Edward Timpson (Eddisbury) (Con) I beg to move, That this House has
considered physical education as a core subject in schools. As
always, I am delighted to have you in the Chair, Mr Hosie, for this
important and, I hope, enthralling debate at the end of the day on
physical education in our schools. I refer Members to my entry in
the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. To begin, I thank
personally all 386 members of the public who so far, in just
48...Request free trial
(Eddisbury) (Con)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered physical education as a core
subject in schools.
As always, I am delighted to have you in the Chair, Mr Hosie, for
this important and, I hope, enthralling debate at the end of the
day on physical education in our schools. I refer Members to my
entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests.
To begin, I thank personally all 386 members of the public who so
far, in just 48 hours, have taken the time to respond to the
survey distributed by the Chamber Engagement team, sharing their
experiences and ideas on PE as a core subject. I also thank
students of the Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School who, as part
of the Pupils 2 Parliament programme run by former children’s
director Dr Roger Morgan OBE, contributed their views and
proposals. I am extremely grateful to them. That demonstrates the
significant and rising interest in this crucial aspect of school,
and growing recognition that the status quo is not delivering for
children in the context of the modern world in which we live, in
particular for those with special educational needs and
disabilities or from more deprived backgrounds.
I am also grateful to the Minister, whom I know, from our early
morning runs together, is as passionate as I am about the power
of PE as a springboard to a lifelong love of sport and physical
activity. Indeed, the Government have an ongoing commitment to
which I am sure he will refer. The £320 million a year primary PE
and sport premium, the 2019 manifesto pledge to invest in primary
PE teaching and the new £30 million of funding to help schools
open their sports facilities are all demonstrations of the desire
to see improvements in participation, performance and prolonged
engagement into adulthood with physical activity and sport among
children of school age and beyond.
Last year, I chaired the PE taskforce—I thank Sue Wilkinson, the
chief executive of the Association for Physical Education, and
her team for their support—and it laid bare that this is
happening at a time when children’s physical fitness and their
mental health and wellbeing are all heading in the wrong
direction, unfortunately. A Lords Select Committee report, “A
national plan for sport, health and wellbeing”, which was
published in December 2021, cited data from the Active Lives
annual survey showing that of 2.3 million children in England—I
emphasise that I am speaking about England and English
schools—almost a third, or 31.3%, are doing less than 30 minutes
of activity a day. It also found that girls and children from
deprived socioeconomic backgrounds are the most likely to have
lower activity levels.
We have also seen a growing trend of obese children in both
reception and year 6, leading to one in five secondary school
pupils falling into that category. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the
situation has gotten worse since the pandemic, with a surge in
numbers of children being referred to mental health services,
including a rise of 77% in severe cases. At the same time, there
is evidence of PE being side-lined by some schools as a “nice to
have”, rather than a “must do”, reducing PE time in order to
focus on catch-up in other areas, which is understandable but to
the detriment of PE.
It is worth remembering that even before covid, the situation was
deteriorating. For example, as part of the research review
series, Ofsted published its PE paper only last week, revealing
reductions in the time allocated to PE of up to 20% since 2013 at
key stage 3, and 38% at key stage 4. If we add increasingly
sedentary lifestyles, gaming, phone addiction and sleep
deprivation, we see that those are all turning children and young
people off physical movement, with dire consequences for their
own health and that of the nation. If we are serious about taking
on the ever-growing pressures on the NHS, instilling a habit of
physical activity for life would be a good way to start
alleviating that pressure. The Lords Committee also said in its
report that schools are the place where:
“Attitudes towards sport and physical activity…track into
adulthood.”
The even better news is that we can actually do something about
it; that is where physical education comes in. I am not, I hope,
naive enough to think that making PE a core subject will, on its
own, achieve that laudable objective. As a father of four, I know
I have a responsibility to lead by example, and encourage my own
children to find ways that they can enjoy keeping fit and active
into adult life. Indeed, my 18-year-old son recently announced to
me that he wants to join me on my next London marathon—my 17th, I
think— this October, so I must be doing something right.
Having had the privilege of being Children’s Minister, rarely
have I come across a specific policy, with a modest price tag,
that has a very real prospect of changing the trajectory of so
many young people towards a healthier and more fulfilling life.
The evidence is staring us in the face. It is no coincidence that
the very best schools, both state and independent, have for many
years understood that the holistic intertwining of PE into their
school offer reaps rewards in so many different ways—physically,
socially, emotionally and academically, too.
(Central Suffolk and North Ipswich) (Con)
My hon. Friend is right to highlight the need to combat and
reduce childhood obesity. I congratulate him on securing this
worthwhile debate and fully support what he is saying. There is a
greater social benefit to children, particularly those from
deprived backgrounds who do not have the life advantages of
children from affluent backgrounds, in playing sport, coming
together, learning team skills and enjoying being part of a team
and the social fabric of sport. That is recognised, quite
rightly, in much of the state sector—in good-performing state
schools—and in the private sector. What he is proposing will
ensure that all children have access to the opportunity to
benefit from those wider parts of education, and that will bring
their lives along further. I do not know if my hon. Friend would
like to reflect on that, but I hope that the Minister has taken
note of those comments.
