Discussion on Some Problems of “Escape Phenomenon” in PE Class in Primary and Middle Schools ()
1. Introduction
1.1. Background
In October 2012, the General Administration of Sport of China and the Education Department jointly issued Several Opinions on Further Strengthening The Work of School PHYSICAL Education, which clarified the important position of school physical education in China [1]. The CPC Central Committee and The State Council have always attached great importance to the healthy growth of young people, taking strengthening physical exercise as a basic project to improve health quality. Strengthening school physical education is an important measure to carry out the party’s educational policy, carry out quality-oriented education and improve the quality of education. Therefore, in May 2016, The General Office of the State Council issued the Comprehensive Opinions on Strengthening School PHYSICAL Education to Promote students’ Physical and Mental Health Development, which further emphasized the importance of school physical education in school education, and pointed out that school physical education [2] marked the growth and development of students’ physical health level to the national development level. Its importance and strategic height are unprecedented. Physical education has also become an important way to enhance students’ physique, improve their comprehensive quality, realize the modernization of education, build a country of human resources, and train socialist builders and successors who are morally, intellectually, physically and aesthetically well-developed. Physical education in primary and secondary schools, as an important part of school physical education, bears the important responsibility of cultivating students’ physical quality, technical ability, improving students’ will quality and social adaptability, and promoting students’ overall development of physical and mental health. Physical education in primary and secondary schools is an important carrier to promote students’ physical and mental health and all-round development. To a certain extent, the quality of physical education in primary and secondary schools directly determines the development level of school physical education. However, physical education teaching in primary and secondary schools faces many practical problems. For example, “what to test, what to teach and what to learn” is not clear, sports like “gymnastics and endurance running” are less or will not appear in physical education classes at all. The phenomenon of deletion and selective avoidance of physical education teaching materials has been repeatedly prohibited. Teachers do not know how to carry out good physical education teaching and how to promote the all-round development of students’ physical and mental health.
Based on this, this paper discusses the key issues that have an important impact on the reduction and evasion of teaching materials in physical education in primary and secondary schools, in order to provide reference for the scientific design of physical education in primary and secondary schools.
1.2. Definition of the Concept of Escape Phenomenon
Escape is not willing to avoid or dare not contact with people and things, is a kind of embodiment of seeking benefits and avoiding harm. The word “escape” has different interpretations in the fields of medicine, psychology and so on. From the narrow perspective of primary and middle schools, this paper defines escape as: purposeful avoidance or elimination of teaching contents that cannot be completed by oneself or behaviors that cannot bear the risks caused by out-of-control teaching. In primary and secondary school physical education teaching process, the phenomenon of “escape” mainly for physical education teachers consciously or have a purpose to avoid high sports to students’ body quality requirement, avoid students because of sports load and cause unnecessary trouble, such as physical education teachers consciously avoid swimming, endurance running and other physical education courses.
2. Management Mechanism of Primary and Secondary Schools
The curriculum standard of full-time physical education and health of nine-year compulsory education has constructed three levels of national, local and school curriculum, established a multi-evaluation system, and highlighted the important role of curriculum in education [3]. In terms of form, the Ministry of Education, provincial and local education administrative departments attach great importance to the overall development of students’ physical and mental health, but for school teaching, physical education curriculum design is not very strict.
Primary and secondary schools pay more attention to education than physical education, and the quality of students’ academic performance and the level of students’ “enrollment rate” have become the primary concerns of schools. In this context, school sports, as an important part of school education, seems to be marginalized. This makes primary and secondary school physical education more close to the physical examination of the project. Physical examination “what to test, teach what, what students learn” on the one hand can relieve the teaching pressure of physical education teachers, teachers do not have to be patient to prepare for how to do a good PHYSICAL education, just to students through physical examination as the goal of teaching; On the other hand, it can make the school physical education work pass the examination of relevant departments. In the evaluation standard of the school physical education work, the pass rate of the physical education examination accounts for a large proportion.
