Should PE be Compulsory?

PE is a subject that is mandatory for many students at NHS but should that be the case? Following changes in the required choices, many students are wondering whether PE is a necessary part of their education.

A large chunk of term three has passed and it’s fair to say it’s been a busy one, what with production, the 20th anniversary of our sister school relationship and music performances. Another thing that has been at the front of many students’ minds are the trials and tribulations of the subject selection process. While some students have enjoyed pouring over the many subjects ready for their choosing, others have felt overwhelmed by the pressure of picking subjects that could affect their future.

Minor changes to this process are to be expected, considering the ‘Northcote Model’ is still in its early days. Aside from Catering Challenge being turned to So You Think You Can Cater (which no- one really cares about), one of the more discussed changes was making PE a mandatory subject. This year’s year 9 cohort were informed that year 10s are now required to take at least one semester of PE. For many students this didn’t affect their plans; they were already intending on taking a PE subject in 2020. For others, however, the added PE requirement removed one of their precious free choice slots. This raised an important question: should PE be compulsory in high schools?

So, let’s take a look at the arguments for compulsory PE. The obvious point to note is that exercise is good for you. It is scientifically proven that regular physical activity reduces the risk of cancer, heart disease, depression and early death. Regular exercise can also reduce stress, improve sleep and increase strength. PE classes encourage regular exercise and the building of good exercise habits which is important considering that only 30% of people aged 2-17 met the physical activity guidelines in 2011-12. If you take a PE class, you’ll also be taking health which means you’ll learn a lot about topics such as drugs, respectful relationships, nutrition and mental health. These aspects of compulsory PE are something that parents value and will therefore push their kids to partake in.

To gain an understanding of the issue, I spoke to a person whose specialty lies in PE, Head of Sports Jack O’Shea. He explained that each year the NHS curriculum committee reviews and oversees decisions relating to subjects being made compulsory and subjects being made optional. This committee also works with the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority who provide guidelines concerning how much of each subject student should be taking per year. Due to increased physical activity guidelines the PE department decided to make PE compulsory again. When asked about his personal beliefs on whether PE should be compulsory, Mr O’Shea revealed that he was on the fence about the issue. He said that while he thinks PE is great for building skills like resilience, leadership, and teamwork, if PE isn’t compulsory it “makes the experience for the kids who do choose it a lot more wholesome because the classes are filled up with students who really want to be there so you can run a more quality program”.

This raises another question: is compulsory PE actually making students dislike exercise? Many people argue that PE is taught in an overly competitive way. This means that the students who don’t enjoy or excel at PE are set further apart from their peers. Overly competitive PE can also mean that some unengaged students are left behind. To hear another perspective, I spoke to Ivy Dwinkley, a student who had problems with her course selection process due to PE. In order to prepare herself for VCE Studio Art in year 11, Dwinkley wanted to take another visual arts subject. However, along with her language class and early VCE subject, she had no more room.

She has now applied for exemption from the required courses so she can do subjects that she will actually pursue in VCE and her career rather than just doing them to fill necessary spots.

To tackle issues of student disengagement, the Norwegian Government is looking to redesign their physical education curriculum by taking a more individualised approach to PE. Some schools trialled a program in which students picked a physical activity they were interested in, for example, basketball, parkour or yoga. They then explored their activity and tried to find different ways of practising it and receiving feedback. The aim was to remove the competitive aspects and traditional assessment associated with PE, making it a matter of interest and investigation.

This method also removed another problematic element of PE: self-consciousness. Studies have found that feeling self-conscious or uncomfortable is one of the main factors driving students away from PE. This is a problem that has been known to affect girls in particular. A report from the Women’s Sport and Fitness Foundation found that only 12% of 14-year old girls get enough exercise a week, half that of teenage boys.

Perhaps the answer to this issue isn’t to make PE compulsory but to change the way PE is taught. If schools gave students more input into what they were learning while maintaining structured ways to assess their improvement in an uncompetitive way, students would feel more in control of their education, and more motivated to constructively participate in physical activity.