Sport in Schools

an langer

I have a friend who a PE teacher who is out of work this school year because of cut backs. Schools are actually cutting back on PE as hard as it is to believe.

PE should be compulsory from day 1 of school till the end. I suggest at least 40 mins per day (20 min for shower/change) which totals 1 hour per day of sports and fitness training for every school goer aged 4-18. It should have a similar curriculum to every other subject and graded accordingly.

I don't mean amateur stuff like kick the ball around the field for half an hour or run around there now lads style. I mean a professional trainer in every school to train each individual student to their optimum fitness level. I believe that this will then become a habit for life for the majority of school goers after school.

The benefits will be enormous. The amount that will be saved on treating unfit people in hospitals will be greatly reduced.

As regards nutrition, every school should supply their pupils with a healthy nutritious lunch (loaded with foods that are not processed but rich in essential vitamins and minerals). If this is started from an early age, it will develop into a lifetime habit.


If we truly care about our kids in Ireland, let's make this happen!!

SunnyDub1

There kids let them be kids :rolleyes:

I am all on for exercise but an hour exercise a day is a bit extreme a child to be doing.

I don't mean amateur stuff like kick the ball around the field for half an hour or run around there now lads style. I mean a professional trainer in every school to train each individual student to their optimum fitness level

If you don't mean "armature" stuff like kick a ball around , What do you suggest a 4 - 10 year old to be doing , lift weights ?

You make a good point in one sense I think children's health and fitness should be taken into account when at school, like maybe offering a healthy option in canteens and encouraging children to take up a sport but I also think that a child's eating habits, fitness should at a young age should be decided by their parents not by a teacher.

I'd hate to think of my 8 year old niece going into school each day having to do an hour exercise then been told what she can and can't eat by her teachers.

Volvic12

Don't know if this conversation would be better suited to the eduaction forum but I believe the following:

Sport Science/PE should be a leaving cert subject.
For example, In my opinion, Sport is as big (if not bigger) in society as Music. If someone is a talented athlete they should get rewarded for being so.
Also alot of the theory from Biology & Home Economics could be used to formulate the subject:
Nutrition
Muscles/ Bones etc. (The Body)
ATP - Glucose etc.

Sport has been around for a long time now and it can be studied in college. So why is it not in our eduacation system?

Just an idea but one I think should be strongly considered.
Anyone agree?

Jarren

How many hours of PE kids get those days in schools ?

RacoonQueen

Jarren wrote: »

How many hours of PE kids get those days in schools ?

We didn't have it at all once I got past junior cert. Moved schools to one where girls only started in 5th year, had an hour or something of 'PE' in 5th year but the girls didn't take part they just went and sat around watching half the guys play football while the other half of the lads sat around flirting with the girls.

It has been talked about for years to add PE to the curriculum the way they have it in the UK. It would cost the government to develop and roll it out though so it won't happen. We have PE degrees in two(?) universities yet it's not even taught in schools. Bizarre.

MaceFace

Never went to a school that had showers.
My secondary school only had a tarmac playing area which was uncovered. Nothing indoors.

Probably similar for many schools.

an langer

I think it's maybe wiser to look at more successful countries in PE (i know UK has huge obesity problems so that rules them out, although I could be wrong). This is a great read for those interested:


Physical Education in Sweden – a national evaluation:
'Sports, outdoor life and different forms of exercise and recreation are of great importance for health. Children and youth need to acquire knowledge of how the body works, and how habits, regular physical exercise and outdoor life are related to their physical and psychological wellbeing. The subject aims at developing pupils’ physical, psychological and social abilities, as well as providing knowledge of the importance of lifestyle for health. For generations a variety of physical activities and outdoor life have been developed. The subject provides a knowledge of
their growth, experiences of participating in and carrying out such activities. The subject should also contribute to arousing curiosity and creating interest in new activities. A basic aim of the subject is also to create conditions so that everyone can participate in different activities on their own terms, develop a sense of community and the ability to co-operate, as well as an understanding and respect for others. Physical activities provide a common denominator for different cultures. The subject provides opportunities to strengthen the sense of comradeship
between children and young persons in a multicultural and international society.'

