Cameron blames teachers for decline in school sport

is he having a laugh
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9461319/Teachers-blamed-for-decline-of-competitive-school-sport.html
his government has removed the legal requirement for schools to give 2hrs of sport a week

gove axed school sports partnership funding the minute he got in the job
and overseen further sports field sell offs

not to mention the cuts to youth clubs etc

not to mention the pressure on teachers to get kids to meet targets set by the government and the rigidity of the curriculums required to do this , meaning that most schools necesarily focus on getting kids through SATS and examines rather than looking at education in the broader sense

He was never going to blame Thatcher, who started the schoolfield sell off.

But for what its worth going out and being made to play football was something I loathed, I was bad at it, I hated it, no-one (quiet rightly) picked me to be on their team.

“Make it yours ” the teacher would yell.
“But sir I don’t want… certainly nowhere near as much as him, he really wants it sir, it would seem mean to deprive him of it for sport…”

that went down well…

Worse still sometimes I would quite by accident end up with it. then I had to make a decision. Quite a complicated one as there were many factors to consider. “Well I could pass it to Phil, or to Nathan, Nathan is by far the better pair of hands, or I suppose feet, to pass it to, but he seems a little surrounded. I could even have a pop at goal, though the last time I had a pop at goal I hit a dinner lady and she was off work for a month… Oh, someone’s taken it away. Never mind. Why does everyone look angry with me?”

I think a different attitude to sport would help, more options. One school I went to made us do Cross country running. You could walk the 4 miles, or run it. But we soon realised if we ran it, we got the next hour doing nothing, sitting about.

Teachers are put under a great deal of pressure re league tables.. but they also have to take some of the blame.. I dont know a single one of my wife’s colleagues who undertakes any kind of out of school sporting activity with the pupils.

I blame Brian Glover

Call-me-Dave is absolutely unbelievable.

Between him and Gideon they’ll blame just about anyone for just about anything. With the aid of their brain-dead, foaming, right-wing attack dogs in the press. Bonus points if it clearly and obviously the Tory’s fault through their ****ing twisted and nasty ideology, and if the group being scapegoated are unable to fight back

****s!!!

But for what its worth going out and being made to play football was something I loathed, I was bad at it, I hated it, no-one (quiet rightly) picked me to be on their team.

“Make it yours ” the teacher would yell.
“But sir I don’t want… certainly nowhere near as much as him, he really wants it sir, it would seem mean to deprive him of it for sport…”

I think a different attitude to sport would help, more options. One school I went to made us do Cross country running. You could walk the 4 miles, or run it. But we soon realised if we ran it, we got the next hour doing nothing, sitting about.

From what I can see, he has called for a more competitive ethos, so more sports teachers yelling make it yours, and not more options which would after all require Government investment.

elzorillo – I’d love to spend more time on extra-curricula sports. However – if I don’t spend my lunch and after school – doing ‘catch up’ sessions to ‘squeeze the best grades’ out of some pupils – I wouldn’t have any job.
Poor political management of target grades and league table have ruined learning.

Nor is it down to teachers that playing fields are being sold off despite election promises.

The article doesn’t give figures – Michael Gove has personally authorized the sale of 21 school playing fields in 26 months.

I don’t know whether the last Labour government’s record was any better though as the both follow the same basic economic policies, ie, sell off the family silver for the short term gain of reducing the need to increase taxes to pay for failed economic policies/unemployment.

When it’s gone it’s gone.

unklehomered’s post made me think of:

I dont know a single one of my wife’s colleagues who undertakes any kind of out of school sporting activity with the pupils.

Erm… why should teachers be doing “out of school” (and presumably unpaid) sporting activity?

Kids should get regular sports IN school, not have to rely on extra-curricular activities.

The article doesn’t give figures – Michael Gove has personally authorized the sale of 21 school playing fields in 26 months.

When we’re talking about the sale of school fields, are we talking about 100% of the grassed area or just the bits that are not used?
My school sold off some of its field leaving about 75%, which I’d consider to be more than enough for the number of pupils.
This is a genuine question btw.

somewhat predictably the Guardian et al have selectively presented the facts and missed out the most relevant bits which are as follows – of the 21 playing fields approved for sale, 14 were at schools that had closed, and a further four were deemed surplus after existing schools amalgamated.

Of the other three, one was extra grassland at a school site, one was leased to a company for it to redevelop and improve a playing field and the third was due to be leased to an athletics club, although this did not go ahead.

I suppose they could have written the articles with a headline of “Gove hasn’t sold off any playing fields at schools that remain open or not amalgamated” but that would have prevented the usual frothing from Islington’s chattering classes.

Erm… why should teachers be doing “out of school” (and presumably unpaid) sporting activity?