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. One of the benefits that I
saw when I was responsible for school sports as Children’s
Minister was from programmes in the inner cities where children
do not always have access to other facilities. The children there
were gaining so many of the elements, which other children take
for granted, that sport, physical activity and—the precursor to
that—good physical education can bring to their lives. It is not
only about their participation in sport; it is about their life
skills, confidence and sense of achievement and purpose, and
where that can lead. At the end of my speech I will mention an
individual who all Members will know and who falls into that
category.
That point segues into one made by the celebrated 19th century
educator—and headteacher at one of my former schools—Edward
Thring. He was ahead of his time in observing that when it comes
to physical education,
“The aim was to produce a wholeness and harmony, within and
beyond the classroom, in work and in play, and in body,
intellect, and soul.”
As an academically rigorous curriculum is not at odds with having
PE at its heart, we can see it as the only subject that educates
through the physical domain. The evidence that it helps enhance
academic performance—not forgetting concentration and
behaviour—has never been greater.
In 2015, the University of Texas at Austin published a paper
entitled “Active Education: Growing Evidence on Physical Activity
and Academic Performance”. The paper reviewed 39 separate studies
and unanimously found that,
“Physical activity can have both immediate and long-term benefits
on academic performance. Almost immediately after engaging in
physical activity, children are better able to concentrate on
classroom tasks, which can enhance learning.”
Let us take an example from England. At Sandal Castle VA
Community Primary School in Wakefield physical education is at
the heart of their curriculum. It is also seen as a vital and
critical priority driver for school improvement. They have two
members of staff who have the Association for Physical Education
and Sports Leaders UK level 5 certificate in primary school
physical education specialism, which is vital in raising
standards in primary school physical education teaching and
learning. The breadth of curriculum opportunity on offer in the
extended school day has ensured that attainment in core subjects
continues to be well above the national average. In 2019, 82% of
children achieved the national standard in reading, writing and
maths, compared with the England average of 65%. Progress
measures in English in particular are well above the national
average, with reading at +3.5 and writing at +3.1—no coincidence,
one might think.
At this stage, it is probably sensible to explain exactly what PE
is and how it interrelates with physical activity and sport. The
structure of the national curriculum is based on 12 subjects,
classified as core and foundation subjects. English, mathematics
and science are core subjects across all key stages, with PE
being the only foundation subject across all those key stages.
The purpose of studying PE as outlined in the national curriculum
is as follows:
“A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils
to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other
physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities
for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports
their health and fitness.”
The stated aims of the national curriculum for PE are
“to ensure that all pupils: develop competence to excel in a
broad range of physical activities; are physically active for
sustained periods of time; engage in competitive sports and
activities”
and “lead healthy, active lives.”
PE is essentially the planned progressive learning that takes
place in the timetabled school curriculum involving both learning
to move and moving to learn, the context for that learning being
through physical activity. Sport is the structured learning that
takes place beyond the curriculum, often within school settings,
out of hours or in the community, but there is clearly a
symbiotic relationship between all three, with PE being the
foundation from which all other physical activity and sport
flows. As Ofsted points out, a child with lower levels of motor
competence may be less inclined to participate in physical
activity and sport. As such, getting PE right is fundamental.
Writing in the British Medical Journal on 2 March, Michael Craig
Watson and Dr John Lloyd from the Institute of Health Promotion
and Education observed:
“In addition to the current low levels of physical activity in
the UK there are also stark inequalities in levels of physical
activity within the population. There are large disparities in
physical activity participation rates in relation to age,
disability, ethnic group and gender”
and that
“physical activity should not just be for the elite or for
example individuals of a certain age, or ability”
—a point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk
and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter)—
“but should be actively promoted to the whole population.”
Schools have an important part to play in developing health
literacy. That includes physical education, which is a central
part of the curriculum for all pupils of all ages.
In calling for this debate, I am realistic: PE will not
miraculously appear as a core subject overnight. Further work is
needed to ensure we have the capacity, culture and commitment
within the schools system for it to have the desired effect. Some
have also legitimately raised issues about curriculum time,
assessment challenges, recruitment, and the quality of PE
teaching at primary level. The Government are already addressing
the latter, and I humbly suggest that when it comes to
recruitment, the Department for Education should use Ofsted’s
recent review of PE to help improve accountability and inspection
of PE and the use of the premium, as well as develop a coherent
standards and assessment framework for PE that would satisfy a
core status in the future. That could include how PE reduces the
burden on the NHS, as suggested by Professor Jo Harris from
Loughborough University.
Turning to the question of curriculum time, PE has the
flexibility to be incorporated more in the wider curriculum and
woven into the school day if the leadership, innovation and
desire is there. For instance, at St Gregory CEVC Primary School
in Suffolk, the headteacher, Daniel Woodrow, has introduced a
whole-school, 10-minute “wake and shake” activity first thing
and, later, a 15-minute daily mile—something I know the Minister
is keen on, and these days runs pretty decent times on, too—as
well as three PE lessons every week.
Crucially, we should not see the curriculum as sacred and be
dogmatic about its constitution; in my view, the move towards
better vocational representation at school and college—which is
the right move—is testament to that. The curriculum has evolved
over time, and should continue to do so in order to best reflect
the current and foreseeable demands and needs of society. Quite
rightly, we place high value on all children having good
knowledge and application of maths, English and science, but
surely the time has come to recognise the equal value of good
knowledge and application of PE as one of the cornerstones of
setting up a child with some of the core attributes they will
need for life.
