Sport every day? Czech schools test new PE programme
Czech scientists hope to inspire children to enjoy sport and to build healthy, lasting habits. To do so, some pupils now have physical education five times a week, taught not only by their regular PE teachers but also by professional coaches. So what exactly is being tested?
Since September, researchers from the Charles University in Prague have been running a three-year experiment at three Czech schools. The project tests a new approach to teaching PE that involves not only bringing a professional coach into each lesson, increasing the number of PE classes, but also making physical education more playful. As Karel Švátora from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport at Charles University explains:
“The main task of physical education isn’t to teach perfect motor skills, but to teach children to enjoy moving.”
Positive experiences and good role models, he says, are crucial for building a lasting relationship with sport. The goal is, after all, to boost children’s enthusiasm for physical activity — and, crucially, to make sure it lasts into adulthood.
During the PE lessons themselves, the children are divided into two groups: one taught by their PE teacher, the other led by an experienced coach. Football coach Jakub Nečas, from the organisation Coaches at Schools, explains why this is beneficial:
“I try to show the kids some football exercises. That’s the advantage of the programme — because the coaches rotate, after me they might get a tennis coach, a basketball coach or a handball coach, who will show them something completely different.”
According to Nečas, the involvement of a professional coach also motivates the children and keeps them more engaged:
“Some children tend to look for excuses when they don’t feel like exercising. But when there’s a coach present, it motivates them. The kids show more interest in exercising and in PE in general.”
Whether this new concept of PE genuinely helps children develop a positive relationship with sport is something researchers will evaluate over the next three years. They have prepared questionnaires asking, for example, whether children feel sad after exercising or whether they enjoy taking part in team sports, along with 22 similar questions.
At the beginning and end of each school year, researchers will also assess motor skills, endurance, memory improvement, learning abilities, attention spans, and more. As Švátora adds:
“We also objectively measure the children’s activity levels. They wear wrist devices that record their movement, and each child completes six body-composition tests within the three years.”
Such a test essentially measures what your body is made of – how much is muscle, bone, fat etc. The results will then be compared with those of pupils who follow the standard Czech timetable of just two PE lessons a week.
