A report by Ofsted, Going the extra mile: Excellence in competitive school sport, has criticised the provision of competitive sport in state schools.
The report surveyed more than 500 head teachers and more than 1,000 11 to 18-year-olds and found that the majority of state school heads said competitive sport was optional. Only 13% said they expected all students to take part.
The report was commissioned after the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to investigate why so many of the Team GB athletes had been educated in private schools.
Commenting on Ofsted's school sport report, James Allen, Head of Policy at the Sport and Recreation Alliance said:
"We agree that there’s considerable room for improvement in the way that sport and physical activity are delivered in schools. We need to get this right because active habits for life are best formed at an early age.
"A good quality, enjoyable experience at school makes all the difference – and this matters for everyone from the sporting stars of tomorrow through to the vast majority of us who take part in sport and recreation for enjoyment and to stay healthy.
"We will be pressing politicians to commit to improvements in school sport provision and the way it’s monitored and reported in the run-up to the election.
"The quality and number of facilities remain a significant problem and that will account for some of the disproportionality between state and private schools but schools must also commit to finding time in and out of the curriculum to provide quality sporting experiences for pupils."
Read Going the extra mile: Excellence in competitive school sport.
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