Thread by @SingleBlade1

Do our expectations of sport in schools reflect "folk wisdom" where we think "students will eventually engage with something they like, hopefully sufficiently to pursue it now or in their future"? 

If so, shouldn't we working to get sport OUT of schools?

thefabrochures.co.uk/19268_WOMENS_G…

Backing up: some on the outside of schools & education might still anticipate finding engagement with a "Multi Activity Curriculum" that gives pupils a "bit-of-this" & a "bit-of-that"... perhaps because that's what so many of us genuinely experienced ourselves so very long ago!

Of course, if that had worked well back-in-the-day... we'd be a nation of sporting nuts, having each found our own way of making some sporting-pastime or another a major stabilising influence on our life - & the world would never have needed "Towards An Active Nation" & the rest.

Anyone not familiar with the context might want to glance at this piece by @pilly66 - which gets us a little way into why we might avoid getting school PE & sport delivered by sports coaches & in connection with a culturally dominant mainstream sport.

learningthroughsport.blogspot.com/2020/10/though…

@coachnateb gets to one issue in this recent piece:

** PE, in a Democratic society, should not primarily be for Sport, Fitness, Movement Skill, or even a future “Physically Active” life **

Key thing: kids doing "sport" in school is NOT inherently good!

medium.com/@coachnateb/a-…

Is sport IN schools our priority? Or do we need to rally behind @justenoconnor, @Greg_Dryer, @ImSporticus & others working to help young people find meaning in movement & their way into pursuits for life beyond the school gate? To PE beyond Sport Coaching?
journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.11…

Now we have a dystopian vision of the FA working to "help girls [...] fall in love with our game at a young age"...

That's "embedding football for girls in schools, as part of the PE curriculum and in after-school sessions" 🧐

Safeguarding alert: NGB GROOMING 5-11 year olds 🤬

The FAs (quite terrifying) "measure of success" is "90% of schools (primary/secondary) in England to be part of THE FA Girls' Football School Partnership network" - which means what, exactly, in terms of diversity of school PE & career paths for aspiring school teachers?

Already, we have this sort of thing appearing: inspiring in the way it celebrates #thisgirlcan - but where are the big voices we might expect to see rallying around to support PE teaching staff in the midst of this corporate assault on their world?

In fairness, many who know soccer very well (including @markstkhlm) are already embroiled in even greater battles as @FAIreland is proposing "putting unbelievable pressure on kids to give up other sports so they can train for soccer 3-4 night a week" 🤬

threadreaderapp.com/thread/1322822…

Many of us grew up in an era dominated by football hooliganism - eventually culminating in the Heysel Stadium disaster - but what we are now seeing is across football is vandalism with targets who are much more vulnerable - & being carried out by Boards in the name of the sport!

Even those of us who love sport should recognise that "[...] if this trend towards the sportisation of physical education continues there is a danger that the unique identity and individuality of educational purpose for physical education may be affected".

https://twitter.com/ImSporticus/status/1323554797895770112