Source: http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/169508.pdf

faceman

Volvic12 wrote: »

Don't know if this conversation would be better suited to the eduaction forum but I believe the following:

Sport Science/PE should be a leaving cert subject.
For example, In my opinion, Sport is as big (if not bigger) in society as Music. If someone is a talented athlete they should get rewarded for being so.
Also alot of the theory from Biology & Home Economics could be used to formulate the subject:
Nutrition
Muscles/ Bones etc. (The Body)
ATP - Glucose etc.

Sport has been around for a long time now and it can be studied in college. So why is it not in our eduacation system?

Just an idea but one I think should be strongly considered.
Anyone agree?

Completely agree. I moved abroad after JC and did A-Levels. PE was mandatory and you were graded on it too

When I was in sec school in Ireland only the naturally talented sporty kids were focused on.

nice_guy80

most primary schools in Ireland don't have a hall

PE should be a participation/project/exam subject up to junior cert.

byhookorbycrook

PE should be compulsory from day 1 of school till the end. I suggest at least 40 mins per day (20 min for shower/change) which totals 1 hour per day of sports and fitness training for every school goer aged 4-18. It should have a similar curriculum to every other subject and graded accordingly.

PE in primary has a curriculum. No primary school that I know of has showers-plus do you propose that 30 4 year olds dress and shower themselves in 20 mins, even if there WERE showers??It can take that long to get them all into hats and coats to go to the yard.



I don't mean amateur stuff like kick the ball around the field for half an hour or run around there now lads style. I mean a professional trainer in every school to train each individual student to their optimum fitness level. I believe that this will then become a habit for life for the majority of school goers after school.

Nice thought, never going to happen, as you point teachers are being cut all round,so who funds .trainers?Mnay primary schools lack even a basic hall



As regards nutrition, every school should supply their pupils with a healthy nutritious lunch (loaded with foods that are not processed but rich in essential vitamins and minerals). If this is started from an early age, it will develop into a lifetime habit.


Primary schools don't have cooking facilites and canteens and certainly can't afford to feed children,one school has had to resort to having children bring in their own handtowels and toilet paper to cut costs.

MrTsSnickers

byhookorbycrook wrote: »

Primary schools don't have cooking facilites and canteens and certainly can't afford to feed children,one school has had to resort to having children bring in their own handtowels and toilet paper to cut costs.

Are you serious?

an langer

Ok you have listed the obstacles, now what is your positive input? ;-)

byhookorbycrook

MrTsSnickers wrote: »

Are you serious?

Completely ,yes.
http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/pupils-told-to-bring-own-toilet-paper-to-school-205367.html



My positive input is coaching our girls' football team for years until ill-health forced me to stop. Thankfully past pupils I once coached are now back teaching with us and are taking it on.

Our school does swimming(for which the parents have to pay even though aquatics in on the curriculum, boys' and girls' gaelic football, hurling,camogie,basketball and we have just finished building a ball wall in our yard. We also have tag rugby coaches coming in and later in the year transistion year students will come into to do more sport.This is on top of the rest of the primary PE curriculum.Teachers coach school teams at lunchtimes and after school ,matches are also played outside of school hours. I think we are well covered.

I also think the OP needs to get more in touch with what is going on with schools on the ground.

discus

faceman wrote: »

Completely agree. I moved abroad after JC and did A-Levels. PE was mandatory and you were graded on it too

When I was in sec school in Ireland only the naturally talented sporty kids were focused on.

Yeah, but most kids who do PE as a subject within the british education system can pass the exam and still know **** all about getting fit or eating right.

My take is - stop calling it PE. Don't make it an education.

More anecdotal army evidence from discus (I know I know) but most of the smarter staff at my post-basic training establishments used sports to make people fit. As much as most soldiers enjoy the physical training aspect, it does become part of the 9-5 and a little bit tedious, particularly for the younger soldiers of 17/18. This came to a head last spring at a unit I was in. In the end, they ditched weighted runs and long distance runs and just did sport. Morning PT was left to the individual. Afternoons was touch rugby, soccer, rock climbing, basketball or sprinting-style workouts. In essence, people were playing bits of everything as if it was a kids camp ! 2 weeks later, on a friday, we did a massive session which pushed everyone to the limits - 6 miles in boots, teams of four carrying and 80kg stretcher, best effort. The lead teams came in as quick as usual, but the people who usually let the side down were much improved. People had been tricked into getting fit.