Let us build on the excellent practice and leadership already out
there. Let us learn from the outstanding schools that have
already made PE essential to their delivery of an excellent
education. Let us start to build the base of expertise and
understanding across our school workforce. Let us set the
achievable target of having a great PE teacher in every primary
school, and let us make CPD more effective, so that the
transition from a foundation to core subject up to key stage 2
can be where we begin. As Nik, who replied to my survey, said,
let us assess the quality of the delivery through internal and
external engagement and improve the real, “on the ground”
evidence from the likes of the United Learning trust, which is
piloting PE as a core subject across its whole family of schools.
That is what children and the public want, too.
Pupils from the Bishop of Hereford’s Bluecoat School told me that
they wanted more time for PE and sports in the curriculum,
including different after-school and lunch timings to help find
that time. A survey of adults conducted by the Youth Sport Trust
found that the majority of the general public wanted more
physical activity in schools and would support enhancing physical
education to core subject status. Almost two thirds of
respondents strongly agreed or tended to agree that PE should be
a core subject in the national curriculum, with 80% agreeing that
there should be more opportunities for young people of all ages
to be physically active at school.
Before I allow others to contribute to the debate, I want to
mention swimming and water safety. It is a statutory element of
PE that every 11-year-old is required to be able to swim
competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at
least 25 metres. Despite the requirement being in place since
1994, one in three children, around 200,000 every year, leave
primary school not being able to do so. I find that astonishing
and worrying. It lends further credence to the need to take
swimming even more seriously as an essential life skill. I hope
the Minister will use the funding already announced to look at
improving access to facilities, including pop-up pools, and
better scrutinising this aspect of PE, so that we can ensure that
all children get what they are entitled to.
I am aware from the Government’s response to the Lords’ report
that there are no immediate plans to re-categorise PE as a core
subject. However, I do not think it is giving away any state
secrets to say that over the last few weeks I have had both
enthusiastic and encouraging conversations with other ministerial
colleagues in a position to make things happen. There will be
people who want to put it off—either because it is not a
priority, because it is too difficult to do or because they
simply are not interested. As I said earlier, there are very few
straightforward policy changes that sit on a Whitehall desk
carrying such a clear need, evidential basis, public support and
potentially far-reaching impact as this one.
I earlier alluded to Jason Robinson OBE, the former England rugby
union World cup winner and British Lion. He said:
“Physical education was a vital part of my life growing up and
gave me so much, playing an instrumental role in the success I
went on to achieve in my career. PE has a unique power to
inspire, but too often it isn’t taken seriously enough. The time
for change has come and for PE to become a core subject in every
school, rightly put alongside other key subjects to ensure that
the next generation of our young people are given better
opportunities.”
If the Government were able to accept, at least in principle, the
recommendations of the Association for Physical Education’s
taskforce, the Lords Select Committee and others focused on PE
becoming a core subject, it is no exaggeration to say that we
would be taking the lead with an absolute commitment to the
development of healthy bodies and minds for all children,
whatever their background. If we have the will—or should I say
Will—we can make it happen. PE should be at the heart of school
life.
4.49pm
(Batley and Spen) (Lab)
I thank the hon. Member for Eddisbury () for securing this debate.
It is not often I get really excited in this place, but today is
one of those days. This is a subject close to my heart.
I have a background in sport and physical activity and health and
wellbeing, having lectured in these subjects for over a decade
and worked both in primary schools, delivering exercise sessions
to young children, including the aforementioned “wake up, shake
up” activity, and in a secondary school PE department. Based on
that experience, I strongly believe that PE should have a much
more central role in the curriculum.
Successive Governments have missed the chance to improve the
nation’s health and wellbeing by adopting a holistic and
preventive approach, placing an emphasis on educating young
people about the importance of physical activity, what it means
to have a healthy lifestyle, and ensuring that they adopt
healthy, enjoyable exercise habits from an early age. With
alarming figures relating to childhood obesity, diabetes and a
range of other health conditions, along with serious concerns
around children’s mental health, we must take a more preventive
and long-term approach to health and wellbeing. The provision of
high-quality PE in our schools should be a fundamental part of
that.
Do not misunderstand me: the provision of good-quality PE is not
the only solution to those problems. As the hon. Member for
Eddisbury said, we also have to look at a wide range of other
things, such as active travel, active families and active
communities, grassroots sports provision, nutrition, and
addressing the barriers to being more active—be they real or
perceived. However, young people’s access to good-quality and
wide-ranging physical education is an important part of
addressing some of those serious health issues. That is why I
think that PE should be a core subject.
I accept that that cannot happen overnight, and we do, of course,
have to consider the implications for the broader curriculum.
However, as the Association for Physical Education says, we
should give PE a higher priority straightaway, with children
spending more time on physical activity, and aim to have a highly
trained PE teacher in every primary school within a few
years.
As The Times Educational Supplement reported recently, by having
high-quality, properly resourced and immovable PE provision in
our schools, we encourage children and young people to adopt
life-long physical activity habits, which will reduce the
prevalence of a range of chronic health conditions and, in turn,
take some of the pressure off the NHS which we know is bursting
at the seams.
The “A national plan for sport, health and wellbeing” report,
recently discussed in the House of Lords, noted that:
“Attitudes towards physical activity…track into adulthood.”
