Pe Can Defuse ‘obesity Time-bomb’, Says Report

Physical education must become a core subject in Welsh schools if the nation is to tackle the ‘obesity time-bomb’ facing its youngsters, according to an independent report to the Welsh Government published on Monday.

The move would put PE on a par with English, Welsh, maths and science as a subject on which school provision must be formally and regularly assessed and for which all teachers must be thoroughly prepared during their initial training.

This single recommendation is contained in a report on Physical Activity in Schools prepared by a review group under the leadership of legendary Paralympian, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson. 

The report was presented today (Monday) to the Minister for Education and Skills Leighton Andrews and Minister for Culture and Sport, John Griffiths.

In it the group commends the Welsh Government’s commitment to making ‘physical literacy’ as important in schools as reading, writing and numeracy. However, they maintain that giving PE core-subject status is the only way to make this aspiration a reality. 

The report also points out that if Wales were to go through with the action, they would become the first nation in the world to take this step.

Launching the report, Baroness Grey-Thompson said: ‘Evidence shows that we are facing a ticking obesity time-bomb and, unless we make physical education a core subject, we will still be here in 20 years’ time having made little or no progress.’

The review group, comprising education and physical activity experts from across Wales, estimated that the cost of elevating PE to core-subject status would be approximately £5m a year. 

However, they argued that this should be set against the estimated £73m annual cost to the health service of continuing with current levels of obesity.

National Assembly for Wales figures, quoted in the report, show that childhood obesity rates in Wales are the highest in the UK, with about 36% of children aged under 16 being overweight or obese.

In addition the authors point to evidence that good quality physical activity in school can lead to higher academic attainment and bring lifelong physical, mental and social benefits to individuals.

The report states that giving PE core-subject status would result in: 

Teachers being required to be competent to deliver the subject on completion of their initial teacher training.

Well-qualified, specialist teachers being employed to work with schools to ensure high-quality provision,

Standards and provision in physical education being rigorously reviewed in school, both by the educational consortia and by Estyn,

Progress being measured regularly.

The report called for the creation of a ‘National Physical Literacy Framework’ to support PE teaching in schools along the same lines as the framework which currently exists for literacy and numeracy.

Baroness Grey-Thompson said it was very worrying that teachers were expected to provide good quality physical education when they received as little as four hours instruction on this subject during their initial teacher training. 

‘Parents would be horrified if that happened with maths, English or Welsh. It is hard to deliver good physical education instruction and teachers need strong initial training and continuous professional development to equip them for this,’ she said.

She added that many children dislike sport because they don’t feel they are good enough to participate. This, she said, highlighted the fact that teachers need the skills to make physical education and school sport more enjoyable and to equip very young children with fundamental skills such as throwing and catching, which are the basis of a wide variety of sports and physical pursuits.

Grey-Thompson added that the Group had chosen to make only one core recommendation rather than a list of more detailed recommendations. 

‘We wanted to be radical in what we said because this is about the long-term future of Wales. Our view was that a single strong core recommendation would be more effective than a jigsaw puzzle of changes that wouldn’t address the pivotal concerns.’

The report drew upon examples of countries where physical activity is already ‘taken particularly seriously’ and given a higher status in schools, including Canada, Finland and Scotland. 

The group acknowledged that good practice does take place in many Welsh schools but Baroness Grey-Thompson described this as ‘hit and miss’ and called for a consistently high standard across all schools in Wales.