I imagine it's the only way it could work in a school environment. You can't educate kids to learn about fitness, they just have to enjoy some sort of physical effort.

Sport Science/PE should be a leaving cert subject.
For example, In my opinion, Sport is as big (if not bigger) in society as Music. If someone is a talented athlete they should get rewarded for being so.
Also alot of the theory from Biology & Home Economics could be used to formulate the subject:
Nutrition
Muscles/ Bones etc. (The Body)
ATP - Glucose etc.

If it was a leaving cert subject, it would be as hard biology or chemistry is... anyone smart enough to do it wouldn't need to learn that anyway.

an langer

byhookorbycrook as you may now understand, my ideas are an aspiration. You have stated how things are, 'what is going on with schools on the ground'. Great, but that was not the motivation! The discussion I was hoping for was one of the future, where we would like to be. For instance, if you as a teacher had all the resources you needed, how would you incorporate sports/fitness into every student's school routine. It's a hypothetical discussion.

Discus, that is an excellant idea! This is the exact workable approach used in Sweden, one of the fittest nations in Europe! :-)

Burkatron

As always the Simpsons have the answer!

SusieBlue

My secondary school didn't even have a sports hall, let alone showers. We had to get a bus 30 minutes away to use another schools sports hall. We did an hour a week in 1st and 2nd year, and we weren't allowed to do it any more after that.

I do think it should be compulsory to do it in secondary school, but not for more than an hour or two a week.

discus

Also, schools being so litigation-cautious has meant that simple things like playing football/sports on school grounds during lunch is forbidden. Start letting students enjoy themselves in their free time would be another point I'd like reversed.

Chancer3001

The current JCPE (junior cert pe) guidlines state that all junior cycle classes should have a double period per week and a single.

The single is used more for theory classes.

Within that you cover all the different types of activities - aquatics, dance, net games, invasion games etc

The curriculum is there but its not perfect.

PE should be every day imo.

Fact is, majority of schools dont even have double classes per week, never mind 3classes each per week.

Only way it will change is if its brought in as an exam.

Right now, we dont have the money to do that.

there were plans in place in the rich ol days, but not anymore.

K4t

Schools should be places of learning.

In many ways they are the last bastion of intellectual thought in this country, with fewer children using libraries than ever before, and the celebrity age media warping the minds of our youth.

Play a game of football, rugby, cricket etc at lunch and after school and at weekends instead of watching tv or engaging in uderage drinking. There's more than enough time to do whatever you fancy. Go to school and be educated.

nice_guy80

K4t wrote: »

Schools should be places of learning.

In many ways they are the last bastion of intellectual thought in this country, with fewer children using libraries than ever before, and the celebrity age media warping the minds of our youth.

Play a game of football, rugby, cricket etc at lunch and after school and at weekends instead of watching tv or engaging in uderage drinking. There's more than enough time to do whatever you fancy. Go to school and be educated.

and educating them how to move properly and use their bodies to exercise aren't necessary skills?

sports keeps more young people off the street causing trouble than any other activity

the provision of school sports halls is a joke.
in my local town there are four big schools. one school built a brand new hall last year. but now has no money to kit it out.
the hall is also not available to the other schools to use, despite two of those schools not having proper halls of their own.

and the hall was badly designed so it isn't really big enough to be rented out in the evenings for indoor football

Fear_an_tarbh

Our school has an excellent P.E. program and it is mandatory and this is enforced. The school has a huge gym, football fields, tennis courts and an outdoor assault course. I've no idea where the money came from for these but I'm glad we have them. Students are also exposed to other sports such as surfing and adventure centre activities when possible.

The students are graded on P.E. on their term tests and this works especially well with non-academic or students with discipline problems whose report card is bouyed up with a positive mark in P.E. so they won't just have a long list of negative reports/poor grades from the other subjects.