However, the fundamental purpose of the physical examination is to enhance students’ physique, improve their mental health and social adaptation, cultivate excellent talents with all-round development of morality, intelligence, body and beauty, and solve the crux of the annual decline of students’ physique. “Gymnastics, durable running” and other items of teaching material reduction, physical education teachers’ evasive attitude, greatly hindered the overall development of students’ physical and mental health. In order to pass the physical examination as the goal, the school PHYSICAL education class into another form of “exam-oriented physical education”. Schools misunderstand the connotation of physical examination, resulting in students taking physical education as a burden, a task, rather than happy sports, sunny sports.
3. Related Factors of Physical Education Teachers
Under the new standard, with the deepening of the reform of physical education curriculum, in order to adapt to the needs of the construction of physical education curriculum, the role of PE teachers is to promote the healthy development of the student body organizer and guide to shape healthy psychological quality, and the cultivation of healthy personality innovators and researchers in school physical education and sports method [4]. To a certain extent, the reasons for the phenomenon of teaching material reduction and escape are closely related to physical education teachers. The number of physical education teachers, their own ability, when bearing spirit and so on are the main reasons for the phenomenon of teaching material reduction and escape in primary and middle schools.
3.1. The Number of Physical Education Teachers
Physical education teachers are an important part of teaching and learning. Under the New Curriculum Standard, although the role of physical education teachers as instructors, helpers and promoters of students’ active construction of meaning is more important, the role of physical education teachers as instructors of sports knowledge and skills cannot be eliminated [5]. To some extent, the number of PE teachers can reflect the quality of PE teaching. When a school is short of PE teachers, its teaching quality will not be too high. The shortage of physical education teachers is one of the reasons for the reduction of teaching materials for gymnastics and endurance running and the selective avoidance of physical education teachers. Under the pressure of physical examination and the compromise of students’ academic promotion, the pressure from these two aspects is enough to make physical education teachers have no enough energy and time to complete the teaching of physical activities other than physical examination. Under the double pressure of school and society, PE teachers are forced to choose to reduce the teaching content of PE teaching materials and choose to avoid the sports items of non-PE examination. For teachers, this kind of situation is understandable, but for students, it is a great unfair treatment, depriving students of the right to all-round development, and the expansion of students’ horizon is greatly restricted.
3.2. Physical Education Teachers Have the Ability
As a teacher of sports knowledge and skills, the level of physical education teachers’ own ability is also one of the reasons for the reduction of teaching materials of “gymnastics, endurance running” and other events, and the selective avoidance of physical education teachers. A qualified physical education teacher should be familiar with all the contents of a school’s teaching materials and be able to impart them to students in a well-understood manner. For example, from primary school to senior high school, the teaching content of the human Education edition includes 12 sports including basketball and foot volleyball, table tennis and feather nets, gymnastics, track and field, martial arts, swimming, aerobics and ethnic and folk sports. However, some PE teachers in primary and secondary schools can only master some techniques in basketball and foot volleyball, track and field, table tennis and feather net, and the formation and password in gymnastics, and their understanding of other sports only stays at the theoretical level. The reason for this may be that after the students majoring in PHYSICAL education pass the corresponding exams and become physical education teachers, they also need to participate in some professional competitions while teaching students, so the time for physical exercise is shortened to a large extent. Physical education teachers have to abandon part of the teaching of physical education, and then in the limited time to consolidate their own expertise, and better use it in teaching.
In order to strengthen the physical education work in schools and promote the overall development of students’ physical and mental health, many relevant policies have been carried out by the state and local governments. However, the lack of physical education teachers in primary and secondary schools seriously hinders the pace of progress. The teaching content stipulated in physical education textbooks, such as gymnastics in parallel bars, vaulting and other sports; Endurance running in track and field; Sports like swimming are not not taught, they are not adequately taught, and in this context the victims are students.
