The education and sports ministries together with the German development agency (GIZ) recently hosted a Physical Education for Life (PE4Life) guide trial run.
This was done to gauge the appropriateness of the current PE4Life educators’ guide for grade 8-9 that is presently being drafted.
The event was hosted at the Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School and 27 learners from that school and the Goreangab Junior Secondary School attended.
Seventeen representatives from the education ministry, PE teachers, Unam lecturers, education officers from the Khomas regional directorate of education, also took part in these practical sessions as part of the joint programme - Integrated Physical Education and School Sport.
This PE guide (for grades 8-9) for educators in Namibia is part of a series that supports PE teachers, coaches and other educators to run quality PE lessons at school or after school.
“The guide provides knowledge about some underlying concepts and theories, but also guidance on how to structure and plan a PE session as well as providing 20 practical sample sessions,” reads a joint statement issued by the respective institutions.
This PE4Life trial run was carried out to make sure the practical sessions are age-appropriate, instructions are clear, the set-up is right and each exercise works in practice as planned and conceived on the page. When creating manuals, guidebooks and guidelines, in theory, things can work well, but in reality, they may not work.
The concept of PE4Life combines PE with the Sport 4 Development approach, which aims for lifelong learning with regard to life skills or health topics.
“This event was therefore very useful, and the grade 8-9 children from the two schools certainly put the exercises and the guide through its paces, giving the creators valuable insights and information.”
By sponsoring this event, the Pupkewitz Foundation is doing its part to raise awareness of high-quality PE, enabling learners to relish and prosper in many kinds of physical activities; developing competence and confidence, concepts of fairness and personal and social responsibility.
A highlight during the theoretical part was the passion of the participants about sport participation. There was an interesting discussion about ensuring that not just children and youth understand the value of sports and PE, but that adults/parents/teachers, also see the relevance and actually support their children in their sport endeavours.
Moreover, it was emphasised that sport is not just about the elites and the ones who make it far; participation at foundation level is the most important, which can start at school as part of PE lessons. Development such as life skills, teamwork, learning how to deal with adversity, social development and interaction, gameplay as well as physical development and acquiring skills can lead to a healthy lifestyle.
Feedback was collected during and after the trial run, which will be incorporated in the current draft of the guide. The guide is expected to be published in January 2022.