2005 APEQ/McGill PHYSICAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE .

1. 2005 APEQ/McGill PHYSICAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE.

2. Dr. Jennifer Wall Keynote Address

3. Opening the door to a lifetime of physical activity

4. Through physical education and physical activity programs

5. Who is at the door?

6. Our youth . . . Three consistent findings (Stone, et. al. 1998) • 1. A substantial proportion of children and adolescents are not sufficiently active. • 2. Considerably smaller proportion of girls than boys are sufficiently active. • 3. Activity declines with age during adolescence.

7. Using a standard of 60 min or more of MPA 5 or more days per week, Campagna et. al. 2002 determined • Grade 3: 92% of girls 90% of boys • Grade 7: 28% of girls 45% of boys • Grade 11: 5.1% of girls 8.7% of boys

9. Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey.

11. Physical activity and bone health

12. What about joy . . .

14. The setting having the most promise for a public health impact are the schools, because virtually all children can be reached in school. Sallis, 1992

15. Schools can not do this alone

17. What about girls and young women?

18. What would life be like if you woke up tomorrow morning as a girl?

19. Boys said . . . • “Being a girl sucks, now instead of playing basketball I have to play boring jump rope” • Now that I am a girl, they won’t let me play football. But I’ll play anyway, I’ll play in a dress if I have to”

20. “So many times in the night I wish I was still a boy because of all of my dreams to become a baseball player. But now they have perished into the night, and I’m a little old bag lady sitting in a cardboard box. And whenever I go to a baseball game I cry my eyes out because my dreams have been lost forever.”

21. Girls said . . . • I could become the president • I would have more confidence • I wouldn’t care what people thought • I could do more sports

22. In general physical activity and sport are highly valued for males and not so for females

24. Young women participate less often than men in physical activity and consider themselves less likely to be physically active by age 20

25. Girls are less likely than boys to be given adequate coaching in sport, to be exposed to a wide variety of physical activity experiences in their youth, or to have visible role models

35. What is it like to be a girl in a physical activity setting?

36. “Any serious consideration of the relationship between gender and education is likely to generate questions which go to the heart of our teaching and our curriculum in physical education” John Evans, 1984

38. “As a student going into Grade 10, I know first-hand that having phys.ed classes more often will not solve the problem. All I ever did was the same sports over and over---- basketball, soccer, hockey etc. Not all kids enjoy being pushed around, demeaned and shamed because they are not good at competitive sports, me included. Why not create alternative phys.ed classes that offer programs such as outdoor education, hiking, bike riding and jogging?”

39. “Let’s say in phys-ed class you are playing basketball, the guys will just pass the ball to the other guys, never to a girl . . .unless you are on the school team and then they might pass it to you, but usually you never get the ball. The other team won’t even cover you because they know, they just know you will never get the ball - - - even if you are free”

40. “I went to high school in the late 1980’s. I never got to play a base in four years of high school physical education. The boys relegated the girls to the outfield because they said we made mistakes and the team might not win. I think physical education was the most gender biased class in high school”

41. Too often . . . • Girls and boys perceive boys to be more highly skilled even when they are not! • Boys limit girls opportunities by “hassling” them • Girls limit their own opportunities to learn by accepting the behavior of the boys

42. Closing doors • The majority of young women “opt out” of physical education at their first opportunity to do so, and many would leave sooner if given the opportunity.

43. How can we enhance the experiences of girls and young women?

44. Should we treat girls equally? The same as the boys??

45. Perhaps we need a differentapproach

46. Equality focuses on creating the same starting line for everyone. Equity has the goal of providing everyone with a full range of opportunities and benefits----- the same finish line. (Bruce Kidd, University of Toronto)

47. Start by listening . . .and then initiate action • This is what I have to say . . . • So what does this say about physical education classes and physical activity experiences? • Now what should be done?

48. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. I mean how often do you ever have anyone come to your school and ask what do you think? You know it is usually tell them what you should be doing and thinking . . . they never ask you”

49. Exposed

50. “I want to be her” • “ I took this picture because she is my idol. I taped it to my dresser so that she is the first thing I see every morning. She is so beautiful, I want to be her. Whenever I look at this picture I see myself but 1000 pounds bigger”