Parents want schools to use sport to prioritise the wellbeing of pupils according to new research
Parents want schools to use sport, activity and physical education to prioritise the wellbeing of pupils, according to new research which marks the 25th anniversary of the Youth Sports Trust.
The survey, which was carried out by YouGov and will inform discussions at the YST annual conference in Coventry, found that almost two thirds of parents believe that the wellbeing of pupils is more important than their academic attainment.
More than half also agreed that pupils’ wellbeing is likely to be better in schools who prioritise sport and physical activity, while almost 80 per cent agreed that cuts to PE, sport and break time were likely to negatively impact on wellbeing.
The findings follow the launch of the Telegraph’s Girls, Inspired campaign which aims to tackle an inactivity crisis among young people which is especially pronounced among girls of secondary school age. The campaign specifically calls on the Government to support schools in three key aims: To ensure an equality of opportunity to access sports; new guidelines, enforced by Ofsted, which put PE on a par with core subjects and for schools to empower girls by offering a wider and more innovative choice of activities.
The governing bodies of every major sport have jointly written to the political parties to urge at least an hour of sport and physical activity during every school day to address what they have called a “public health emergency”.
Sport England’s annual Active Lives survey was published in December and, while it did show some positive improvements in children’s activity levels, only two in five children were found to be active for an average of at least 30 minutes of each school day. The research also showed other continued inequalities, with girls and children from least affluent families, still more likely to be inactive.
The Conservative government has outlined new £17 million plans for upskilling primary school teachers in PE and promised that Ofsted will now be "specifically tasked with inspecting and reporting on PE”.
A School Sport and Activity Action Plan has also been published but, with hundreds of school sport leaders gathering on Thursday and the YST launching its ‘Well School’ movement, the focus is on ensuring this issue is prioritised. Statistics from the government’s annual school workforce census show that between 2010 and 2017, 51,600 hours of physical education were lost from timetables in English state-funded secondary schools. This has coincided with a decline in young people’s wellbeing, with increasing numbers suffering from mental health conditions, low life-satisfaction and loneliness.
“What parents want most of all is for their children to be happy and healthy,” said Alison Oliver, the YST’s chief executive. “We know academic results are a core priority for education, but these findings are a powerful reminder of the value parents today place on wider educational outcomes such as wellbeing.
“Parents want schools to be prioritising wellbeing and they see sport and physical education as an important part of that. In a changing world, PE and sport have a vital role to play in the education of every young person, developing the human skills that will help them to find pioneering new ways of using sport to improve children’s wellbeing and give them a brighter future.”