Sugar or sugary foods are not available in school (I would ban them strictly from lunches too if I could), and students are not allowed to leave the school to go to a shop at lunchtime. I've worked in schools where students can walk to the shop at lunchtime and they are noticeably worse off for it in the afternoon - high as a kite or moody and 'coming down' from the sugary high. The academic consequences are as you would expect as well.

A little bit more investment in P.E. or healthy living in school would do more for maths grades than the millions spent on project Maths I'd say

nice_guy80

Fear_an_tarbh wrote: »

Our school has an excellent P.E. program and it is mandatory and this is enforced. The school has a huge gym, football fields, tennis courts and an outdoor assault course. I've no idea where the money came from for these but I'm glad we have them. Students are also exposed to other sports such as surfing and adventure centre activities when possible.

The students are graded on P.E. on their term tests and this works especially well with non-academic or students with discipline problems whose report card is bouyed up with a positive mark in P.E. so they won't just have a long list of negative reports/poor grades from the other subjects.

Sugar or sugary foods are not available in school (I would ban them strictly from lunches too if I could), and students are not allowed to leave the school to go to a shop at lunchtime. I've worked in schools where students can walk to the shop at lunchtime and they are noticeably worse off for it in the afternoon - high as a kite or moody and 'coming down' from the sugary high. The academic consequences are as you would expect as well.

A little bit more investment in P.E. or healthy living in school would do more for maths grades than the millions spent on project Maths I'd say

what school is this?

RunninChick27

That has to be one exceptional school anyway fear an tarbh!
I am teaching myself and for years the school I am in didn't even have a store room or changing room, the couple of soccer balls I was given and old rusty shotputts were stored in an old toilet!!EUGGGHHHH!!!!
When I started working there my stomach would turn!!!
I begged borrowed and pleaded for money over the years and gathered up my own stocks of PE equipment, set up lunchtime teams etc... I have travelled all round the country with school teams and to be honest the standard of PE in schools depends completely on support from school management, the money can always be found for sports if you have good support and eager students!! When I started we only had a hall badminton size with three huge leaks in the roof and it was so bad the students would beg me to go out in the lashing rain, snow thunder whatever to the pitches or running track rather than stay inside and do some indoor activity.
We had nothing for years and yet the students were unbelievable eager, now they do a full double class of PE a week, following six week blocks of various activities. We just got a new school FINALLY with actual changing rooms SHOCK HORROR and loads of outdoor courts and equipment.
Physical activity is an essential part of all peoples lives, I believe that there should be a one hour compulsory period of physical activity for teenagers every day in the school environment! To my knowledge it is compulsory in Australia and we all know how what fitness fanatics they are down under!!

nice_guy80

RunninChick27 wrote: »

That has to be one exceptional school anyway fear an tarbh!
I am teaching myself and for years the school I am in didn't even have a store room or changing room, the couple of soccer balls I was given and old rusty shotputts were stored in an old toilet!!EUGGGHHHH!!!!
When I started working there my stomach would turn!!!
I begged borrowed and pleaded for money over the years and gathered up my own stocks of PE equipment, set up lunchtime teams etc... I have travelled all round the country with school teams and to be honest the standard of PE in schools depends completely on support from school management, the money can always be found for sports if you have good support and eager students!! When I started we only had a hall badminton size with three huge leaks in the roof and it was so bad the students would beg me to go out in the lashing rain, snow thunder whatever to the pitches or running track rather than stay inside and do some indoor activity.
We had nothing for years and yet the students were unbelievable eager, now they do a full double class of PE a week, following six week blocks of various activities. We just got a new school FINALLY with actual changing rooms SHOCK HORROR and loads of outdoor courts and equipment.
Physical activity is an essential part of all peoples lives, I believe that there should be a one hour compulsory period of physical activity for teenagers every day in the school environment! To my knowledge it is compulsory in Australia and we all know how what fitness fanatics they are down under!!

some of them are

plenty of obese, lazy people in australia as well. go down and see for yourself!

the just have a huge advantage in terms of climate for outdoors sports, and funding for facilities

RunninChick27

I have been to oz a couple of times actually and there is a minority of australians overweight usually from being too fond of their beers in the evenings, but that is their choice in adulthood, the australian P.E. system is far better supported by the government and schools autorities in general. I have just returned from the States and that is one very sad place to be to see the amount of obese children teenagers and adults, it just shows how important physical activity is for children daily exercise of at least one hour.