In short, by exposing children to a wide variety of PE options
and enabling them to develop healthy habits from a young age, we
help to create a generation of healthy adults. The benefits of
high-quality PE provision do not stop at the physical. The skills
that children learn from PE are many: perseverance, resilience,
collaboration, teamwork, initiative, and confidence, to name just
a few. Those skills help young people to flourish in education
and life.
The great thing about physical activity is that there is
something for everyone, whether that is in competitive sport,
dance, gym, group exercise, running, and everything in between.
There is something for everyone—boys, girls, men and women. On
that note, I am pleased to be providing a female perspective to
today’s debate. I had two very good female PE teachers, who were
instrumental in inspiring me to adopt physical activity habits
for the rest of my life—including a 30-year hockey career which,
sadly, came to an end as a result of the pressures of this job.
Those role models are important, and that is why PE should be a
core curriculum subject at the heart of our education system.
As well as having PE on the curriculum, it is also important to
look at how we can embed physical activity into the education
system as a whole. The “creating active schools” framework,
designed in part by the Yorkshire Sport Foundation, is a good
example of that. It encourages all stakeholders, from local
authorities to school leaders and pupils, to play a role in
embedding physical activity in the school’s ethos.
To finish, I am pleased to take part in today’s important debate,
and to have the opportunity to speak about a subject so close to
my heart. I offer to work with colleagues across the House on
taking this agenda forward. Thank you.
4.53pm
(Stoke-on-Trent North)
(Con)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, yet again, in
Westminster Hall, Mr Hosie. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for
Eddisbury () for securing this important
debate. I thought his speech, and that of the hon. Member for
Batley and Spen (), was fantastic in
outlining the absolute reasons why physical education needs to be
taken much more seriously, particularly in primary school
curriculums.
Mr Hosie, the irony is not lost on me; I am quite aware of the
overly large circumference of my waist at this moment in time,
and that for me to be talking about physical health, I should be
leading by example. However, PE is absolutely essential to
tackling issues such as childhood obesity, which are, sadly, all
too prevalent in the great city of Stoke-on-Trent, and in
Kidsgrove and Talke, which I am also proud to represent. There
are a number of different factors for that obesity, but one
definite challenge is that, all too often, in the advancement of
students’ literacy and numeracy—which are absolutely critical in
improving the life outcomes of pupils in my area—the physical
education side has suffered.
I am the first in my family to be the beneficiary of a private
school education, something I am very proud of. My parents worked
very hard and made many sacrifices to give me the head start in
life that they felt they had not had through their education.
People always ask me, “What is the major difference between a
pupil from a state school and a private school?” I was a teacher
in a state school for eight and a half years before I entered
this place. The answer is simple. Even though private schools
produce fantastic academic results, they heavily invest time, the
money from parents—yes, I understand that is an advantage—and
energy into giving children a rounded education, not just through
debating, LAMDA and drama, but physical education.
I remember that Wednesdays from one o’clock meant games for the
entire year group. A variety of football, hockey, rugby, netball
and many other sports would be available to us for two to three
hours. That meant we were getting high-quality physical education
from fantastic teachers, such as Mr McCollin, whom I still dread
and fear to this day. When I went back to see him 12 months ago,
I still looked down and called him sir, because of the fear he
brought when it came to being disciplined. Perhaps Mr Speaker
should have a word with him, to get me to behave in the
Chamber.
Ultimately, it was teachers such as him who inspired me to play
rugby, a sport I had never played before I was 11. I was
delighted to end up with a very successful career, even being
paid to play rugby union while I was at university. It is about
that type of support network. As the hon. Member for Batley and
Spen said, it is about teamwork, the learning and camaraderie
with colleagues, the resilience from taking a knock and getting
back up, and accepting defeat, even when it feels undeserved.
Those are the things that are inspiring, and why we need to do a
much better job, ensuring that children in state schools are
getting access to that.
Stoke-on-Trent in 2019-20 featured among the top local
authorities for high levels of childhood obesity; 27.7% of
children were either overweight or obese. In Kidsgrove and Talke,
27% of children in year 6 were obese and 19% overweight. Those
are scary statistics that have a huge impact. As someone who has
been open recently about my mental health struggles, I understand
the impact a poor diet and lack of exercise can have on mental
health. It is no shock to me that high levels of obesity are
leading to long waiting lists with Child and Adolescent Mental
Health Services. Adults in the city of Stoke-on-Trent have issues
with asthma, heart conditions, with a clear link to the lack of
physical activity at the earliest stages. We talk about the first
1,001 days of a child’s life being the most critical for
imparting knowledge and nurturing their growth, but there is a
physical aspect as well.
Kidsgrove sports centre was closed in 2017. Thanks to the
Government’s town deal funding and Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough
Council, it has been refurbished and will reopen in July 2022,
bringing swimming back to the town, with its record high levels
of obesity and overweight children. There will be a gym, which
will be run by the Kidsgrove sports centre community group, so
that every pound that is spent in it stays in that community
centre, for the benefit of that local community.
Alongside that, we have invested in a pump track at Newchapel
Rec, which has kids on their BMXs, scooters, roller blades and a
variety of other wheely machinery. It is getting them out and
about. When I drive past, I see the benefit of that with tens, if
not hundreds, of children on a daily basis enjoying that
facility. For the mere sum of £100,000, that town deal has
already delivered over and above what was invested in that area.
