Great Debate' offers once in a generation opportunity for physical literacy

Following the release of Professor Donaldson’s widely anticipated review of the Welsh education curriculum, Sport Wales Chief Executive Sarah Powell, shares her views on how this could be a life changing opportunity for all Welsh pupils.

March saw a landmark moment for the future of education in Wales as Welsh Education Minister Huw Lewis AM launched a ‘Great Debate’ on the future of the National Curriculum in Wales. Triggered by the review of the curriculum in Wales by Professor Graham Donaldson and closely followed by the publication of a separate review of Initial Teacher Training, we now find ourselves presented with a once in a generation opportunity for shifting the focus of our education system to ensure future generations of Welsh children lead healthier and more sustainable lives.

With his acknowledgment that creating healthy and confident children should be one of the core purposes of Welsh schools, Prof Donaldson has set the scene for an education system that nurtures and values both the academic and physical development of pupils, one that seeks to fully prepare a child for all aspects of modern life.

Evidence has shown that, children cannot be healthy and active throughout their life if they do not learn the skills to enable them do so. It’s that simple and it’s something that we in Sport Wales have been shouting loudly about for a long while now. Physical activity, sport and PE in schools have to be the mechanisms for ensuring every child in Wales is given the skills to be happy, healthy citizens in the future.

To achieve this aim there needs to be improved professional training and support for teachers to ensure that every opportunity to be physically active in schools is a high quality one that engages the pupil and grows their passion to be active into adulthood.

We are fortunate in Wales to have a Government who made a ground breaking commitment to ensuring that physical literacy is given the same importance in the curriculum as reading and writing at the last election. Sport Wales acted on this ambition by using Welsh Government investment to develop a Physical Literacy Programme for Schools (PLPS), which is currently on-going in 66 schools across the country. It has shown clearly how a focused, child centred approach can change attitudes and abilities towards activity and has helped us shape a new Physical Literacy Framework. This Framework needs to be an integral piece of the post-Donaldson jigsaw.

This is not just because we want more people leading active lives either, but because we know encouraging activity can act as a spur to improved academic outcomes. Whether it’s improving literacy and numeracy through our Play to Learn resource or developing life skills and positive personality traits, such as leadership and resilience, being active does enhance outcomes for all children. Harnessing the enthusiasm children have for being active in order to teach academic skills has potential to be a game changer for pupils, schools and the future economy of Wales.

Becoming physically literate is the right of every child in Wales. There should be no doubt that this is a golden opportunity to make a lasting difference to the lives of all children in Wales. The price of inaction is stark, a collective failure to tackle the health problems relating to inactivity and accepting that the pressure on our health services will simply grow until they are unsustainable. Everything is now in place to create the future we want for our children. We will be urging the Welsh Government to continue to be bold and ambitious for all our communities in Wales. We have a duty to future generations to act on this opportunity. Over to you Minister…….

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