Angela Burns AM: It's most kind of you to take an
intervention. I think the point I just want to make is that we
refer a lot to sport, and I'm aware of the Sport Wales programmes,
but of course, for young women—12, 13, or 14 years old, hormones
racing around their bodies, very body conscious, very aware of
trying to figure out what they're all about and
everything—actually, the notion of somebody coming...Request free trial
AM: It's most kind of you to take an
intervention. I think the point I just want to make is
that we refer a lot to sport, and I'm aware of the Sport
Wales programmes, but of course, for young women—12, 13,
or 14 years old, hormones racing around their bodies,
very body conscious, very aware of trying to figure out
what they're all about and everything—actually, the
notion of somebody coming in and doing the sport side of
it is, and can be, a turn-off. And I would love to see
some of these organisatuons be far more creative in how
they get these young women to undertake physical
activity.
AM
(Deputy Minister for Culture,
Sport and Tourism): Well,
this is the whole point about shifting away from the
traditional notions of physical activity and physical
education as taught. It's an attempt to make physical
activity attractive through interaction with those who
have been successful in that field. It's not a matter of
saying that we expect everyone to pursue elite sport, but
we do expect everyone to pursue physical activity to
their level of satisfaction, which enables them to enjoy
life to the full. And that's why these role models are so
important.
If I could also mention the criticism made on the
recommendations rejected, and to make it entirely clear
that the reason that we have rejected these recommendations
is because we believe that the way that we operate at
the moment deals with what's covered within those
recommendations?
For example, I believe that there is a misunderstanding
here about the nature of the changes to the curriculum that
the education Minister is leading on at the moment. We are
not in the—and I'm old enough to have been involved with
the national curriculum back in the 1980s, and I'm very
pleased to see that concept disappearing from our public
discourse. That is why we have rejected the recommendation
on 120 minutes of physical education in schools. Because
what we want to see happening is the kind of thing that I
had the pleasure of seeing in Llansanffraid Glan Conwy in
the county of Conwy, where I live, relatively recently,
namely the way in which pupils take part in
the Daily Mile on the school grounds,
and that was done without any kind of enforcement, but it
was just good practice that had developed within that
school, and that happened on a daily basis. Estyn, as has
been emphasised by us several times, continue to review
their methods of inspection to support the new curriculum,
and that will mean looking at the way in which the quality
of teaching can be looked at in all areas of learning
experience, including this area.
AM: Thank you very much. I, too, am
a fan of the Daily Mile. The children at the school
that my children attended, Ysgol Henblas in
Llangristiolus, do that and it brought them a great deal
of benefit. But in wanting to see 120 minutes being given
to physical activity, I'm perfectly happy for that to
include the Daily Mile. I don't mean formal
physical education lessons necessarily. The important
thing is to ensure that that time is allocated somehow,
and to empower Estyn to demand that it happens by putting
it on a statutory basis.
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