Clough Hall bowls club is nearby and there is a FIFA-standard 3G
astroturf pitch at King’s Church of England school, supplied
through the town deal funding. That will not only be used by kids
during the day. We opened it up by doing a deal with the school,
so that the community can use it in the evening and at weekends.
This is a sports village complex that we are trying to bring to
local areas, so that there is no excuse why anyone cannot access
good, high-quality physical education.
The last thing I want to say is that we have some great people in
our city doing fantastic work. We have companies such as Bee
Active which was established in 2013 by brothers Ben and Bobby
Mills. It offers an innovative approach to physical education,
Ofsted-registered schools and holiday sports clubs. It has
extended services beyond children’s PE, to include gentle
exercise for older people, birthday parties, celebrations,
special events and community sessions, to name a few.
Bee Active even has a great app that parents can use to do
activities with their kids at home, record them and have them
marked and assessed on how well they are doing. The company came
to the office, and let me just say there is a lot of work to do
on my part—I am sure my daughter and son will be much better. Bee
Active has become Staffordshire and Cheshire’s leading provider
of sports and physical activity, supporting 75 primary and
secondary schools to deliver PE. However, there is one challenge
in its way: the PE and sport premium. Because the money is not
secured for the long term and there is almost an annual bidding
process, there is insecurity as to whether the fund will even
exist and, therefore, whether the business can carry on. Ben from
Bee Active wants me to ask whether we can have a long-term
settlement for the fund to ensure that companies such as his can
continue to operate.
I could not agree more with my hon. Friend’s last comment about
the premium, which I was privileged to help set up in my time at
the Department for Education. I am delighted that it is still
going, but long-term funding makes a significant difference to
schools’ ability to bed in some of the practical improvements
that they need in the way that they teach PE. Do we not also need
confirmation from the Government in relation to school games
organisers by 7 April, so that they can continue their excellent
work on interschool and intraschool competitions, which have been
so successful over the last 10 years?
I could not agree more. This is so important. Again, the benefit
of private schools is that they have interschool cups, so we
should have interschool competitions. The highlight of my week
was knowing that I could get out of maths halfway through the
lesson in order to go and play against another local school in a
rugby match, or against another house when we were doing our
school cup games. It is so important for breeding confidence and
motivation in young people within our education sphere, so
long-term funding needs to be approved. We cannot have
year-on-year uncertainty with primary schools and the providers
that are doing such great work externally.
My final point is that we need an extended school day. I bang on
and on about this, and I know I will embarrass the Parliamentary
Private Secretary for the Department for Education, my hon.
Friend the Member for Wantage (), who is sat behind the
Minister. He was an advocate for physical education when he was
on the Education Committee, and they sucked him into the
Department—probably to shut him up. Now that he is in the
Department, he can tell it loud and clear that we need an
extended school day. Not only does it keep kids off the streets
and make the most vulnerable kids feel safe in their school
building because it is a place that they know, surrounded by
adults whom they trust. It also means that, regardless of whether
there needs to be catch-up, the whole school can enjoy
good-quality physical education if there is a challenge with
fitting it within normal curriculum time.
The extended school day is happening already in the private
school sector, and it is unfair that it is not happening in the
state school sector. It is unfair on parents, who are having to
leave work two or three hours earlier than they should, and who
are having lower incomes than they deserve, in order to go and
pick up their loved ones or look after them. The stats do not
lie: all too often in major cities, knife crime involving young
people peaks at the end of the school day, between 3 pm and 5 pm,
as I have seen in some studies. We need to grab hold of the
situation and announce this fantastic thing. I know it costs
money, and I am fully aware that those in Treasury will be
rolling their eyes at me yet again because I am asking for more
funds, but this is something that, in the long term, we will see
money come back in because we have confident and healthy young
people who do not need to access health services in the way that
they are doing now, and who feel much more confident and have
aspiration to go and achieve.
5.03pm
(Strangford) (DUP)
I thank the hon. Member for Eddisbury () for securing the debate. I
am pleased to see the shadow Minister, the hon. Member for
Portsmouth South (), in his place, and I look
forward to the Minister’s response. The Minister has shown that
he can do this, because I remember when he was slightly broader
than he is now. It is lovely to see him in his place. My
contribution will reflect the Northern Ireland perspective, as it
always does.
It is always a pleasure to follow the hon. Member for
Stoke-on-Trent North (). I think we have now
found his weakness. We know that Mr Speaker threatened to ring
his mother, but we now know the right person to call, so perhaps
I will text Mr Speaker to say, “The person you want is his
teacher.”Beware of what might happen in the Chamber.
I declare an interest as a type 2 diabetic. I did not set out to
be a type 2 diabetic, but I had Chinese carry-outs four or five
times a week with two bottles of Coca-Cola, which is never a good
recipe for keeping thin and trim. I realised only a year after my
diagnosis that I had probably been a diabetic for a long time. I
make that point because it is about having the right start.
I go back further than most people in this Chamber, as I was at
school in the 1960s and early 1970s. I think about the grave
impact of my type 2 diabetes and the benefits of PE. I went to a
sporty school, and I was thin and wiry. I was always a good
runner, and I loved rugby and cricket. Sport was an integral part
of where we were.