3.3. Physical Education Teachers Should Bear the Spirit
As a healthy and tenacious psychological quality, sound personality training of physical education teachers, the strength of their own psychological quality level is also one of the reasons for the reduction of “gymnastics, durable running” and other items of teaching materials, physical education teachers selective escape phenomenon. In the process of teaching, PE teachers should establish the image of teachers who speak credibility, dare to be responsible and responsible in students’ hearts, rather than escape and lack of the image of being responsible. Part of primary and secondary school physical education teachers can be skilled to master the teaching content of sports teaching material stipulated, because the sport such as gymnastics, track and field, swimming has certain security risks, physical education teachers in order to avoid the campus safety accidents, avoid career advancement bumpy, and thus to cut of physical education, choose to escape these risky sports, lack of enough when bear spirit, And lack of courage. Of course, this is not all the reason for the physical education teachers, the lack of equipment and facilities in school sports venues, the lack of security measures is also the cause of this phenomenon.
4. Lack of Site Equipment and Security Measures
4.1. Insufficient Site Equipment
Sports equipment and safety measures are one of the basic conditions for running a school. Since 2002, various national authorities have issued a series of documents, such as Catalogue of Sports Equipment and Facilities for Middle Schools, Catalogue of Sports Equipment and Facilities for Primary Schools, and National standards for Sports Equipment and Venues for Primary and Secondary schools. Countries from the aspect of policy guarantee for the primary and secondary schools sports equipment configuration, but subject to regional economic development, some economic less developed areas of primary and secondary schools in space equipment is equipped with part of the older, not complete, species cannot be used, there are even some due to a serious shortage of sports equipment facilities of primary and secondary schools and the situation of the home-made equipment added [6].
As can be seen from Table 1, the area of sports facilities in primary and secondary schools in China accounts for 46.61% of the total area, while the number of sports facilities in Japanese schools has accounted for about 70% of the total number of sports facilities in China [6]. There is still a big gap between sports facilities in Primary and secondary schools in China and Japan.
Location of equipment facilities is one of the basic guarantees of primary and secondary school physical education can smoothly, the number has a great impact on the teaching and comprehensive level, lack of facilities, lack of exercise, swimming and so on, which have the ability to have a bear relevant items of the physical education teachers to teaching, were forced to cut physical education teaching material, choose escape.
4.2. Lack of Security Measures
Sports safety accidents are common in primary and secondary schools. The safety of students’ sports is the primary problem that schools need to pay attention to. The lack of safety awareness and knowledge of students and the lack of
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Table 1. The number and area of sports venues in each system.
Note: Data are from the sixth National Sports Site Survey data Bulletin (partial information) of the General Administration of Sport of China [7].
safety measures in schools lead to frequent injury accidents. The protection means to the student on gymnastics class only relies on the supervision of physical education teacher and the durable running of 3 centimeters high soft cushion, track and field class, also relies on the supervision of the teacher only, not to mention the relatively higher teaching content of the risk coefficient such as swimming, javelin. Many kinds of sports can be seen in the PE classes of primary and middle schools in Japan. No matter watching videos or reading literature, it is not hard to find that gymnastics, swimming and other sports often appear in PE classes, and PE teachers do not let multiple teachers teach together because of the risks in class. Tens of centimeters high several meters wide safety cushion, the high bar on the antiskid paunch of cylinder gear, students wear protective devices and lifeguard in a swimming class and underwater surveillance video viewer [8], such as the high quality of its safeguards to buy, compared with Japan’s primary and middle school sports in China safeguards also there exists a large gap. The lack of safety measures is the most fundamental reason that leads to the reduction of PE teaching materials and the phenomenon of escape. Once a safety accident occurs, teachers and schools will be strongly criticized by families and society, and the consequences are hard for both teachers and schools to bear.
