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Michael Gove's reforms to the PE curriculum

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There doesn't appear to have been any discussion here about Michael Gove's new curriculum reforms resulting in school PE lessons having a heavier emphasis on competitive teams sports than those under the previous government. There is a discussion taking place on the NAS forum.

 

http://community.autism.org.uk/discussions/health-wellbeing/education-matters/was-nas-involved-reforms-school-pe-curriculum

 

It doesn't look like the NAS was consulted or involved themselves in consultations. What do you think of this? I'm inclined to say that it's going to be misery for kids with AS.

 

 

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Although my son has showed an interest and has wanted to join a football club [both in and our of school], he has always had to give up eventually.

 

As well as the ASD he also has Dyspraxia, and his sensory processing is delayed so he never got a touch of the ball.

 

He has joined in games of British Bulldog at school and has enjoyed that.

 

But team games are different because of the combination of physical ability and mental ability [theory of mind etc], planning, organisation, predicting outcomes etc that he struggles with.

 

I would like to see group Yoga or similar on the curriculum for PE. Much healthier.

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I agree it is not ideal for AS children - but then a lot of school isn't.

 

On the whole I agree with including competitive sports in schools, and the fact that it disadvantages a certain part of the school population is not necessarily a reason to exclude it. What matters is how the school deals with AS children - but there inclusion is the best policy

 

A PE curriculum that allows a reasonable degree of choice would help - so AS children can select appropriate activity

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On the whole I agree with including competitive sports in schools, and the fact that it disadvantages a certain part of the school population is not necessarily a reason to exclude it. What matters is how the school deals with AS children - but there inclusion is the best policy

I'm not quite sure how these curriculum reforms tally up with inclusion policies because when they were written conditions like ASD and dyspraxia were not taken into account. PE teachers basically have to follow the curriculum which means that a teacher who tries to be inclusive could find themselves breaking the law. Part of the problem lies with mixed ability classes. If PE classes were segregated by ability then it would be easier to 'bend' the curriculum to be inclusive.

 

A PE curriculum that allows a reasonable degree of choice would help - so AS children can select appropriate activity

The whole purpose of the curriculum reforms was to close this degree of choice because too many schools / children were not selecting competitive team sports.

 

Are there any activities that you think should be included in the PE curriculum?

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Children with special needs can be exempted from any part of the National Curriculum. In fact the PE curriculum seems a reasonable balance of competitive sport and individual (including Dance) So from the perspective of our NT child I like what I see. For the AS children no national curriculum will really work, but that is where the exemption comes in.

 

For AS children I would like to see things like gymnastics, some form of circuit training where you can have individual goals and scores and the like. Sports like Swimming, Lifesaving, Orienteering, Sailing, Cycling and so on are all appropriate for many AS children depending on their particular strengths.

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bed32, on 15 Oct 2013 - 10:03 PM, said:

Children with special needs can be exempted from any part of the National Curriculum.

I already know this one but from experience this more often than not requires an official diagnosis of ASD and in some cases a statement of SEN which LAs are reluctant to give out nowadays. Therefore anybody without an official diagnosis might have to endure years of misery in PE lessons.

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I already know this one but from experience this more often than not requires an official diagnosis of ASD and in some cases a statement of SEN which LAs are reluctant to give out nowadays. Therefore anybody without an official diagnosis might have to endure years of misery in PE lessons.

Yes - I was talking from the perspective of a child with ASD - In the case of our son it is hard to think of any reasonable PE curriculum that he could participate in without adjustments.

 

But in this day-and-age why would anyone with ASD of school age not get a diagnosis? Once you have the diagnosis then the equality act takes care of the rest - the school must make reasonable adjustments

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But in this day-and-age why would anyone with ASD of school age not get a diagnosis? Once you have the diagnosis then the equality act takes care of the rest - the school must make reasonable adjustments

There are several good reasons why. It's a label attached to an individual for life which could cause complications in adulthood such as higher car insurance or exclusion from certain careers such as the armed forces.

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