE time allocation has been reduced more extensively in central and eastern EU States than in counterpart western EU States. In the domain of disability, there are fewer opportunities to ‘do’ PE in eastern EU countries than in other parts of Europe and inclusion in ‘normal’ PE lessons is less than the overall EU average (32% as opposed to 45%). Facility provision for pupils with disabilities is a more acute problem in central and eastern Europe. Falling fitness standards and high youth drop-out rates from physical/sporting activity engagement; the latter concerns are exacerbated in some countries by insufficient or inadequate school-community co-ordination and pathways to participation Continuing threats to PE/school sport provision in countries across Europe Additional concerns include the issue of reconciliation of elite sport and regular schooling and the failure of society to attach value to school PE and sport. A composite quotation from one country’s set of teachers’ responses sums up the situation:
| “At the moment we have a lot of troubles because the government wants to reduce the numbers of PE. The politicians also want to put the religion in the curriculum, so they try to change the principle of optional subjects in primary school. (During the) last triade of primary school our pupils can choose also two additional optional subjects: sport (with special programme sport for health or sport for relaxation or chosen sport like gymnastic, basketball etc.) – that means one or two additional hours (lessons) per week. And more than 70% of pupils choose one of these subjects. The government also cancelled (the national) sport office, which was responsible for sport programme of youth. “We (teachers and pupils) lost 1 lesson per week in higher grades (7-9), they now have only 2 ‘hours’ per week. That is not good idea, because pupils have more and more health problems and weight problems is becoming bigger problem also; facilities: some schools have really old and bad sport halls and equipment; that is not enough for quality teaching, so pupils in those schools may lack possibility of large sport knowledge; pupils don’t like sports anymore, they rather decide to stay at home and work or play on computers; that’s why teaching is becoming harder and pupils physical fitness is dropping rapidly; more and more pupils have some kind of disability, teachers have to deal with those problems on their own. The state is currently changing the vocational-school programmes and reducing the PE program from three hours per week to two hours per week. In this year's proposal for gymnasiums (grammar schools) there have also been suggestions to reduce the three-hour PE program per week into two-hour program”.
II. Prospects for PE in the EU 1. PE Curriculum Re-conceptualisation and Reconstruction The school PE curriculum and its delivery need to be conceptually and contextually re-appraised. The widespread practice to provide experiences, which merely serve to reinforce sport achievement-orientated competition, is a narrow and unjustifiable conception of the role of PE. For many children (boys and girls), existing curricula do not provide personally meaningful and socially relevant experiences. Collectively, such ‘joyless experiences’ acquired from unwilling engagement in competitive sport-related PE are a ‘turn-off’ and only serve to increase the ‘drop-out’ rate of participants from school-based and post-school sports-related activity. If PE is to play a valued useful role in the promotion of active lifestyles, it must move beyond interpretations of activity based upon performance criteria. The preservation of PE in its old state is not the way to proceed. It is time to move into the 21st century! There is a need to recognise the importance of contemporary youth culture. PE should be utilised to attract people to the joy and pleasure of physical activity for its own sake. Physical educators are strategically well placed to reach the widest range of young people with positive experiences in, and messages about, participation in physical activity. They have key roles as facilitators and intermediaries between the school and wider local communities. They should identify and develop pathways for young people to continue participating in physical activity after and outside school and ensure that information is available to young people within school on available opportunities in the local community. 2. Quality Physical Education (QPE) QPE has become a frequently used term in many countries but it has been defined infrequently. Within a region of diverse contextual settings, it is more appropriate to define QPE by identifying a set of characteristics, which arguably have pan-EU applicability and, which empower countries to aspire to the best possible standards within their specific situations. QPE is identified as successfully engaging, and enabling learning for all children whatever their aptitudes and abilities. Its aim is systematically to develop physical competence so that children are able to move efficiently, effectively and safely and understand what, why and how they are doing. Its outcomes embrace commitment, confidence, willing participation, knowledge and understanding and acquisition of generic skills, positive attitudes, active lifestyle and activity enjoyment etc. 3. School-based physical activity interventions The incidence levels of overweight and obesity amongst young people vary between EU countries but the upward trend is the same. School PE has a key role in the prevention process through interventions increasing physical activity and fitness as well as improving knowledge and attitudes towards physical activity. Such interventions have an inherent advantage over other settings’ interventions because programmes are institutionalised into the regular school curriculum: compulsory schooling in EU countries means that all children are obliged to attend school. Consequently, schools are the main educational social institution agency after the family, which has the potential to positively change the life of youth. For efficacy of programmes and positive outcomes’ impacts, sufficient time and level of intensity are necessary. The aim of interventions should be to influence physical activity rather than fitness with emphasis on developing habitual regular engagement that persists throughout adulthood. 