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Cricket Foundation survey finds school kids avoid PE with a little help from mum and dad
One in five parents (20%) admit to sending a sick note to school to excuse their child from a PE lesson when they knew or suspected the reason wasn’t genuine. Parents who spent their schooldays trying to skip PE lessons are also five times more likely to help their own children bunk off from games, new research reveals today (Monday 21 June).
The national survey commissioned by The Cricket Foundation charity to mark “Brit Insurance National Cricket Day”, on 23 June, found that three quarters of parents of eight to 16-year-olds polled admit they regularly tried to get out of PE during their schooldays; while one in five (21%) own up to having skived ‘many times’ in a school year.
Now they are grown up, these sporting shirkers are passing on that PE-phobia, with almost a third (31%) confessing they have sent a note to school excusing their own child from PE without a genuine reason. However, only 6% of parents who enjoyed sports as children have done the same.
An upset stomach has passed through the generations as the top excuse for getting out of PE, used by half of all parents and 40% of today’s children. A headache and forgetting kit are the next most popular sick note excuses.
While 44% of children cite the British weather as their reason for wanting to skip PE, 28% of girls say they are embarrassed about their appearance in sports kit and 18% of children say it is down to a lack of sporting ability.
Last year, a Cricket Foundation survey found that PE lessons were the cause of our unhappiest school day memories, outranking bullying, exams, teachers and school dinners. Recent research by Loughborough University also highlights that significantly more pupils look forward to and enjoy attending school when a Chance to Shine session is taking place in PE -53% - compared to 36% when it is not.
Wasim Khan, Chief Executive of The Cricket Foundation said: “There should be no excuse for avoiding PE lessons, which ought to be a positive experience for children. Schools involved in Chance to Shine find that cricket coaches from local clubs can bring a different perspective to PE and help enthuse both teachers and pupils.
“Special events like ‘Brit Insurance National Cricket Day’, with cricket-themed classroom and playground activity, can also help inspire children, even those who may otherwise try to avoid games.”
Cross country running was voted the most disliked PE lesson by the majority of parents (47%), followed by hockey (32%), athletics (29%), gymnastics and swimming (24%). Cricket came tenth in the least favourite PE sports (21%), while 11% of parents ‘enjoyed every sport in PE’.
Other highlights of The Cricket Foundation’s school days survey include:
• Four in 10 children (39%) admit asking their parents to lie and come up with an excuse on their behalf, while nearly a quarter (22%) resort to faking a problem to fool their parents. 15% admit to forging a sick note;
• Edinburgh and Norwich top the table of PE-shirking cities in the children’s survey (75%), while Glasgow has the highest number of children who say they have never tried to get out of PE (68%);
• Cardiff is the city where most parents tried to get of PE at some point while they were at school (85%) followed, again, by Norwich (84%). Yorkshire has the most PE-embracing parents with a third of respondents in Sheffield (35%) and Leeds (34%) saying they never used to skip PE;
• Mums are the softer touch when it comes to sending a sick note. Children are almost twice as likely to ask their mum to sign a sick note (31%) than their dad (16%);
• The older children get, the less they enjoy PE: 68% of eight to 10 year olds ‘really enjoy’ PE, while 6% ‘hate’ it. By contrast, 39% of 15 to 16 year olds really enjoy PE and a fifth of children this age (20%) hate it;
• What would make PE more enjoyable? 43% of children say ‘trying some different sports’, 36% say ‘getting special coaches in to show us new things’, while 27% want ‘more or better equipment’.
Thousands of school children will take part in a day of cricket activity, in classrooms and playgrounds across the country, on Wednesday 23 June for “Brit Insurance National Cricket Day”.
Pupils from Newcastle to Newquay will take part in cricket classes, break-time batting and bowling and extra-curricular cricket competitions. The Cricket Foundation will hold a series of flagship events across the country attended by high profile cricket ambassadors, such as Alastair Cook, Charlotte Edwards, Graham Onions and Matt Prior.
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Archive news
January
- New hospital cricket project launched - 22/01/2010
December
- Season's Greetings from Chance to shine - 19/12/2009
- Pioneering Chance to shine scheme wins UK Coaching Award for ‘Coaching Intervention of the Year’ - 15/12/2009
- Prince’s Trust cricket scheme helps teenager to turn his life around - 02/12/2009
November
- Chance to shine Year 4 Operations Report published - 27/11/2009
- City brokers' dropped catches are fine for Chance to shine - 23/11/2009
- New Lord Mayor launches his Appeal Pitch Perfect, bringing music and sport activities to disadvantaged young people across London - 15/11/2009
- 'Sir Les' helps to raise £20k at C2s Golf Day - 06/11/2009
- The British Library to archive chancetoshine.org - 03/11/2009
October
- Awards shine a light on grassroots cricket stars - 23/10/2009
- Cricket Foundation to benefit from Lord Mayor’s Appeal 2010 - 19/10/2009
- Birch joins Cricket Foundation Ops team - 07/10/2009
- Sit ringside with Strauss for Chance to shine - 07/10/2009
- Law firm’s state school comp at Lord’s a smash hit with youngsters - 01/10/2009