Kids should get regular sports IN school, not have to rely on extra-curricular activities.

Just pointing out the apparent change in mindset of teachers from when I was a child.

My understanding is that the teachers will get the blame for everything but the real problem is the amount of government interference. It’s not the colour of the tie they wear but the need they have to try and “do something” to improve the situation when they would be better off not doing anything and leaving people alone – See also NHS.

My experience of school sport is that it was mostly teachers giving up their time outside of normal working hours that made the difference.
Team sports at weekends, before and after school training sessions. If you want more teachers to get involved and more kids then you will need to make allowances in the timetable.

I dont know a single one of my wife’s colleagues who undertakes any kind of out of school sporting activity with the pupils.

And why should they? How many parents are prepared to put in this sort of time effort?

There has been a change in mindset of teachers yes but it goes back a very very long way. I was in school in the ’80s and pretty much all the clubs and extra curricular activities stopped as a result of the teachers strikes. After that I suppose that teachers decided that rather than do a whole load of unpaid overtime they would rather spend time with their own kids than look after other peoples. Add to this the current pressure of league tables and results and I can’t really say that I blame them if I’m honest.

Just pointing out the apparent change in mindset of teachers from when I was a child.

Who’s going to pay for the insurance to cover out of school sports? The conservatives? **** no. How many teachers know how to carry out proper risk assessments? How many teachers are also wary of after school activities in case someone accuses them of being a paedo?

Also being a teacher is a 9-5, have you not thought they might have their own families to look after when they finish?

Typically, the Daily Mail reading public wolf down the drivel spouted by the Daily Mail when it comes to public sector workers such as doctors, teachers, the police etc. The public and politicians get the services they deserve. Joe Public = “Wah wah wahhhh it’s all the fault of lefty union supporting teachers, that my childs a badly behaved obese retarded monkey” – or “Wah wah wahhhh it’s all the doctors fault that I got an incurable disease no one could have predicted”.

Farmer John, that’s the second time I’ve read you mentioning these “Islington chattering classes” on here recently.

I am intruiged: where might I sign up for one, and would my local adult education centre put one on in the evening for those of us with day jobs?

The article doesn’t give figures – Michael Gove has personally authorized the sale of 21 school playing fields in 26 months.

It’s up to 22 now.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/aug/07/school-playing-field-sell-offs-rise

I thought that “Islington chattering classes” was just lazy, dismissive Daily Mail shorthand for “Anyone who can see the Tory’s for the shysters they are”

somewhat predictably the Guardian et al have selectively presented the facts and missed out the most relevant bits which are as follows – of the 21 playing fields approved for sale, 14 were at schools that had closed, and a further four were deemed surplus after existing schools amalgamated.

Somewhat predictably you’ve said something which could come straight from a Tory party press release, without providing any evidence or links.

It’s outrageous for Cameron to have a go at state school teachers – but this is part of their systematic policy of blaming everyone except those really responsible.

All this crap about how the problem is state schools don’t believe in competition etc – nothing to do with the differing level of facilities/coaching on offer obviously. 🙄

EEEEEeeeeeee………..when I were a lad……………..

Hang on a minute, I’m all for a bit of Tory bashing, but have things really changed that much in the 8 years since I left? Most terms there was a choice between at least 2 sports which meant that on the whole I could avoid football and play rugby and use the fitness ‘gym’ rather than do gymnastics, and out of a year of 200 kids there were 2 footbal teams, rugby, cricket and basketball, not accounting for some people playing more than one that’s 70+ players out of ~100 boys. And that’s not including that pretty much everyone played football in dinner times over the summer months.

Cameron is an ar*e. Sorry, too late in the day to put forward a structured argument.

Hang on a minute, I’m all for a bit of Tory bashing, but have things really changed that much in the 8 years since I left?

Well one of the first things they did was to get rid of the huge school sports partnership funding programme. I imagine they will probably have reannounced some of it under a new name as if it’s brand new funding though.

More than 70 top British athletes, including Olympic heptathlon champion Lewis and world diving champion Tom Daley, wrote to Mr Cameron saying that ending the partnerships was “ill-conceived” and risked efforts to deliver a “genuine legacy” from the 2012 London Olympics, in terms of encouraging sports participation.

Sports leaders in the region have highlighted the case of Cambridgeshire which has seen 43% more children in primary schools taking part in sport within the SSP since 2005.

But of course no minister is interested in inheriting and carrying on a successful scheme, as they don’t get to take the credit for it.

Lets not forget that the teaching union has instructed their members to undertake NO out of school activities outside contracted hours.

