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The Report of the Review Group on Physical Education
Background and Context
Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000
The Standard in Scotland's Schools etc. Act 2000 places a duty on education authorities to provide an education aimed at developing the personality, talents, mental and physical abilities of the individual to their fullest potential. This provides a foundation for the case for improvements in physical education.
Duty of education authority in providing school education
(1) Where school education is provided to a child or young person by, or by virtue of arrangements made, or entered into by, an education authority it shall be the duty of the authority to secure that the education is directed to the development of the personality, talents and mental and physical abilities of the child or young person to their fullest potential.
(2) In carrying out their duty under this section, an education authority shall have due regard, so far as is reasonably practicable, to the views (if there is a wish to express them) of the child or young person in decisions that significantly affect that child or young person, taking account of the child or young person's age and maturity.
This is the first time this specific duty, extending to physical abilities and talents, has been set in statute. Increased flexibility in the design and delivery of the curriculum provides the framework for providing a more individualised education.
Curriculum Review
Scottish education is in the midst of seeing how the commitments made in Educating for Excellence will be met. A review of the curriculum is underway which will define the principles and framework for educational experiences from 3-18 and will ultimately lead to a review of curriculum content, tackling concern about overload in the current 5-14 curriculum and affording more opportunities for wider pupil choice. This provides a key opportunity for revisions and improvements in the physical education curriculum and in promoting the role and status of physical education in developing the young person.
National Priorities
The National Priorities in Education define the high-level outcomes for school education. Physical education has much to offer in achieving these outcomes. Physical education can contribute to each of the National Priorities but its strongest contribution comes within Learning for Life, National Priority 5. It is under this priority that a key measure on physical activity has been developed and recently distributed to local authorities. This measure is contained in Annex B.
Active Schools
The Scottish Executive announced significant additional investment in the Active Schools Programme, which is designed to develop existing sport and other related programmes for school-aged children to provide better co-ordination of programmes and tackle low levels of physical activity.
The Active School is an inclusive concept with the basic aim of getting primary and secondary-aged school children more active in an enjoyable and safe way. An Active School aims to increase opportunities for safe and enjoyable physical activity opportunities, including sport, for children and young people. It dovetails with the concepts of Health Promoting Schools and Integrated Community Schools as it takes a broad view of the potential of schools to influence the health and wellbeing of young people. It will therefore consider the total life of the school, learning and teaching in the classroom, after school programmes and community opportunities.
Significant investment in staff resources is a central part of the Active Schools Programme which intends to put in place 270 Active Schools Co-ordinators in primary schools and 360 in secondary/special schools.
Scottish Executive Physical Activity Strategy
This Report was developed in response to a recommendation of the 1998 White Paper for Health (Ref: Towards a Healthier Scotland. SE 1998). The Report provided evidence of the diminishing participation in physical activity by young people and identified the minimum level of daily activity that young people required to provide direct health benefits and to learn and practise a wide range of activities and live actively as a daily habit. This minimum level was identified as an accumulation of one hour of physical activity per day.
The Task Force was clear that physical education was a relatively specialist area that is additional to other opportunities to be active. Based on a range of research, it was clear that, while children might have had many opportunities to be active (play, walking, cycling, etc.), these opportunities in themselves did not enable children to develop their skills and competencies: this required high quality teaching, learning and curriculum frameworks.
Sport 21 2003-2007: The National Strategy for Sport
This strategy was published in March 2003 and sets out the strategy for sport in Scotland until 2007 and beyond. Its primary aim is to increase participation in sport, and it identifies key challenges and targets. Its first target for young people focuses on encouraging widening opportunities in participation - with the aim of having 80% of school children physically active.
The second target of the Sport 21 Strategy recommends that all school children should take part in at least two hours of high quality physical education classes per week, a recommendation mirrored in the Physical Activity Strategy. In making this recommendation Sport 21 recognised that quality physical education - which emphasises the movement, knowledge and behavioural skills necessary for physical activity throughout people's lifetimes - would have a positive impact on health.
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