Public primary school sport in Australian culture: Addressing inequality!

Almost two in five primary school aged students do no physical activity outside of school hours. Steve Georgakis explains why school sport needs to be compulsory.

On the day the FIFA World Cup kicked off between Brazil and Croatia, the team I help coach, the Haberfield Public Junior Soccer team, played Concord Public. Like Brazil, we also won. While the FIFA World Cup is about elite intense competition between the world’s leading footballers, sport at the primary school level is about education.

See, there are a number of educational outcomes that can be achieved by playing school sport. This is the reason why school sport took place in the first year of compulsory education in NSW schools in 1881. By 1885 there was a primary school sporting organisation (Public School Sport Athletic Association) established to coordinate interschool competition. From its humble beginnings this organisation grew and flourished and it was accepted that if you attended public schooling in Australian primary schools, there would be an expectation that you would take part in this valuable experience. As the son of Greek immigrants I was the beneficiary of this program and I competed in cricket, rugby league, soccer and other sports at Birchgrove Primary. I still keep in touch with a number of friends from the various teams.

Unfortunately in the last couple of decades there has been a steady decline in school sport with less and less students being involved in school sport at a number of different levels. There are schools for example which do not have ‘swim education’ (learn to swim) mandated in their curriculum or annual swimming carnivals. This is a shame as the promotion of ‘swim education’ was about addressing inequality. As the father of three primary aged kids I understand how private swimming lessons are expensive and that there would be a high percentage of parents who could not afford private swim instruction. This is the reason why students were involved in school sport – addressing inequality. Many students did not have the opportunity to play sport at the community sport level (usually at weekends).

What makes this more problematic is that school sport is no longer officially sanctioned. In the recently realised National Curriculum, school sport was no longer mandated. What is even more surprising is that there has been very little opposition to this.

The 15 boys I am involved with at Haberfield have clearly been aided by their involvement in school sport. First, they understand that the education of the body is as important as the education of the mind. Second, in an environment with NAPLAN and other forms of high stakes testing, school sport gives them another perspective about what balanced schooling is about. Third, there is considerable social learning as the students are working as a team, devising tactics to beat the other team, obeying rules and regulations and perhaps more importantly developing a love for physical activity and sport. It is not about winning or losing but, how you play the game. These boys have had the opportunity to do this.

If as a nation we are serious about addressing health issues such as obesity and cardiovascular disease, compulsory school sport needs to fit into the equation. It needs to be mandated, inclusive, fun and ALL students need to experience including students with disabilities. This is because the students who are currently missing out are usually the students who need it the most. We know that almost two in five students in the primary school age group do no physical activity outside of school hours.