Grum – sorry to disappoint – the text is from a DfE press release quoted in The Independent:

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/news/london-2012-legacy-uncertain-as-school-playing-fields-sold-off-8014903.html

I went to school in St Helens. As far as school sports were concerned we had a choice of rugby, rugby or rugby. In all weathers

I absolutely ****ing HATE rugby!!

Grum – sorry to disappoint – the text is from a DfE press release

So I was pretty much right that it’s a Tory press release you were parroting then.

A lot of my peers were put off school sports in the 80s (in Hull). Nothing to do with field sell-offs as ours were left alone. It was more to do with creepy (alleged) paedo PE teacher who “had” to watch us to make sure we took showers. And the fact we used to play football and rugby shirts and skins because “tabards are for poofters”, as was moaning because you were cold, you got fouled etc. Cross country was especially fun, we’d set off at once and the fast ones (luckily including me) would finish our miles in, say 20 odd minutes and then get changed and sit indoors waiting for the slow kids to come in over the next hour to cat calls and jeering FROM THE TEACHERS.

Ahh… great days

Grum – I’d quite like to see you telling a Whitehall press officer that they are a Tory mouthpiece. Good luck with that one.

10,000 were disposed of between 1979 and 1997.

Is the telling detail from that independent story.

Those sold by the current and previous government just pale into insignificance. A massive change in priorities is required.

Education should be about more than preparing children for a life as working drones, sport is about quality of life and habits need to start young.

When I suggested that perhaps the attitude towards sport and sporting acheivement in the UK was a wee bit poor on an Olympic themed thread, this is exactly what I meant.

Somewhat disingenuous to cheer on our brave boys and girls yet ignore the fact that sport in the UK is considered a waste of resources..

Such utter tosh and red herrings from both the government and the media over last few weeks on sports in schools and percentage of Olympians that went to public schools etc. Most kids at state school who show any talent at sport go for football, most fail by the time they are 18 so how is this the fault of the schools ? These kids (and their parents) are never going to be persuaded from this course, they are not going to go for javelin, sprinting, rowing, tennis, cycling. And the culture of competition/noncompetition at schools will not make a blind bit of difference to this. There is an absolutely huge pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and those blinkers are awfully large.

klunk – i dont think the issue here is building a future olympic dominating world force

its about getting kids into the habit of sport and exercise early,
it helps with behaviour, mental health, improves grades overall and we are sitting on an obesity time bomb, its already costing the country and is a massive burden hanging over the nhs

its plainly obvious that the government dont give a flying one either, eg gove making it so his pet schools can sell whatever junk food they like in vending machines etc

Farmer_John – Member

somewhat predictably the Guardian ……… usual frothing from Islington’s chattering classes.

And how terribly predictable that you should lay into the Guardian before anyone had actually mentioned the Guardian or provided any link to it.

BTW the irony of you accusing others of “frothing” after your little rant isn’t lost on me.

But for what its worth going out and being made to play football was something I loathed, I was bad at it, I hated it, no-one (quiet rightly) picked me to be on their team.

Pretty much mirrors my own experiences.

“Picking teams”, that hateful practice of allowing the best sporty kids to display to everyone else just how shit they thought you were. Me being chosen usually came down to “well, it’s either Cougar or the fat kid, so I suppose we’ll have to have Cougar.”

I have pretty keen hand-eye coordination these days but at school I was terrible. Runt of the litter and all over the place. One good thing I extract from Facebook is a little bit of satisfying schadenfreude that most of the sporty kids from school are now balding bloaters who’ve been retaining Stella for the last twenty years.

* Erm… why should teachers be doing “out of school” (and presumably unpaid) sporting activity?

Kids should get regular sports IN school, not have to rely on extra-curricular activities.

Just pointing out the apparent change in mindset of teachers from when I was a child.POSTED 2 HOURS AGO #
 REPORT-POST

*

this is odd because all the schools I have worked have run no end of sports outside of normal school hours and still do despite what the unions say.

In many ways it was the “competitive ethos” that ruined school sports, I loved football so didn’t mind that we were always playing matches, but there was no concept of training to improve.

Hated cross country, which I quite enjoy now, but there was again no training everything was a race, no just doing different training sessions to improve speed and fitness then having a race at the end of every month, which is how it should be done.

Its obviously nice to win, and I am not against competition, but if we are to teach kids to enjoy sports it also needs to be about making personal improvements and achievements.

I think school games are part of the problem, for those who like football, rugby and cross country your fine, for the rest might as well stick you in the stocks for all the encouragement it gives.

For all those quick to blame school sports, how long ago did you do it?

I recall our sports fields, acres, acres and more acres of muddy grass with a prevailing wind that meant you could kick the ball forward and watch it turn in flight, that bore little purpose other than to make the cross country run longer and wetter.

Quality of sporting provision surely has to be more important than the total area of land devoted to it?