Limited sport in curriculum affecting students’ participation in sport

Limited PE classes in the school curriculum is one of the main factors leading to students’ low participation in sport.

This was one of the main outcomes of a three-day workshop organised in Malta by FOPSIM, the Foundation for the Promotion of Social Inclusion in Malta, as part of the DIYPES Project. DIYPES project, hosted under the Erasmus+ Sport programme, aims to increase participation and engagement of high school students in physical education and sports classes.

Six countries are participating in this twoyear project which commenced in January 2017: Malta, Denmark, Slovakia, Romania, Italy and Albania. The three-day workshop in Malta was held at the Kirkop Sports Complex and saw the participation of DIYPES project officers, researchers, PE teachers and students who have experienced the implementation of the project.

Ms Uyen Vu, Project Officer of DIYPES, explained that the project has three main objectives.

“This meeting in Malta was an opportunity for PE teachers and students to discuss ways to improve the quality of PE lessons. The project in fact seeks to identify and describe core educational objec- tives and development practices that can improve PE classes. The project will also test the feasibility and effectiveness of a three-month intervention focused on a participatory approach to physical education and sport classes in each country and will seek to develop a set of scenarios and good practice examples applicable at European level with regard to models for building innovative participatory approaches to PES classes.”

The project also involved an observation intervention at St Edward’s College, in which students were invited to partic- ipate in a physical education class and encouraged to show a high degree of participation.

“We found out that one of the best ways to improve student participation in PE classes was to link their efforts to a collective outcome, in this case, winning more points for their respective house class. At St Edward’s, students are assigned a house colour and their scholastic achievements also translate into extra points for their house colour. What we observed was that when the students were told that the best efforts would be awarded with extra points, they showed more commitment during their PE activities,” explained Mark Schroder, one of the researchers on the DIYPES Project.

“Basically, we feel that when the students understand that there is a purpose behind their efforts, such as when a competitive element is introduced to the PE class, this can lead to more participation and engagement and ultimately, more successful outcomes,” concluded Uyen Vu.

A beach volleyball tournament was also organised at Golden Bay with the participation of all project officers, PE teachers and students.