However, I was always aware of something else at school, and I am
speaking personally now. There is always a child—I was at an
all-boys school, so it was a boy—who is always picked last when a
team is picked. He came in last and was the last out of the
changing room. That is how I learned to observe and consider how
we encourage children. The fact is that boy always turned up for
PE, but he did not seem to get enthused about it.
I learned to swim at school, and I am glad I did. I have always
been a fairly strong swimmer, but I understand why some children
ask their parents to write a note to get them out of what they
perceive to be a humiliation. Yet the importance of a healthy
lifestyle must be established from a young age.
Times have changed in the world of PE. In my day, we used a
sports hall. Star jumps and the dreaded rope were deployed, and I
am probably ageing myself here. Now, my speechwriter Naomi—she is
a very busy speechwriter—tells me that her six-year-old came home
saying that she was doing a month of Monday football, as an
additional day of PE. There were no complaints about that extra
PE.
I am not sure how schools enthuse children, and I will give
another example shortly, but they certainly do back home. It
seems to be working, which is the important thing, because that
wee girl is not bothered one bit about doing extra PE. In fact,
she is absolutely bouncing about it—literally bouncing. What a
tremendous way to encourage young boys and girls to be involved
in exercise that is interesting and exciting.
My eldest granddaughter, who is 12 coming up 13, was never very
sporty; she was more into her laptop and contacting her friends.
This year, everything changed. She attends Strangford Integrated
College in Carrowdore, and she is on the girls football team. She
has lost weight, which is tremendous to see. I was quite
surprised, but she is enthused by the sport, including the
training.
Sport is another way for children to engage with their friends,
as the hon. Member for Batley and Spen () said. The strategy of my
granddaughter’s football team seems to be all or nothing. Her
team lost their first match 7-0, but they won their second game
6-0. They go all out to score goals or all out to prevent
them.
We must make sure there is exciting, inclusive exercise in school
to tackle the sedentary lure of the computer and tablet. Get
children away from those things and give them a physical focus.
The days have changed from when mums and dads threw their
children out to play in the streets until the streetlights came
on, as happened to me. Parents are now understandably concerned
about not knowing where their child is, so things are slightly
different today.
Additionally, most parents who work all day are unable to take
their children to the park to play, as they have to make dinner,
do the housework and help the children to do their homework. The
natural thing is that kids stay safe inside, playing their games.
However, if we can engage children through the schools or local
sports clubs, we can make them be energetic and keen—as they are
naturally—and then I believe that we can move in the right
direction.
Although children playing indoors is completely understandable,
it is not ideal. Thankfully, the schools are stepping up and
putting on additional physical activity. Primary schools are
doing it, too, for very young children, which I am glad to see.
The children in my constituency now start their day with what is
called the daily mile, which the hon. Member for Eddisbury
mentioned. It is incredible, because all the kids want to do the
daily mile. They walk with their friends from school—they can
chat the whole way round—but they do their daily mile and it has
almost become an everyday occurrence. They walk at a pace set by
the teacher, who sets a pace the children are able to cope with.
This enjoyable form of exercise teaches our children that we can
make exercise a part of daily life.
The staff in the Chamber and the security guards sometimes ask
me, “Are you doing any running over the weekend?” I say, “No,
there are three stages: running, walking and dandering.” I am a
danderer. I take strolls at my leisure, as I am well past the
other stages.
Time is of the essence, so I conclude by saying that obesity is
an increasingly common problem in Northern Ireland, as it is
across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
One in every five children aged two to five is classified as
obese, so we have a real problem but we have a way of addressing
it, as the hon. Member for Eddisbury and others have said. We
have to change the story. The sugar tax on smaller chocolate bars
is a good step, but exercise is how we want to achieve this.
Schools have a vital role to play by providing more PE with
interesting exercises. Hobbies would also be a wonderful step for
each region in the UK to prioritise.
I am pleased to support the hon. Member for Eddisbury and I look
forward to hearing from the shadow Minister and, more
importantly, the Minister.
5.11pm
(Portsmouth South) (Lab)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hosie. I
thank the hon. Member for Eddisbury () for securing an important
debate on an issue that I believe is vital to the future of young
people and our country.
It is clear from today’s contributions that Members on both sides
of the House agree that physical education and sport are an
important part of the curriculum, and this has been a
good-spirited debate. The hon. Member for Eddisbury spoke
passionately about the importance of physical education, and I
thank him for his efforts and his leadership in the task group.
He described how some people perceive PE to be a “nice to have”
rather than an integral part of the curriculum, and he spoke
about the impact of PE on health and wellbeing.
My hon. Friend the Member for Batley and Spen () showed her usual passion
and energy, which she demonstrates on every issue she raises in
Parliament. She has huge experience of the education sector, and
she talked about PE needing greater priority and about the skills
it gives young people so that they can succeed, flourish and make
friends.
We know the pandemic has caused unprecedented disruption to
children’s academic learning, but it is also important to
recognise the impact of the lack of opportunities pupils have had
to participate in organised team sports and physical education. I
am sure colleagues on both sides of the House will share my
concerns about the combined impact that the limited opportunities
for sport and exercise and being locked indoors for the past two
years has had on our young people’s mental health and
wellbeing.
Sport England’s survey, published in December, showed that only
45% of children and young people—equivalent to 3.2 million
pupils—achieved the chief medical officer’s guideline of taking
part in sport and physical activity for an average of 60 minutes
or more a day. Worse still, 32% averaged less than 30 minutes a
day. Crucially, the guideline is similar to the ambition of the
Government’s 2019 school sport and activity plan
“that all children should have access to 60 minutes of physical
activity every day”.
