Parliament mulls compulsory physical education in school[fr][de] 

A report entitled Current situation and prospects for physical education in the EU, by Professor Ken Hardman of the UK's University of Worcester, written for the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and Education, was presented in a public hearing  on the role of sport in education on 28 February 2007.

The study addresses the European school curriculum physical education (PE) time- allocation, the status of PE, curriculum thematic aims and content, resources (material and human) and gender, disability and ethnic-minority issues. 

According to Hardman, current national practices vary widely across the EU, with some member states paying more attention to sports than others. He also referred to large differences in the number and quality of sports facilities between schools in eastern and western European countries.

The main policy recommendations of the report include:

• Compulsory physical education in schools, as school PE programmes are seen to play key role in countering high cost health-risks and anti-social behaviour;
• the modernisation of the PE curriculum, paying attention to societal trends to attract young people to physical activity, and;
• the adoption of a minimum two hours PE per week, with the aim of increasing it to three hours in the long term.

"Currently, 77% of total primary school PE and 79% in secondary schools consists of games, gymnastics and athletics. This is absolutely not relevant in the 21st century," said Hardman. He also said that financial considerations have had a negative impact on PE education, as 50% of EU countries have indicated reductions in support for PE during the past decade.

Presenting the Commission's upcoming White Paper on Sport and its approach to sport in education, Commissioner Jan Figel said that it would address the time allocated to PE in school curricula, the quality of education and ways to exchange best practice at EU level. "Schools play an important role in PE, but they need more support," he added.

Commissioner Figel also pledged a "clearer EU sports agenda" and said that this could be done with an action plan, which could support common action across Europe. "I'll try to engage other DGs," he said.

"Let's use schools' physical education facilities after school hours, in the evening and weekends as well, to provide children with more opportunities to be physically active. I'm sure that children would be happy to play, for example, basketball at their school's sport hall after school hours and that their parents would be happy to know that they are doing so," said MEP Karin Resetarits (Austria, Alde).

MEP Ljudmila Novak (Slovenia, EPP-ED): "Local authorities need to be forced to do something to increase access to sporting facilities. Many families currently live too far away from any sport facilities to be able to take part in sports." 

MEP Christa Prets (Austria, PES) argued that the increasing physical activity at school is directly linked to more financing and, therefore, an issue to be discussed in Council. 

Responding to this, Dr Franz Karner, vice-president of the ASKÖ, a working group for sports and physical culture in Austria, said that studies show every euro spent in physical education for young people will be paid back three or four times by health-care savings. He also highlighted the importance of motivating parents to encourage their children to do more sports.

Professor Csaba Istvannfy from the Budapest University of Physical Education, thinks that physical education teachers should be leaders of health-development programmes at schools.

Finnish former Olympic champion Tapio Korjus  from the Kuortane sports institute in Finland agrees with Istvannfy, saying that schools should take responsibility for children's physical education and that PE teachers should be 'spokespersons' for a healthy lifestyle and should try to find ways to increase exercise in general during the school day. He also expressed regret that almost all physical exercise has disappeared from children's lives, as computer and video games have replaced games outdoors. "The most important thiings is to get the most passive young, some 30% in Finland, to move in a new way and make them realise how important physical exercise is for their health," said Korjus.