Africa-Press – Namibia. THE Integrated Physical Education and School Sports initiative recently held a PE4Life guide trial run at the Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School.
The event is a joint venture of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service, together with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The current PE4Life educators’ guide for grades 8 and 9 that is presently being drafted, needed to be gauged as to its appropriateness.
There were 27 pupils and 17 representatives from the education ministry, physical education teachers, University of Namibia lecturers and officers from the Khomas regional directorate of education taking part in these practical sessions.
This physical education guide for educators in Namibia is part of a series that supports physical education teachers, coaches and other educators to run quality physical education lessons at school or after school.
The guides provide knowledge about some underlying concepts and theories, and also guidance on how to structure and plan a physical education session as well as providing 20 practical sample sessions.
This PE4Life trial run was carried out to make sure that 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 physical education with the Sport 4 Development approach, which aims for lifelong learning in regards to life skills or health topics.
This event was therefore very useful and the grade 8 and 9 children from the Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School as well as the Goreangab Junior Secondary School certainly put the exercises and the guide through its paces, giving the creators valuable insights and information.
A highlight during the theoretical part was the passion of the participants with regards to 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 sporting endeavours.
Moreover, it was emphasised that sport is not just about the elites and the ones who make it far. Participation at the 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, game play as well as physical development leads to a healthy lifestyle.
Feedback was collected during and after the trial run which will be incorporated in the current draft of the guide, which is expected to be published in January 2022.
Through invitation by the education and sport ministries, along with GIZ, the Pupkewitz Foundation was honoured to extend their support. By sponsoring this event, the Pupkewitz Foundation is doing its part to raise awareness of a high quality physical education.
It enables pupils to relish and prosper in many kinds of physical activity; developing competence and confidence, concepts of fairness and personal and social responsibility.
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