Education Action: Toronto

We are FOR

GENERAL PRINCIPLES, VALUES AND RIGHTS

A school system that bases its Physical Education policies on the principles outlined in UNESCO’s International Charter of Physical Education and Sport of 1978

A school system and schools that work from the philosophy that physical activity is an essential part of being in the natural world and that physical education is an essential part of learning to be in the natural world

A school system and schools that ensures that physical education, fitness and sports activities under its jurisdiction are conducted safely, healthily and inclusively

A school system and schools that encourage participation in both individual and team sports and games, within a spirit of friendly rivalry, fairplay and mutual respect

A school system that acknowledges a role for high-performance athletics in the life of the few who choose to dedicate their talents in this domain while ensuring that all other levels of physical attainment are given equal value

School systems that accept the duty of ensuring that every child should be able to run, swim, play ball games, engage in basic fitness activities and ride a bicycle within three years of entering the public school system, either by providing inhouse instruction or by collaborating with other public non-profit agencies and institutions to do this

EQUITY AND DIVERSITY

A school system that funds physical education, fitness and sports activities equally for boys and girls, and provides age-appropriate levels of gender separation for participation and changing clothes

A school system that ensures the participation of children and young people with disabilities in the full range of physical education, fitness and sports activities organized by schools or in association with other publicly-funded bodies, in the least restrictive setting available and that works constantly to remove barriers to such access

A school system that ensures that no physical education, fitness and sports activities shall entail costs to individual participants in such a way as to exclude those of limited means

A school system that organizes, or works with other publicly-funded bodies to organize, after-hours and vacational physical education, fitness and sports activities, especially for the children in communities where access to these programs is limited for economic reasons

A school system that encourages participation in and the development of sports and games that reflect the ethnic identity of particular school populations

CURRICULUM AND EVALUATION

A school system and schools that allocate time in the school-day and trained teachers for physical education, fitness and sports activities as an essential part of the development of every child

A school system and schools that integrate reciprocally physical education, fitness and sports activities with literacy, numeracy and other skills developed across the curriculum

A school system and schools that integrate physical education, fitness and sports activities into an understanding of health, nutrition and bodily development both individually and socially

A school system and schools that evaluate students on the basis of their participation and personal development, rather than on a comparative basis related to physique and access to sports and fitness programs outside of the school

TEACHERS AND VOLUNTEERS

A school system and schools that ensure that only fully trained staff teach and supervise physical education, fitness and sports activities on school premises (indoor and outdoor) and ensure that volunteers who play a supporting role in these activities be suitably trained also

A school system and schools that provide opportunities for all their teachers, administrators and support staff to engage in physical fitness and sports activities as part of their own development as teachers and colleagues

SCHOOLS AS PART OF THE COMMUNITY

A school system and schools that integrate their physical education, fitness and sports activities for young people into the physical education, fitness and sports activities for young people in surrounding neighbourhoods and communities

A school system and schools that integrate their physical education, fitness and sports activities for young people into the physical education, fitness and sports activities for people of all ages, including in intergenerational learning environments

A school system that fully funds its physical education, fitness and sports activities, or partners with other publicly-funded bodies so that private and corporate partnerships and sponsorships are no longer necessary

School systems that view the provision of spacious schoolyards, gymnasia, swimming pools and sports facilities as essential features of public education, preferably on the sites of schools or else in public facilities near to schools to which schoolchildren are guaranteed free access

Schoolyards that include equipment and fitness stations integrated within a network of all-season community fitness trails (vita parcours)

We are AGAINST

School systems and schools that abdicate their responsibility for physical education within a framework of physical fitness, health and wellbeing

School systems and schools that marginalize physical education by excluding it from the core curriculum

School systems and schools that sanction the use of violent contact in sports as an essential part of the game

School systems and schools that emphasize competitive sports in ways that diminish respect for opponents

Any system of evaluation that implies that higher performance levels relative to other students and bodies of students are evidence of the success or failure of the individual student or the school

School systems and schools that offer their physical education, fitness and sports programs in isolation from other publicly-funded and non-profit agencies, associations and institutions in the immediate neighbourhood or broader community

School systems and schools that emphasize competitive sports in ways that diminish respect for opponents

School systems and schools that exclude ethnic minorities from participation by the arbitrary imposition of insensitive dress codes and changing facilities