5. Family and Social Factors
In 2020, under the leadership of General Secretary Xi Jinping, the whole country will be mobilized to eliminate absolute poverty and successfully build a moderately prosperous society. As the problem of food and clothing is solved, people will begin to pursue a better life. In this context, parents of primary and secondary school students are also in the same situation. Most parents hope that their children can grow up healthily and happily while completing their academic promotion. Middle and primary school sports such as gymnastics, endurance running and swimming in classroom project risk coefficient is higher, because parents don’t want to see the child take exercise and be hurt, even refused to let the children take part in such sports, blindly believe that physical examination of the designed project is enough to meet the requirements of promoting the development of students’ physical and mental health. Family opposition is also one of the reasons for the reduction of physical education textbooks and evasion.
The same is true of the society. In primary and middle school sports classes, sports safety accidents caused by gymnastics, endurance running and swimming emerge one after another, and the society has a strong response. News reports, public opinion swept the whole society, the voice of opposition, protest. For primary and secondary schools, schools and physical education teachers have to bear the pressure from family, society and the risk of possible sports to set up and teach such sports, which requires too much for them. Therefore, social pressure is also one of the reasons for the reduction of physical education textbooks and evasion.
6. Suggestions
6.1. Actively Improve the Professional Ability and Quality Level of Physical Education Teachers, and Reduce the Probability of “Escape Phenomenon”
The teaching ability of teachers is directly proportional to the teaching effect. To improve the teaching effect, the school must pay attention to the quality level and professional ability of teachers. Schools should recognize the importance of physical education and, through effective guidance, change physical education teachers’ inherent teaching philosophy so that they can innovate in teaching content so as to arouse students’ interest in participating in sports activities and truly achieve the goal of quality education. Under the current situation, the professional quality and quality of most PE teachers are not up to the requirements. Therefore, schools should carry out appropriate educational training activities to instill new teaching concepts and teaching knowledge into PE teachers, and regularly assess PE teachers to remind them to participate in training, so as to play the role of training and improve the effectiveness of PE teaching.
6.2. Continuously Promote the Construction of Sports Facilities to Escort Safe Sports
We will legalize sports guarantee measures for primary and secondary schools and further strengthen the management of stadiums and gymnasiums. To solve the security problems in the process of sports, first of all, we must strengthen legal construction, in accordance with the management of sport, to improve the present situation of the lack of security measures, earnestly implement the sports law and the relevant legal documents issued by the government, to strengthen the law enforcement and implementation of physical security, punish severely lack of security units and individuals of means and measures.
Improve students’ self-protection consciousness, strengthen the correct and comprehensive concept of sports propaganda, set up people’s healthy sports awareness. Do a good job of sports publicity, so that the majority of primary and secondary school students can better understand sports, understand sports, love sports, through publicity to improve students’ awareness of sports safety, so that students consciously in the process of sports have a hunch on safety sports, so that you can improve or even avoid the emergence of sports risks.
6.3. Establish the Importance of Family Education to the Training of Physical Exercise Consciousness
The government and schools are working together to promote the benefits of physical activity to families, especially non-co-parenting families, and to make parents understand the importance of family factors in physical activity. At the same time, parents should eliminate the paranoid concept of students’ participation in physical activities, so that parents can change from passively accepting physical activities to actively participating in physical activities. Parents should not only change their attitude, but also set an example for their children in practical actions.
Schools, establish close contact and interaction between the community and family, the school can organize activities of body health knowledge lectures, community family parent-child activities can be held, to increase the knowledge of the parents of physical activity to guide parents to establish correct notion of value, is more advantageous to positive influence on junior middle school students to participate in the activities of the body.
7. Conclusion
However, the process of rapid development is accompanied by many problems that need to be clarified and solved. At present, there are many neglected problems in PE teaching in primary and secondary schools, such as the change of PE teaching to another form of “exam-oriented PE”, the decrease of PE teaching materials, the selective avoidance of PE teachers, and the low quality of PE teaching. On this basis, from the angle of strengthening the school physical education work and promoting the students’ physical and mental health and all-round development, it makes a modest contribution to solving the problems of reducing physical education textbooks and avoiding physical education teachers. It is hoped that subsequent scholars can conduct further research on this basis.