Greendiamond

They should replace Irish with PE .....that woud be an hour a day of excercise. The teacher could run the session. Could be anything from tag rugby to yoga and everything in between. Far too much time is spent in primary school on a dead language that could be much better spent elsewhere.... But that's another days argument

It would be nice if there was more PE in school but ultimately it's the parents responsibility to educate their kids on healthy eating, set a good example excercise wise, join them up to playsports etc.

Chancer3001

yup the Irish teacher who obviously knows yoga and can do it in a classroom with no equipment


TBF on the "no equipment", you can do circuits with zero equipment. Its the timetabling and weather which will hold us back.

Weather cos it means we cant go outside i.e. we need PE halls

Timetabling, cos its not an exam subject principals dont bother with it.

gymfreak

I have a friend who a PE teacher who is out of work this school year because of cut backs. Schools are actually cutting back on PE as hard as it is to believe.

I really dont't think that schools are to blame here. Where do you think schools get their money from? It comes from parental donations, fundraisers and then the government. I know in my school its ridiculously hard to get parents to pay book money, never mind give the school donations. It's not the schools cutting back it's that there is no money to hire these excess teachers.

PE should be compulsory from day 1 of school till the end. I suggest at least 40 mins per day (20 min for shower/change) which totals 1 hour per day of sports and fitness training for every school goer aged 4-18. It should have a similar curriculum to every other subject and graded accordingly.

I presume we are talkin at Secondary level here, becaue there is only 4hour 45mins of teaching time a day in primary school (having taken out breaks) and that doesnt count for all the daily tasks within a classroom never mind getting the 11 subjects of the curriculum taught. Why put pressure on kids by grading it? As a teacher I want the children to ENJOY taking part, I want them to experience PE as a positive, social and personal activity. One that they could incorporate into their life with positivity, not with negative thoughts/memories etc

I don't mean amateur stuff like kick the ball around the field for half an hour or run around there now lads style. I mean a professional trainer in every school to train each individual student to their optimum fitness level. I believe that this will then become a habit for life for the majority of school goers after school.

What's wrong with children just playing?? There are plenty of schools in Ireland that cannot even let the kids run at yard time due to an abundance of insurance claims by parents.

The benefits will be enormous. The amount that will be saved on treating unfit people in hospitals will be greatly reduced.

As regards nutrition, every school should supply their pupils with a healthy nutritious lunch (loaded with foods that are not processed but rich in essential vitamins and minerals). If this is started from an early age, it will develop into a lifetime habit.

Why should the schools supply this? The family is supposed to be the primary educator of the child according to the Consitution so why can't the parents not give their children healthy food? Why must the schools take the responsibility of the parents? Do you not think that this is a major cop out on the parents part? Why can't be the primary educator of the child and instill good nutrition and exercise habits?

On a sidenote, my school actually does provide both breakfast and lunches to the kids daily.

If we truly care about our kids in Ireland, let's make this happen!!

And maybe, just maybe parents need to step up too! There's 24hours in a day, a child spends 5 and a half of those hours in school....shouldnt the parents use the remainder of those 18 and a half hours to encourage their children to exercise and eat healthy?

Inspector Coptoor

Exactly.
We are in loco parentis 5-6 hours per day.

What about the other time?
Parents need to do more & stop treating schools as a crèche & as the solution to all problems.

Hanley

This thread is making me miserable. It's like everything else on here - people with aspirations and no sense of what happens on the front line taking shots at the ones busting their asses all day

Complete mental masturbation. Fair play to the teachers doing the best they can is all I say. Esp the ones I know on here personally who contribute so much and bust their ass.

