Fears of squeeze on PE in schools despite obesity 'crisis'

Physical education may be being squeezed out of school timetables in Wales, according to a report.

It said most schools in Wales are falling short of providing the recommended two hours a week of PE.

With more four to five-year-olds in percentage terms obese or overweight than in England, AMs said Wales faces a national crisis in child health.

Ministers said a new curriculum would reflect PE's importance for children's physical and mental wellbeing.

According to figures from the Child Measurement Programme for Wales, 26.4% of four to five-year-olds were overweight or obese in 2017-18, compared to 22.4% in England, while one in 30 children in Wales started school classed as "severely obese".

Although high, the statistics on four to five-year-olds in Wales have improved a little on 2016-17, when 27.1% were overweight or obese, compared to 22.6% in England that year.

The report said the assembly's Health, Social Care and Sport committee heard evidence that PE and activity opportunities are generally not receiving sufficient priority in schools, "and are being squeezed out of the school timetable due to other curriculum pressures".

Tim Pratt of the headteachers' union, the Association of School and College Leaders, told an assembly inquiry schools are being pushed "more and more" into putting time into things students need for exams but at the expense of other areas.

"What we're finding more and more is that, in order to provide extra time for numeracy or literacy, schools are saying, 'Well, something's got to go to give us that time, so we'll take a bit out of PE, we'll take a bit out of dance, we'll take a bit out of music' or whatever it is," he said.

In the UK it is recommended that children receive 120 minutes of PE a week.

But Cardiff University Professor Laura McAllister said a survey showed only four in ten schools met the guidance.

AMs heard calls from the former Sport Wales chairwoman and others to make the two hours mandatory - a recommendation the committee backed.

Kirsty Williams, education secretary, recognised that there could be pressures on timetables.

But she told the inquiry that PE has to be provided by law, and said she "would be very concerned" if schools were not meeting their statutory responsibilities.

AMs said they were also concerned that fundamental motor skills - like throwing, catching, running and jumping - are not being taught to young children - and there is a misconception that such skills will develop naturally.

"The evidence supporting the need to teach Fundamental Motor Skills at an early age is compelling and there is real concern that vital physical activity is being squeezed out by other priorities in our schools," committee chairman, Plaid AM Dr Dai Lloyd said.

The committee called for the planned new curriculum, due to come in across Wales by 2022, to ensure young children develop fundamental motor skills at an early age.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said the high rates of overweight four to five year olds were a "matter of national concern" and ministers would consider the committee's recommendations in full over the coming weeks.

The spokesperson said tackling the root causes of the problem would "require intervention at every level" as there was "no quick fix or easy solution".

The new curriculum would "reflect the importance of physical activity for our children's physical and mental wellbeing, supporting their development, and ensuring they grow up to be healthy and confident individuals", the spokesperson added.