Physical Education, Lifelong Participation and 'the Couch Potato Society'

In a previous paper (Green, 2002), it was argued that official and semi-official rhetoric related to school sport and PE in recent years has failed to consider adequately, or often acknowledge, trends in sport and physical activity and lifestyle developments among young people and adults. This sequel focuses attention upon the significance of the wider dimensions of young people's lives for their current and future patterns of participation in sport and physical activity. The paper concludes that if, as seems to be the case, facilitating lifelong participation is viewed as a primary aim of the subject then PE needs to move with the prevailing tide of young people's leisure lifestyles by catering for their preferences for a wider range of activities in more informal and individual and small-group settings. Consequently, there would need to be a shift in emphasis in policy and practice away from concentration on competitive, performance-oriented sport in PE (Penney & Harris, 1997; Penney & Evans, 1999) and towards the kinds of "optional", recreational, lifestyle-oriented sports and physical activities that appear more likely to lead to the wide sporting repertoires (Roberts & Brodie, 1992) essential for lifelong participation. (Contains 7 notes.)