The Government had stated that they would publish an update on
their plan this year but, despite their targets, it is still
nowhere to be seen.
Even with the Government’s record over the last two years, the
state of children accessing exercise prior to the pandemic cannot
be forgotten and simply swept under the carpet. According to a
Taking Part survey covering the period of April 2019 to March
2020, just 65% of five to 15-year-olds had participated in
competitive sport in school during the previous 12 months, and
only 58% of five to 10-year-olds had played sport at school in
organised competitions. Will the Minister commit his Department
to publishing an update on its school sport and activity plan?
What specific action will he be taking to address the
Government’s failure to meet their own objective of all children
having access to 60 minutes of physical activity every day?
The pandemic has caused widespread disruption to children’s
learning, including PE and sport, but the Government cannot use
covid as a smokescreen to shroud a decade of failure to provide
proper access to physical education and sport that students need
and deserve. If Ministers will not deliver for our children, the
next Labour Government will.
5.14pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education ()
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hosie.
First, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury () for securing a debate on
this very important subject. I am aware that it is close to his
heart and I am grateful to him for his efforts thus far,
including, of course, as chair of the Association for Physical
Education taskforce, to promote the importance of this curriculum
subject. In addition, this is the first opportunity that I have
had at the—metaphorical—Despatch Box to thank him for all his
work as one of my predecessors as the Minister responsible for
children and families.
I also thank all hon. Members for their constructive and
passionate contributions to this important debate. As my hon.
Friend the Member for Eddisbury mentioned, we run together most
Tuesday mornings and we have therefore had the benefit of
discussing at great length this and many other issues. He knows
that I am a relatively new convert to running—in truth, I am a
relatively new convert to exercise full stop. But both running
and exercise have now become a passion. In truth, I was not keen
on playing sport at school. I did not enjoy it. People did not
encourage me to play sport in school. I was one of the children
picked last, which the hon. Member for Strangford () mentioned in his speech. I was not very good at
sport, and the main reason was that I lacked confidence. However,
PE, sport and physical activity have significant importance in
keeping children healthy and for the positive impact that they
can have on a child’s health and wellbeing. I mention my own
personal experience because, importantly, sport builds
confidence. Schools should be aware of the difference that
high-quality PE can make to a school. That is why PE is right at
the heart of the national curriculum. In fact, it is the only
foundation subject that is compulsory across all four key stages
of the national curriculum.
I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury shares my
passion in this area and a desire for us to go further and
faster. Why? Yes, because health, fitness and physical wellbeing
and mental health and wellbeing are really important, but also
because this is about confidence, as I said, about camaraderie
and teamwork, as the hon. Member for Batley and Spen () pointed out, and about
leadership skills. They all come with taking part in competitive
sport.
Why now? As my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North
() said, we have an obesity
crisis. We know that there is a growing issue—pardon the pun—with
childhood obesity. Obesity is now a bigger cause of cancer than
smoking and although sport is not the only solution to obesity,
it is a part of it. PE, sport and physical activity can and
should play their part in tackling that. Equally important, of
course, are diet and nutrition, but setting behaviour and habits
around physical activity early in life and, importantly, as part
of family life is vital. My hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury
talked about what we see our parents doing, and about doing
things with our parents. That is vital, because children take
that with them into adult life. These habits and behaviours stay
with people, and then they are seen by their children, so they
develop them too and they are seen as normal. High-quality PE at
the earliest age at school is key to allowing children to learn
and develop key skills that will—to come back to this point—give
them the confidence to take part in physical activity and
competitive sport. My hon. Friend mentioned this, too. I
genuinely believe, and there is evidence to suggest, that it also
enhances academic performance.
I could say, “Everything is rosy. This happens for all children
and they get excellent PE teaching at primary school.” But the
truth is that that is not the case. I know that from my own
experience and from the experience of many young people I have
spoken with. The teaching of PE is done very well in many schools
up and down the country, but it is inconsistent and, particularly
at primary level, there is an issue with teachers lacking the
confidence to teach PE effectively. Too often, it is outsourced,
as we know. As great as rugby and football coaching is in and of
itself, that is not PE; it does not give children the confidence
and life skills that will lead them to take part in competitive
sport. I am determined to address that.
My hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury has called for PE to be
made a core subject. He rightly pointed out that no curriculum
review is under way, but I am very sympathetic to the case and
the arguments that he makes and I will raise them at length with
the schools Minister.
At the heart of the debate, notwithstanding the call from my hon.
Friend the Member for Eddisbury, is the challenge to ensure that
PE as a subject is taken seriously by all schools and that it is
done brilliantly and consistently across our country. That is
vital so that all children have the chance to develop the
fundamental physical literacy that they need to go on to live an
active, healthy life and to experience different types of sport,
so that they are enthused and have confidence. That is why I am
clear on the importance of PE as a curriculum subject. As I say,
it is the only foundation subject taught across all key stages,
making it a requirement for children of all ages. I assure all
hon. Members across the House that the Government place
significant importance on the delivery of PE lessons.
