You could be forgiven for thinking that policy changes gradually lead to an improvement in the status quo over time. Considering the recent history of policy in school sport and physical education, this would certainly seem to be the case: the main aim of policy in 2002, set out by Tony Blair’s government in Game Plan was…
“ensuring that 75% of 5-16 year olds [spend] at least 2 hours of high quality physical education and sport per week in and beyond the school curriculum by 2006” (pp.57)
…i.e. at least 2 hours per week including both curricular and extra-curricular time. This was thought to be pretty ambitious, and was followed up in 2009 (in The PE and Sport Strategy for Young People) with even more ambitious targets:
“by […] 2010-11, 80% of 5-16 year olds […] to take part in 3 hours a week of PE and sport organised by schools and 40% […] to take part in 5 hours a week” (pp.6)
This history reflects a constant shortcoming of politics and policy making: short-termism. There will always be competing priorities which are demanding more and more from our educational system, schools, and children and teachers within them. Education and the supplementary activities it provides are seen as a possible solution for the many health, social and economic issues we are faced with as a nation. Perhaps we need to decide – in the long run – what is our educational system really for? What should it provide and what should be provided elsewhere? Is intervening in schools a good idea, or is it simply a sticking plaster approach that ignores the more fundamental issues?
In 2010, Michael Gove scrapped targets for school sport and physical education completely:
“I am removing the need for schools to:
- plan and implement their part of a ‘five hour offer’;
- collect information about every pupil for an annual survey;
- deliver a range of new Government sport initiatives each year;
- report termly to the Youth Sport Trust on various performance indicators;
- conform to a national blueprint for how to deliver PE and sport, and how to use their staff and resources; and
- get permission from the Youth Sport Trust and the Department to use their funding flexibly or to vary how they do things.
In giving schools this freedom, we are trusting school leaders to take decisions in the best interests of the pupils and parents they serve”
It is now up to schools to decide what to do. Will they retain provision at current levels, or will it be eroded yet again by the pressures of achieving exam results? Unfortunately, it won’t be easy to find out, as Gove has also scrapped all monitoring.