PE shake-up plan in obesity fight
Some more traditional sports activities can put pupils off PE
PE lessons for pupils in England are to be reviewed to encourage teenagers to take more exercise in a bid to prevent more people becoming clinically obese.
Schools will be given more flexibility to offer a greater range of sports and activities for pupils who are put off by traditional games.
Teachers will be expected to emphasise the health benefits of exercise.
Currently all schools in England should provide at least two hours of PE a week - but this rises to four hours by 2010.
On Thursday, Education Secretary Alan Johnson will outline his plans to change PE lessons for 11 to 14-year-olds so that the link between exercise and health is emphasised and better understood.
Options
According to the Department for Education and Skills, schools offering a more unusual curriculum for PE - such as golf, cycling and archery - are seeing increased popularity in sport.
Ministers want competitive team games such as football and performance activities such as gymnastics to remain.
But they will change the curriculum rules to widen the choice of activities which can be taught.
In Bromley, south London, some schools are introducing boxing for pupils, under the supervision of the Amateur Boxing Association of England.
Boxing has not been taught in schools since 1962, when a campaign to ban it from PE classes won popular support.
Some more traditional sports activities can put pupils off PE
PE lessons for pupils in England are to be reviewed to encourage teenagers to take more exercise in a bid to prevent more people becoming clinically obese.
Schools will be given more flexibility to offer a greater range of sports and activities for pupils who are put off by traditional games.
Teachers will be expected to emphasise the health benefits of exercise.
Currently all schools in England should provide at least two hours of PE a week - but this rises to four hours by 2010.
On Thursday, Education Secretary Alan Johnson will outline his plans to change PE lessons for 11 to 14-year-olds so that the link between exercise and health is emphasised and better understood.
Options
According to the Department for Education and Skills, schools offering a more unusual curriculum for PE - such as golf, cycling and archery - are seeing increased popularity in sport.
Ministers want competitive team games such as football and performance activities such as gymnastics to remain.
But they will change the curriculum rules to widen the choice of activities which can be taught.
In Bromley, south London, some schools are introducing boxing for pupils, under the supervision of the Amateur Boxing Association of England.
Boxing has not been taught in schools since 1962, when a campaign to ban it from PE classes won popular support.
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