Notwithstanding that, given the challenges facing schools, as
alluded to by the spokesperson for the official Opposition, the
hon. Member for Portsmouth South (), and with the recovery from
covid under way, we remain wary of making technical changes to
the curriculum now. That could place additional burdens on
teacher workloads and training requirements by introducing
changes, which is particularly relevant as schools start to
recover from the pandemic.
That said, however, as referenced in the taskforce report of my
hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury, PE and sport are also vital
to recovery. We want to focus on what we can do to build on what
is already in place to ensure that PE is taught really well in
schools. I therefore confirm that we remain committed to our
manifesto commitments to support the effective use of school
sport facilities and to invest in primary school PE teaching and
the promotion of physical literacy and competitive sports.
My hon. Friend rightly pointed out the £30 million a year for
opening up school sports facilities in England, as well as our
measures to promote and improve the quality of teaching of
physical education in primary schools. We will build on that
£10.1 million that has supported schools to reopen their sports
facilities after the pandemic, increasing opportunities for
children and young people across England to take part in
sport.
What have we done to improve PE so far? To help primary schools
make improvements to the quality of PE and the support that they
offer, we introduced the primary PE and sport premium in 2013,
during the tenure of my hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury. The
funding for the premium since its introduction is £1.6 billion,
with the funding having doubled to £320 million a year since
2017. We are considering arrangements for the primary PE and
sport premium for the 2022-23 academic year, which was mentioned
by my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent North.
I desperately want to give that long-term certainty of funding.
All I can say is that I am working closely with the Department of
Health and Social Care to enable us to do that as soon as
possible. We are considering a series of approaches to bring
together the evidence of what constitutes really good PE, how
that can be delivered practically and how to support schools to
identify and take the steps necessary to make their provision as
good as it can be.
My hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury referred to the school
sport and activity action plan. We remain committed to the
ambitions that we set out in the plan and we will publish an
update to it later this year, to align with our publication of
the new sports strategy. That action plan update will not only
cover ground lost during the covid-19 restrictions but boost
momentum to deliver an action plan for all pupils, regardless of
their background.
Notwithstanding what I have said, which I appreciate is lukewarm
and complex, I assure my hon. Friend that I am ambitious about
what we can do in this space and about going further on PE,
school sport and physical activity in schools. I am ambitious
about expanding the holiday activities and food programme, to
which we have committed £200 million per year for a further three
years as part of the spending review. Some 600,000 children up
and down our country have taken part in those activities over the
past year.
I am exploring whether we could be a daily mile nation, and I
warn hon. Members that that will be not just for schools, but for
everyone. I think we can do that, and I am pushing in the right
direction. I am exploring a summer activity challenge—similar to
the summer reading challenge—so that we get kids moving and
taking part in sports and activities over the summer
holidays.
The ambition is there and the work is ongoing. I hope that my
hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury and Members throughout the
Chamber are assured that we are determined to achieve the same
thing, which is every school teaching PE well and every pupil
benefiting from that, wherever they are, up and down our country.
We will work with Ofsted, schools, sporting bodies and PE
teachers on the further steps that we will take to achieve
exactly that.
5.24pm
I thank all hon. Members who contributed to this afternoon’s
debate. Although I cannot speak for the Labour party, a one-line
Whip has been circulating for an hour or two, which may explain
why some very enthusiastic Members who would otherwise have been
here have found some more pressing engagement. However, if
nothing else, the quality of the debate has been extremely high,
and has ensured that we have brought to the fore the key aspects
of what makes PE such a crucial part of school life.
My hon. Friend the Minister underplayed his hand a little by
saying he was lukewarm in his response when he was actually very
enthusiastic. He has given me a lot of hope for what is to come,
both in schools and in the communities that surround them. I say
to him—and to Her Majesty’s Government in their entirety, because
I appreciate that other Departments are involved in some of these
decisions—that moving PE to core status is not just a technical
change, but would change the whole way in which it is seen in the
schools system. It will no longer be able to be an afterthought
as every school will have to engage and think hard about how to
deliver the high-quality physical education we want to see right
across the board.
I am pleased that the Minister shares my ambition to go further
and faster and is sympathetic to the arguments we have made today
on making PE a core subject. I acknowledge—as I did in my
speech—that there is still some work to do in order to satisfy
not just ourselves but everyone who needs to be party to that
decision that all the building blocks are in place so it becomes
a plausible, effective and long-term change that we can rely on
within schools. To that end, I would be pleased if I could
continue to work with the Minister and his Department on how we
build capacity within the system and develop some of the
assessment and accountability measures that will be necessary to
satisfy everybody with a vested interest that the children we are
putting through our school system are reaping all the benefits
that that education can provide. We know that this is already
happening in the very best schools —it has been happening for a
long time—and I still come across some very inspiring leadership
within physical education, but it is not happening everywhere
often enough. Off the back of covid, we have a real opportunity
to shine a light on a part of the schools system that has been
kept in the dark for too long.
PE has a huge part to play in moving our country forward, both in
ensuring a happy, long and healthy life for more of our citizens
and making sure that our education system is performing at the
highest possible level. Ultimately, it is not just about making
sure children come out healthy at the end of their schooling,
important though that is; we want to make sure they reach their
potential, emotionally, mentally and academically. PE can tick
all those boxes, and whenever in their life a person discovers
the benefits of exercise, they never turn back. Let us make sure
that more children find that out much earlier.
Question put and agreed to.
Resolved,
That this House has considered physical education as a core
subject in schools.
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