Among the stereotypes that the United Kingdom conveys, there is that of sports education which is valued there, occupying a special place in the school curriculum. This is still the case in posh private colleges, like Eton or Harrow, where time and quality infrastructure are devoted to them. For most public establishments (where 93% of British children and adolescents are educated), the reality is quite different: two hours of physical education per week are recommended, at least until the GCSE exam, marking the end of secondary education. And again, this is only an objective set by the Department for Education, in no case an obligation.
“Unfortunately, the two hours of physical education per week are not compulsory and enshrined in law. Schools which do not provide them are not penalized however. Furthermore, the school curriculum is very heavy and physical education is often sacrificed at the expense of mathematics or English”regrets Alison Oliver, director of the Youth Sport Trust, one of the main charities promoting school sport in England.
In primary and up to secondary school, the rather short school days – school ending around 3 p.m. – do not help. And when GCSE preparation intensifies, during the last two years of schooling, the time allocated to teaching sport shrinks dramatically.
In primary school – as is also the case in France – it is school teachers who lead physical education time. “Unless they are athletes themselves, their self-confidence is relatively low, because only four to six hours of sports instruction were provided to them during their training”, explains Alison Oliver. THE “after school” do offer additional activities devoted to sport, between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., but they often require a fee.
In secondary education, there is a severe shortage of teachers and establishments are having difficulty attracting or retaining new recruits. In 2022, nearly one in ten teachers, all specialties combined, left the profession, or 40,000 in total, according to figures reported by the Labor Party, the leading opposition movement to the conservative government of Rishi Sunak. Colleges often use coaches from charities or private companies, “but the latter supervise sporting activities, they do not teach physical education itself, knowledge of the body, work on mental health, which are so important for young people since the pandemic [de Covid-19] »details Mme Oliver, from the Youth Sport Trust.
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