MOR66

I think all primary schools should have maximum p:e hours that can be offered ,because if you teach them healthy living at a young age there more likely to promote it at maturity.In my experience,primary schools are relatively good in monitoring lunches kids are having for school and encourging fruit and veg intake.

At secondary school level it's a whole different story.If your not a sporty person,your'e going to avoid it and scarce participate.If you make p:e a option as a core subject,then that might encourage more involvement from students!! Especially those who are more hands on then academic.

nice_guy80

MOR66 wrote: »

I think all primary schools should have maximum p:e hours that can be offered ,because if you teach them healthy living at a young age there more likely to promote it at maturity.In my experience,primary schools are relatively good in monitoring lunches kids are having for school and encourging fruit and veg intake.

At secondary school level it's a whole different story.If your not a sporty person,your'e going to avoid it and scarce participate.If you make p:e a option as a core subject,then that might encourage more involvement from students!! Especially those who are more hands on then academic.

Irish primary schools spend more time teaching Religion than PE, or SCIENCE
and the Department of Education sanction that
Where will they get the extra time needed for PE? What can they do in the middle of winter, with the rain lashing outside with no sports hall?


so that is what you are fighting against

Doctor_Socks

This is going to sound unbelievable because it's so absurd and downright retarded but the national school I attended when I was young has had to pretty much cut out PE completely. This is due to 'injuries' that occurred to some kids who were running around the school playing catch, one of them fell and cut their knee and their parents tried unsuccessfully to sue the school for not providing adequate supervision of the children (two teachers walk around the school to supervise the kids during lunch while another watches the hurling/football team practice).

This happened a further two times and has resulted in the principal stopping kids from running unless they are under close supervision when playing hurling/football for the school and sign liability waivers when they start each school year. They can't do anything else during lunch time but walk around the school or sit down and chat. It sickens me that this is happening because this is going to ingrain bad habits in the kids that could take a long time to fix.

Burkatron

Doctor_Socks wrote: »

This is going to sound unbelievable because it's so absurd and downright retarded but the national school I attended when I was young has had to pretty much cut out PE completely. This is due to 'injuries' that occurred to some kids who were running around the school playing catch, one of them fell and cut their knee and their parents tried unsuccessfully to sue the school for not providing adequate supervision of the children (two teachers walk around the school to supervise the kids during lunch while another watches the hurling/football team practice).

This happened a further two times and has resulted in the principal stopping kids from running unless they are under close supervision when playing hurling/football for the school and sign liability waivers when they start each school year. They can't do anything else during lunch time but walk around the school or sit down and chat. It sickens me that this is happening because this is going to ingrain bad habits in the kids that could take a long time to fix.

What sickens you though? It's hardly the schools fault they have parents that low they try to claim for damages because there little Billy or Jenny fell over! They should extend the waivers to cover yard time & anyone who's parent doesn't sign, should have to sit inside but then you have more supervision expenses for these few kids!

I swim coach & have had parents go mental at me because there kid got water up there nose!! It's insane!

0000879k

I'm in secondary school atm. We have a double class of PE once a week, and we do things like running/soccer (quick to set up, good exercise) but in that class, you're allowed to just walk the laps, or just stand in the corner of the soccer pitch. So they can get good exercise in these classes, the vast majority choose not to.
We also have a gym open to students at lunch time if they want. Needless to say, it's usually very quiet.

If children wanna get of their arses and do something, they can. Teachers can't and shouldn't have to force them.

nice_guy80

0000879k wrote: »

I'm in secondary school atm. We have a double class of PE once a week, and we do things like running/soccer (quick to set up, good exercise) but in that class, you're allowed to just walk the laps, or just stand in the corner of the soccer pitch. So they can get good exercise in these classes, the vast majority choose not to.
We also have a gym open to students at lunch time if they want. Needless to say, it's usually very quiet.

If children wanna get of their arses and do something, they can. Teachers can't and shouldn't have to force them.

I disagree

If Irish and Maths are compulsory then so should participation in PE

K4t

K4t wrote: »

In many ways they are the last bastion of intellectual thought in this country,

"Sit down, be quiet, take this down, do these questions." If there's any bastion of intellectual thought left in this country it ain't in any school I've been in.

