It has been a long time problem of someinstitutions worldwide where the physical education program is getting lessattention than the other programs. Theworldwide survey initiated by the International Council for Sport Science andPhysical Education (ICSSPE) supported by the International Olympic Committee(IOC) found out that Physical education suffered from decreasing curriculumtime allocation budgetary control with inadequate financial, material andpersonnel resources.
It appeared that had a low subject and esteem and wasbeing ever more marginalized and undervalued by the authorities (Hardman, 2004). Inresponse to inter-governmental agencies calls for regular monitoring ofdevelopments in school PE in the form of a “reality check”, the North WesternCountries Physical Education Association (NWCPEA) in conjunction with theUniversity of Worcester, UK, supported a second worldwide survey to assess thewordwide situation of school PE as well as developments since the PhysicalEducation World Summit held in November 1999 in Berlin, Germany was endorsed bythe International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE), theCouncil of Europe, The United Nation Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) and World Health Organization (WHO). The “reality check”indicates that positive developments and policy are placed with adverse practicalshortcomings. Thus, the overall scenario is one of “mixed messages” withevidence that national and/or regional governments have committed themselvesthrough legislation to making provision for PE but some have beeneither slow or restrained in translating thisinto action through actual implementation and assurance of quality of delivery(Hardman & Marshall, 2005). Moreover,It also appeared that the continuing worldwide concerns of physical educationsystem such as: insufficient curriculum time allocation, perceived inferiorsubject status, insufficient competent qualified and/or inadequately trainedteachers, inadequate provision of facilities and equipment and teachingmaterials frequently associated with under-funding, large class sizes and fundingcuts and, in some countries, inadequate provision or awareness of pathway linksto wider community programmes facilities outside of schools (Hardman & Marshall, 2005). Furthermore,the result from the survey also showed that there was a trouble over fallingfitness standards of young people, rising levels of obesity amongst children ofschool age and high youth dropout rates from physical/sporting activityengagement.
However, current intergovernmental initiatives (EuropeanParliament’s 2007 Resolution on the Role of Sports in Education and UNESCOadvocacy action) place Physical Education on the political agenda. With suchinter-government commitments to policy principles and action advocacy, a secureand sustainable future for Physical Education appears to be realizable (Hardman, 2008). TheUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizations (UNESCO)collaborated with the UK based North Western Counties Physical EducationAssociation (NWCPEA) in a joint project launched its third worldwide survey onsituation of physical education systems in schools across the world. Thefollowing result in general was revealed: lack of policies for national PE;programme is elaborated but not totally carried out (as is in) need of somechanges, it is not updated; Directors in PE are not specialists; governmentcontributions are not enough; lack of infastracture; lack of materials,resources, facilities and maintenance: there is not the appropriate environmentfor teaching; lack of time for teaching – the time assigned in the curriculumis too short to reach the objectives; (there is) a national policy (but) thegovernment does not take care of it; there are laws but they are not followed (Hardman, Murphy, Routen, , 2013).
Despitethe widespread scientific and educational acceptance of the essential need forphysical activity, physical education has not been seen to be a priority ingovernmental policy. During the last two decades, some governments haveproposed removal of physical education from the curriculum or reductions incurriculum time allocation. In the study of Hardman (2001) “A Comparison of theState and Status of Physical Education in Schools in Inter andIntra-Continental Regional Contexts”, showed that 29% of cases globally,physical education is not implemented in accordance with legal prescriptive orguideline expectations. Regions with the highest discrepancies between legalrequirement policy and implementation are Africa (75%), Asia (67%), Central andLatin America (50%) and Southern (including Mediterranean) Europe (50%). Theissue of time allocation is a complicated one.
The complexity stems from thelocalized control of time allocations for school subjects, which often varyconsiderably between schools, therefore, generalized commentary may notrepresent a specific accurate picture of a region or a country. In Asia, Northand South America, decreases in curriculum time allocation to physicaleducation have occurred, and continue to occur, in Japan, the United States,Canada and Brazil. The effects of education reforms have made little realoverall impact on physical education curriculum time allocation.
Sixty percent(60%) of countries has seen no significant changes in the time allocated tophysical education (Hardman, 2001). This proved that there are gaps betweenofficial policy and actual practice and the overall picture of curriculum timeallocated to physical education is generally one of the decrease and in somespecific instances to significant levels. Theworldwide survey on school physical education final report of 2013 by Hardman(2013) elaborated the issue on PE subject and teacher status revealed that mostpart of the region globally in actual practice, physical education isconsidered to have lower status than other subjects, testimony to which is ahigher frequency of cancellation physical education lessons than othersubjects. Reasons for cancellation of physical education lessons/classesencompass: government cuts; attitudes of teachers and/or school principals, includingapathy; insufficient numbers of qualified physical education teachers andprovision of facilities and equipment; absence of teachers with no availabilityof replacement support; priority attached other examinable/more academically perceived subjects; adverse weatherconditions; low level awareness of the importance of physical education withinthe school community.
