Reading the article, “ Over a quarter of primary school teachers say they are not qualified enough to teach PE as worries grow over childhood obesity” is something I worry about as a future teacher. Before I started this program, I did not know that teachers were expected to teach physical education. When I went to elementary school there was a trained physical education teacher who was responsible for teaching the subject to every class plus healthy eating. I think my class really benefitted from this because she was so enthusiastic, passionate and knowledgeable about being active that she made you want to participate even if you did not like gym class. I think it is a shame they took that out of the school system because physical activity is so important to instil in young children.
Reading this article with such a high percentage of teachers dreading teaching this subject is kind of scary and makes sense why so many students leave elementary disliking physical activity. But if you do not properly prepare your teachers to teach something how can you expect them to succeed. It was sad to read the perception teacher’s have about obese children because especially in elementary your teacher is someone you trust and if they can sense you are judging them then that will have a huge affect on their self esteem. I’m really glad they are offering this subject as part of the BEd curriculum because it will make me feel a bit more confident when I have to teach this subject and hopefully the students will learn to love being active.
In my elementary school, I also had a trained physical education teacher who taught us the course and how to live a healthy style. He shared the same qualities as your teacher and would motivate all the students including those that were not as athletic as the others. Additionally, he was active in going into all the classrooms to encourage the entire class to join the school sports teams (volleyball, basketball, badminton, and track and field) which often worked out very well, although, I did go to a very small school. This made me love PE class growing up as my teacher made it fun and engaging. However, during high school, my PE teacher did not try as hard to inspire their students to make more of an effort in the class and I began to lose my interest in it. I kept up with my physical activities by continuing to participate in school sports teams as well as joining teams within the community.
I agree with you, Sonya that if teachers feel unprepared, then you cannot assume that they will succeed. This class will also make me feel more confident when teaching this course and I hope that I will be able to inspire the children with fun and engaging activities.
I, too, was so worried about teaching PE. I kept thinking about how PE was the absolute dread of my life in elementary and secondary school. But, as an excited new student, I went ahead and read through most of the new PE curriculum, and started getting really excited. I have never considered myself to be athletic. I didn’t play any team sport in school, I don’t have great endurance (you definitely won’t see me running a 10k any time soon without some serious training), and don’t have the greatest hand-eye coordination. See, I am not a “stereotypically” athletic person. But I love to downhill ski race, I’d like to say I’m very capable at yoga, and I very much like to ride my bike. When I started reading words like “active lifestyle” and “identifying factors that contribute to positive experiences in physical activity” I realized that I might have a really great perspective to bring to teaching Physical Education! Many children love any manifestation of PE. They like to get active, they like to get moving, and they generally tend to succeed in “traditional” PE classes. These students can be challenged in so many fun and exciting and active ways! The students who don’t relate to this image for themselves may benefit greatly from having someone who can relate to their experience. We all bring something different to our teaching! We are always encourage to view students with abilities not with deficits, and when I started looking at myself from the same perspective, I saw that I had many special athletic and interesting traits that I can bring to make PE enjoyable for everyone, and to engage students in learning about and participating in different ways of living an active lifestyle!