RunninChick27 wrote: »

I have been to oz a couple of times actually and there is a minority of australians overweight usually from being too fond of their beers in the evenings, but that is their choice in adulthood, the australian P.E. system is far better supported by the government and schools autorities in general. I have just returned from the States and that is one very sad place to be to see the amount of obese children teenagers and adults, it just shows how important physical activity is for children daily exercise of at least one hour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Anglosphere_2007_overweight_rate.png According to wikipedia Australia's worse than us.

As for the overall topic, making it an exam subject will result in those interested doing it more and those not interested forgoing it achieving nothing but widening the gap between kids that'll be there anyway. Time, money, equipment and precious parents/kids are what need to be overcome and I don't see it happening any time soon.

Greendiamond

Chancer3001 wrote: »

yup the Irish teacher who obviously knows yoga and can do it in a classroom with no equipment


TBF on the "no equipment", you can do circuits with zero equipment. Its the timetabling and weather which will hold us back.

Weather cos it means we cant go outside i.e. we need PE halls

Timetabling, cos its not an exam subject principals dont bother with it.

Lol, I meant primary school. I think thats were good habits need to start but really its the parents responsibility first and foremost. It just bugs me so much time in primary school is spoent on Irish

Chancer3001

The whole "necessity of Irish/French/History" being taught is wayyy off topic so I wont even go there.

titan18

In the school I went to, PE stopped after 4th year, and even then it was only an hour a week, which mostly consisted of playing soccer or running around the field/hall.

It got worse since I left as they now serve pizza and chips at lunch time in the school

The Guvnor

AFAIK in eastern europe they have an hour a day or did at any rate - I see no reason why a child would not prefer gym to say maths!

In eastern europe though I think they did proper gymnastics - balance beam, pommel horse etc.

Burkatron

The Guvnor wrote: »

AFAIK in eastern europe they have an hour a day or did at any rate - I see no reason why a child would not prefer gym to say maths!

In eastern europe though I think they did proper gymnastics - balance beam, pommel horse etc.

If it's not crab football or unihock I'm not interested!!!!

nice_guy80

Greendiamond wrote: »

Lol, I meant primary school. I think thats were good habits need to start but really its the parents responsibility first and foremost. It just bugs me so much time in primary school is spoent on Irish

Thats just your own prejudice shining through

ted1

My school had a great gym, astro turf, 17 pitches, a pool, sports hall.
For transition year we could do pe as a subject with 8 hours per week. We did coaching courses for rugby, soccer, football aswell ad learning about feild sports such as high jump, javelin and discus. It was a great program and should be rolled out across the country.

nice_guy80

ted1 wrote: »

My school had a great gym, astro turf, 17 pitches, a pool, sports hall.
For transition year we could do pe as a subject with 8 hours per week. We did coaching courses for rugby, soccer, football aswell ad learning about feild sports such as high jump, javelin and discus. It was a great program and should be rolled out across the country.

private school?

ted1

Yes.

Burkatron

ted1 wrote: »

My school had a great gym, astro turf, 17 pitches, a pool, sports hall.
For transition year we could do pe as a subject with 8 hours per week. We did coaching courses for rugby, soccer, football aswell ad learning about feild sports such as high jump, javelin and discus. It was a great program and should be rolled out across the country.

You're aware the country is broke right??

nice_guy80

ted1 wrote: »

Yes.

thought as much
no public school could have those facilities

ted1

Burkatron wrote: »

You're aware the country is broke right??

What's your point?

Burkatron

ted1 wrote: »

My school had a great gym, astro turf, 17 pitches, a pool, sports hall.
For transition year we could do pe as a subject with 8 hours per week. We did coaching courses for rugby, soccer, football aswell ad learning about feild sports such as high jump, javelin and discus. It was a great program and should be rolled out across the country.

I'll try & make this as simple as I can for you. See the bolded part of your statement above.

Burkatron wrote: »

You're aware the country is broke right??

Now I replied with the quote above!

ted1 wrote: »

What's your point?

Since programmes like this cost money, how do you suggest this programme is fundded? Good will & belief??