Education CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the Sport and Recreation Alliance

The Sport and Recreation Alliance is the national independent voice for sport and recreation, representing over 300 member organisations including the national governing bodies. Our members account for 151,000 sports clubs catering for some 13 million participants, and the Alliance exists to protect and promote the role of sport and recreation in society. The Alliance welcomes the opportunity presented by this inquiry to highlight the importance of Physical Education and sport in schools.

Summary

The provision of sport in schools lays the foundations for a sporting habit for life and improves wellbeing and attainment in young people.

The Alliance welcomes the allocation of £150 million of ring-fenced funding for primary school sport as an important step towards ensuring an enduring legacy from London 2012, and supports the policy of creating closer links between schools and community sport.

The government’s approach to sport in schools is consistent in recognising and utilising the expertise of organisations within the sport sector.

Physical Education gives young people the building blocks for a lifetime of physical activity and is therefore central to achieving a long-term increase in physical activity. Teachers need more training, guidance and support to deliver the curriculum, and schools should be incentivised to improve quality by a more robust inspection framework.

The School Games is a welcome initiative but does not cater for all pupils. Competitive sport is valuable but should be part of a balanced offer which includes non-competitive activities, to ensure all young people are encouraged to be physically active.

The Value of Physical Activity

1. Sport in schools lays the foundations for a lifetime of physical activity and is central to increasing participation in sport and improving public health outcomes. At present, almost a quarter of children who enter primary school are overweight or obese, and this figure rises to one third at the start of secondary school.1 The picture does not improve into early adult life; at present, only 53% of men and 35% of women aged between 16 and 24 meet the recommended physical activity guidelines.2 The total impact of obesity in terms of reduced productivity and lost earnings is currently estimated to be as high as £10 billion, with the total cost to society predicted to reach £50 billion by the year 2050.3 These figures are cause for alarm and highlight the importance of fostering healthy habits in individuals from a young age, particularly as studies have suggested that those who are more active at a young age are more likely to be physically active when they are older.4

2. There is strong evidence to suggest that physical activity helps to improve attendance, behaviour and attainment in pupils.5 Researchers in the United States, for example, found that aerobically fit pupils were more than twice as likely to pass maths and reading tests as their unfit peers.6 The skills learned through participation in sport are also highly transferable. In a survey of employers, attributes like communication and teamwork, as well as a positive attitude, were identified as the most important attributes for prospective employees. Of the respondents to the survey, two out of five identified sport as the best subject through which to develop such skills.7 Young people who take part in sport learn how to work with and respect others, which has clear benefits both inside and outside school life. In areas challenged by anti-social behaviour and crime, sport can make a significant contribution; after-school activities can act as a diversion from errant behaviour and sport-based initiatives offer an effective way to engage hard-to-reach young people, build self-esteem and repair relationships in areas affected by violence and division.8

Current Policy

3. We welcome the £150 million of ring-fenced funding for primary school sport announced by the Prime Minister in March 2013.9 While the loss of School Sport Partnership funding in 2010 was regretted by the sector, we are pleased that the government has acknowledged the resulting gap in the youth participation strategy and consider the recent announcement to be an important step towards securing the long-term sporting legacy from London 2012. However, the success of this investment will largely depend on the quality of guidance that busy head teachers receive, and the extent to which they are held to account by Ofsted. Schools should be given clear direction by the Department for Education on how to best to allocate their funding so as to maximise the quality of provision, and we would like to see Ofsted examine sport provision closely as part of every school inspection.

4. Beyond primary level, we support the policy of establishing satellite clubs in secondary schools. The government’s 2012 youth sport strategy rightly recognised that “helping young people to continue to play sport outside school, college or university, when faced with the huge range of activities and other distractions competing for their time, is crucial to creating a sporting habit for life.”10 This recognises that school sport and community sport are closely linked. The school-club relationship should be mutually beneficial; schools should be encouraged to open up their sports facilities for community use outside of school hours, and by doing so they can offer valuable support to the two thirds of sports clubs in England and Wales that don’t own facilities.11

5. The government’s approach at primary and secondary level is consistent in recognising the importance of utilising the expertise and resources of national governing bodies and other sector organisations. These organisations already play a valuable role in supporting teachers to deliver the curriculum and by offering opportunities for extra-curricular sport. For example:

(a)The ECB’s Chance to Shine programme provides structured coaching and competition for 6500 primary and secondary schools, and offers support from professional coaches and local clubs. Through the scheme 1.8 million children have had the opportunity to play cricket.12

(b)The FA Tesco Skills programme is a nationwide initiative providing football coaching for children of all abilities aged 5 to 11. To date the scheme has provided opportunities for over three million children.13

(c)The LTA’s AEGON School Tennis programme aims to increase and improve tennis participation in schools by training teachers to deliver a fun and high quality tennis experience in confined spaces, as well as create links to enable young people to continue playing in the community.14

(d)The RFU’s All Schools initiative aims to produce a legacy of self-sufficient rugby-playing schools across England. In the first year hands-on coaching support plays a major part in introducing rugby to schools. In the second and third years of the programme the RFU funding will help to provide increased staff training, mentoring and young leaders training.

(e)The Youth Sport Trust’s Start to Move initiative, delivered in partnership with Bupa, facilitates professional development in PE for teachers of 4–7 year olds. The scheme provides teachers with the techniques needed to teach fundamental movement skills to children to create competent, confident movers.

