This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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Physical education in schools
16/01/2006
Figures released today show how long each Scottish council allocated to PE lessons in 2004-05.
The data reveals that only one in 20 of Scotland's primary school pupils currently receive two hours of PE per week.
Education Minister Peter Peacock said Scottish councils and schools need to dramatically improve access to PE.
A 10 point action plan was launched by the Executive in June 2004 to address reported weaknesses in PE provision. Today's information will be used to measure progress and highlights the need for significant improvement.
The action plan aims to provide a minimum of two hours physical education a week for every pupil by 2008, together with a greater choice of activities and 400 more teachers qualified to take PE.
The move is part of wider, long term programmes on diet and activity to address obesity and lifestyle issues among children.
Mr Peacock has written to the Parliament's Education Committee and to Council Education Conveners pointing out just how far councils have to go to make improvements.
Mr Peacock said:
"Some areas of Scotland are performing much better than others in providing physical education in our schools and some, like Glasgow, are making significant new commitments to make decisive progress. However, I am seriously concerned about the huge gap between the best performing and those who lag significantly behind. The best performing show what is possible and others need to catch up and go further.
"The data published today will be used to measure progress towards our targets. The reason for setting these targets is because we are determined to drive progress. This data provides a starting point and reveals just how far councils have to go.
"Only one in 20 of Scotland's primary school pupils currently receive two hours PE per week and this clearly isn't nearly good enough. Councils need to take significant new steps to make real progress.
"We want our children to be healthy and to be active. It's clear that - by improving the choice of activities available, by increasing the time commitment to PE and by recruiting more PE teachers than ever before - we can make significant progress towards achieving healthier, more active, lifestyles for them.
"I have taken action to allow councils to act locally. Between the 2002-03 intake of PE teachers and 2005-06 we have seen a 10 fold increase in PE recruits and we're committed to reaching our 400 target. Discussions are ongoing with teacher training colleges to develop courses which will allow primary teachers to develop a specialism in PE and we currently have 289 Active School Co-ordinators in place in primary schools, 328 in our secondary schools and 10 in special schools throughout Scotland.
"But these steps must translate into more quality, enjoyable and engaging PE sessions being delivered at local levels and that's why I'm looking for action to be taken at local levels today.
"I have written to the Convenors of Education in each of our 32 local authorities outlining my expectations and seeking their assurances that they will dedicate themselves to ensuring that things will improve in the worst performing areas - and quickly."
In 2004, guidance was issued to all councils to help them meet the requirements and to monitor progress towards the two hour 2008 target.
Over the three years until 2005-06, £24 million is being invested to develop and expand the Active Schools Programme. More than 600 Active Schools Co-ordinators will be in post by 2007.
The Executive is committed to increase overall teacher numbers to 53,000 by 2007. Increasing time allocated to PE in schools is one of the key targets set out in Sport 21 - Scotland's national strategy for sport 2003-2007. The strategy recommends that progress should be made towards ensuring that all school children take part in at least two hours of high quality PE classes each week.
In 2002-03 eight trainee Physical Education teachers were recruited. In 2005-06, the number of new recruits to the Postgraduate Certificate in Education rose to 80.