Schools do not provide more gym
Primary schools have not given more gym lessons in recent years. The ambition of the previous cabinet - three hours of gym lessons per week by a specialist teacher - has not been achieved. “It would be a great leap forward if all schools offer two PE lessons from a specialized PE teacher,” says researcher Jo Lucassen of the Mulier Institute.
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Today, the House of Representatives is debating sports and exercise. The Mulier Institute, a foundation that conducts research into sports, published the end last week a new report on gym in primary schools. In the report, the researchers compare physical education in 2012/2013 with the 2016/2017 school year. For this, eight hundred school leaders were questioned.
Little change
“Only a limited shift can be seen across the board,” says Lucassen. “Nothing has changed in terms of class time. Only last school year there were slightly fewer group teachers who gave PE lessons, but that is not something substantial. ”
In the 2016/2017 school year, there were an average of 89 minutes of PE lessons per week on the schedule in groups 3 to 8. That is the same as in 2012/2013. In the nursery groups, class time for gym has actually decreased in recent years: from 121 minutes per week to 113 minutes per week. Three quarters of the schools teach gym for two hours a week in groups 3 to 8. Lucassen: “At one in five schools, only one physical education lesson is given. That is quite a large part. ”
“School policy is often mainly focused on basic subjects such as arithmetic and language,” says Lucassen.
Different picture
However, a different picture can be seen in the large cities, such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. In particular, the number of PE lessons taught by specialist teachers has increased there: from 78 percent in 2012/2012 to 92 percent in 2016/2017. Compared to the rest of the Netherlands, these cities employ more subject teachers and also give more hours of gym lessons per week. “Something has happened in these cities, because the municipalities have implemented specific policies for gym,” says Lucassen. "For example, they gave schools subsidies for the use of specialist teachers." At 40 percent of all primary schools, PE lessons in grades 3 to 8 are only given by a group teacher.
The report of the Mulier Institute shows that schools still see many problems with giving more gym lessons. Most schools indicate the overcrowded class schedule (78 percent), that the finances stand in the way of extra lessons (52 percent), too few gymnasiums (45 percent) or that there are few qualified staff (32 percent). Schools already had these four objections in 2012/2013. “School policy is often mainly focused on basic subjects such as arithmetic and language,” says Lucassen.