The Importance of Physical Education

6. The foundation for a lifetime of physical activity is Physical Education, which is distinct from extra-curricular “school sport”. PE should equip every pupil with the basic building blocks for an active lifestyle, after which young people will be in a position to take advantage of opportunities to develop their skills through extra-curricular sport. According to Ofsted, however, not all pupils in England receive good Physical Education, and further improvement is required in about one third of primary schools and a quarter of secondary schools.15 There are several parts to this challenge; the curriculum, teaching, facilities, inspection and qualifications.

7. The curriculum. PE should be a key part of a broad and balanced curriculum at all Key Stages, and as such we welcome the government’s commitment to retaining it as a statutory subject in the draft Programme of Study released in 2013, as well as the inclusion of adventurous activities and dance alongside sport. While the curriculum is statutory for all maintained schools, however, it is only advisory for academies and Free Schools. We firmly believe that every child should be afforded the same opportunities and would like to see academies and Free Schools subject to the same expectations as maintained schools.

8. Teaching. Teachers play a valuable role not only by delivering the PE curriculum but also by dedicating many hours of unpaid time to facilitate extra-curricular sport. It is vital that they are supported to ensure they are confident and competent enough to deliver the curriculum effectively, and research has suggested that 45% of primary school teachers do not feel comfortable in this respect.16 As such we welcome the government’s recent announcement of new provision for PE within initial teacher training, which aims to produce a cadre of primary teachers with a particular specialism in the subject. The English Federation of Disability Sport has also highlighted that 84% of newly qualified PE teachers did not feel their initial training had prepared them to offer PE to disabled pupils17 and the Alliance echoes calls for inclusive teaching strategies which are of benefit to all pupils regardless of ability. We also welcome the Sainsbury’s Active Kids for All scheme which aims to ensure the inclusion of disabled children in PE and sport within mainstream schools by training PE teachers throughout the UK.

9. Facilities. For PE and school sport to be delivered efficiently it is vital that school sports facilities are protected, and that community facilities are accessible to schools as necessary. The National Association of Head Teachers points out that a lack of local facilities can hamper the teaching of swimming to children, and similar barriers can limit competitive sport if there are no other schools within a reasonable distance.18 At a time when school budgets are under pressure it is important to support and encourage schools to retain and expand their provision, and governing bodies can be engaged to help meet these challenges. We welcome the decision to retain the minimum area guidelines in relation to playing fields but urge the government to secure this for the long term. And, as with the curriculum, we urge the Department for Education to set the same facilities standards for academies and Free Schools as are in place for maintained schools.

10. Inspection. In 2010 the government ended the requirement that schools should collect information about pupil participation for the annual PE and Sport Survey. We believe that, in the absence of this mechanism, Ofsted’s role in inspecting school sport should be strengthened, and are glad to see that the government has taken this step as part of the new package of funding announced in March 2013. We also acknowledge that accountability will be enhanced by the expectation that schools publish information about sporting provision on their website. The importance of a strong inspection regime has been highlighted by the Amateur Swimming Association. Research conducted by the ASA revealed that, despite the subject being statutory at Key Stage 2, one in three children are leaving primary school without being able to swim.19 The ASA’s School Swimming Manifesto calls for robust monitoring by Ofsted as well as improved training for teachers.20

11. Qualifications. There is a worrying trend in the number of students studying for qualifications in PE. Over the last four years, the number of pupils taking the subject at GCSE level has dropped by a third. At A-level, the figure has dropped by 11% to 19,500 students in 2010–11.21 In December 2012 we raised concerns about the exclusion of PE from the proposed English Baccalaureate, which could risk side-lining the subject and compounding the decline in students taking PE as a qualification. We maintain our call for the government to ensure that PE does not come to be regarded as a “second-tier” subject.

Competitive Sport

12. In 2011 the government’s policy towards sport in schools was summarised by the then Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport as “more competitive sport” [emphasis added].22 There is no doubt that competition has benefits for young people; it encourages teamwork, determination and teaches the ability to react appropriately when things don’t go according to plan. However, it is important to recognise that competition doesn’t need to be structured to deliver these benefits; on a basic level sport pits one against another, whether as part of formalised competition or just in the playground at break time. The government’s commitment to competition is embodied by the School Games, which is a welcome initiative offering pupils of all ages the chance to engage competitively at district, county and national level, and we recognise the merits of the Games in giving 60,000 young people a competitive sports experience.23 However, there has to be recognition that, in practice, not all pupils are willing or able to participate in the School Games, and it is important to ensure that the aim to revive “competitive sport” does not breed complacency by focusing only on those with the appetite for competition.

13. An approach which fulfils this aim should result in a balanced offer of competitive and non-competitive activities; this should include activities such as dance, fitness and outdoor pursuits. This range is important to ensure that school sport is as inclusive as possible. A survey conducted by the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) found that over half of girls at secondary school say that “girls are put off sport and physical activity because of their experiences of school sport and PE.”24 This is particularly significant given that only 12% of girls aged 14 are meeting the Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines on physical activity, and this gap remains significant throughout the life course. Between the ages of 25 and 34, only 36% of women meet the recommended guidelines compared to 49% of men.25 The WSFF highlights the example of a school in Devon which responded to low extra-curricular participation rates in girls by introducing new activities at breakfast and lunchtimes. As a result “aerobics, self-defence, Bollywood dance and girls-only sessions in the fitness suite were all over-subscribed and have now been extended as after-school clubs.”26 This example highlights that flexibility is required to ensure an inclusive PE and school sport environment. Similarly, schools must be supported to provide for students with disabilities: while there are some outstanding examples of inclusive provision, it is nevertheless the case that a third of young disabled pupils say that they take part in less PE than other pupils.27

April 2013