4. School PE/Community Participation Pathways Links Case study exemplars bring a comparative perspective to the Project, which provide a basis for reflection on variation and diversity and provide illustrations of different levels of inter-sector co-operation. They have, however, particular resonance in the light of PE in schools no longer remaining a ‘stand alone’ option in the resolution of the healthy well-being, active lifelong engagement in physical and sports-related activity concerns. Whilst the case studies demonstrate different and varied levels of collaborative practice, they also expose some limitations in the extent of wider community co-operation and some consideration needs to be given to these limitations. The Dutch Sport Service Punt ‘one stop shop’ for information, promotion, development and intermediary functional roles, provides a low cost model using a variety of human resources from full-time employees to volunteers and supported by all sectors (public, private, voluntary and commercial) The voluntary-based sport movement in Europe is served by millions of individuals, who represent the main resource of the movement and form the ‘backbone’ of sport associations and clubs with around 10% of the 70 million members serving as volunteer coaches, association leaders, assistants etc. A cause of some concern is that many volunteers lack formal training to work with young people and in a world of rising levels of child abuse as well as the propensity of some volunteers to inculcate perceived and actual negative attitudinal and behavioural norms and values. These are issues to be addressed. Nevertheless, volunteers can bring knowledge, skills, commitment and dedication as a free time resource. Thus, there is a need to have a balanced view of their work by key actors and appropriate frameworks to work within, not least of which might be adherence to Codes as Ethics, such as those proposed by the European PE Association. 5. Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) 5.1. PE Teacher Designation Three categories of PE teacher can be distinguished: a PE teacher (single subject specialist); a ‘PE’ teacher (2-3 subjects); and a ‘Generalist’ teacher who teaches a full range of subjects including PE in primary/elementary school settings. For each level, it will be necessary to define relevant functional activities and competencies required to deliver or contribute to quality PE curricula in the appropriate school phase/stage settings. 5.2. PETE Curriculum Model Formulation In the EU context of diversity, it is essential to define core general principles, which can be suitably adapted to differing situations and circumstances rather than a set of prescriptions. The core principles should have pan-EU applicability, accord with the notion of the Bologna Process harmonisation but respect diversity. Formulation should also acknowledge societal needs in dynamic socio-political settings, which may alter the functional roles of the designated professional area. With this scenario, occupational identity and associated functions and activities will essentially need to be flexibly adaptable. Identified principles inform development of Programmes of Study, which structurally should be based on the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS), an accumulation of 240 credits normally over 4 years for subject and qualified teacher status and a minimum of 300 credits (normally accumulated over a period of five years) for master’s level qualification. 5.3. Quality Assurance for PETE Programmes Regular evaluation is a key component of quality assurance. Evaluation should constructively contribute to the improvement of the educational process in dialogue with evaluated partners. 5.4. Framework of Standards for PE Teachers For practising teachers at the end of, and beyond, Initial Teacher Training (ITT), a Framework of standards for teachers needs to be established with a base of at least minimal expectations of all teachers with responsibility for delivery of PE programmes. 5.5. Continuing Professional Development Professional development needs to be a continuous process throughout a teacher’s career. CPD has a key role in raising and/or enhancing educational practices and standards. CPD also needs to be delivered with appropriate expertise and with up-to-date practice relevant content. Evidence from countries where CPD programmes have been successful in improving teaching and learning processes and outcomes in PE suggests the importance of a properly constituted government or national professional association level agency with responsibility for provision of a CPD framework, which embraces the range of PE-related career development routes. III. Policy Recommendations Beyond the above implicit policy recommendations on PE curriculum reconstruction and quality PE identification, school physical activity interventions, school-community pathway links and contribution of voluntary sector institutions and personnel, PETE curriculum formulation, quality assurance and CPD provision, the following recommendations will contribute to a sustained positive future for PE: 1. Sustained government support for PE as a compulsory, properly resourced school curriculum subject with political commitment and advocacy at all levels with due regard to diversity and distinct national and local challenges and needs across cultures and systems. 2. Identification of existing areas of inadequacies and development of a ‘Basic Needs’ model in which PE has an essential presence and is integrated with educational policies supported by governmental and non-governmental agencies working co-operatively. 3. Government commitment to resources to implement policies for QPE, which support multi-disciplinary research with pedagogically focused approaches and the dissemination of findings and sharing of good practice. 4. In order to achieve QPE, responsible authorities’ adoption of a policy of a minimum of 120 minutes PE curriculum time allocation per week with agreement to work towards a minimum of 180 minutes weekly. Schools should endeavour to go beyond this minimum, where this is possible, and a call for at least 60 minutes daily physical activity in, or out of, school settings should be made. 5. Governmental review of systems of PE Teacher Education (PETE) with due regard to improvements in both initial and continuing education of PE teachers, especially those responsible for PE in primary/elementary schools. Compulsory CPD provision on a regular basis with proper national (governmental or professional association) direction and validation. 6. Research into funding of PE and school sport across the EU to determine and compare levels of financial investment and to identify areas of under-funding as well as potential additional and alternative sources of finance. 7. Establishment of Centres in PE to monitor developments on a regular basis and to facilitate sharing of information, the results of research and national experiences in promoting physical activity. These should be established in each EU member state. Contact Dr. Ken Hardman University of Worcester Derbyshire Glossop UNITED KINGDOM Email: ken.hardman@tiscali.co.uk http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5 European Parliament: Committee on Culture and Education Public Hearing on “ The Role of Sport in Education” 28 February 2007, Brussels Ken Hardman