Many who are genuinely interested in upgrading the educational system to make it more equitable for all young people do not stop at discussing the level of achievement of school leavers and graduates. Young people’s physical and mental health is as crucially important as their educational attainment in the first decades of their lives and beyond.
A National Audit Office performance review on physical education and sport in State primary and secondary schools conducted in 2010 made a number of recommendations to upgrade the importance given to sports and physical education in the schools’ activities. It is encouraging that, after seven years, the Auditor General noted a “positive shift” in improving the way schools promote physical activity among students.
Unfortunately, the positive improvement in the mindset of schools’ administrators does not seem to be matched by an equally positive change in parents’ outlook on the importance of physical education for their children. A follow-up report by the NAO notes that the parents’ outlook on physical activities organised by schools remained “more or less the same”. Parents still seem to be worried by the perceived risk of their children participating in certain sports.
This mentality needs to change if the educational system is to be reformed effectively to optimise the potential of young people. While school administrators strive to promote more physical activities as part of their educational activities, not all parents are appreciating that physical education is not only not dangerous but could even enhance children’s academic achievement .
International educational research confirms that students who are physically active tend to have better grades, school attendance, cognitive performance and classroom behaviours than those less physically active. These studies also confirm that, in most western countries, only a small minority of students up to the age of 19 attained 60 or more minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity on at least five days per week, as is recommended by health authorities, like, say, the US Department of Health and Human Services.
The benefits of regular and vigorous physical activity on physical and mental health are well known. It is a sad reality that the rate of obesity and of depression and anxiety among young people is increasing. Parents’ pressure to excel at the academic level, the proliferation of fast food outlets, the cultural obsession with computer games and modern social communication are a combination of factors that are making young people less inclined to engage in sports and other physical activities.
Educational policymakers should continue to strive to provide more physical facilities to State schools to encourage students to be more active. School administrators should not only allocate more time for students to participate in organised sports but also encourage parents to understand that time spent in physical activities is an investment in their children’s well-being.
It would be advisable for the health authorities to launch a national educational campaign aimed at changing the mindset of parents who associate sports with physical injury risk and a distraction from their children’s focus on academic study.
The health of future generations may not be a pressing item on today’s national agenda. However, the parents’ attitude towards physical education is a key factor in the educational reform that the country needs.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial