More outdoor activities under new PE syllabus

Amanda Lee Today Online 1 Aug 13

SINGAPORE — Formal curriculum time will be set aside in all primary and secondary schools for outdoor education — such as outdoor cooking, camping and kayaking — to spark students’ spirit of adventure, as part of the revised Physical Education (PE) syllabus that will be rolled out next year.

All secondary school students will also have to take part in at least three intra-school recreational sports competitions, where the value “lies not in winning the game”, as Education Minister Heng Swee Keat put it.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) had announced last year that, under the new syllabus, students will have an additional one hour of PE lessons each week.

Speaking at the Physical and Sports Education Conference yesterday, Mr Heng announced the details of the new syllabus. He noted that studies have shown that “students who are taught skills, knowledge and attitudes to be comfortable in the outdoors would engage in higher levels of physical activity as adults”.

“With over 300 parks, four nature reserves and more than 200km of park connectors constructed across Singapore, schools should tap these green spaces to educate our students and help them appreciate the outdoors at the doorsteps of our schools,” Mr Heng said.

“This will then lay the foundation for more adventurous and rugged outdoor pursuits in years to come.”

Under the new syllabus, 10 to 20 per cent of curriculum time for primary and secondary schools will be set aside for outdoor education.

The MOE said the inclusion of outdoor education in PE will allow students to “understand more about the environment as they learn to navigate, assess risks and make decisions about their own safety, while enjoying the outdoors”.

Some schools already incorporate outdoor education in their curriculum and their educators have attested to the benefits for students. Since 2007, students at Si Ling Secondary School have gone through activities such as kayaking, rock climbing and abseiling.

Its Level Head (Physical Education, Co-Curricular Activities and Aesthetics) Muhammad Suhadi Hassan said: “Through outdoor education, students are more independent. They are also able to bond with their peers and teachers.”

At River Valley Primary School, Primary 1 and 2 students undergo outdoor education for 10 weeks, where they are taught various lessons from first aid to outdoor cooking. Its principal, Mr Danny Poh, said: “(Outdoor education) helps them to appreciate the things around them and learn how to work (with) one another.”

On the intra-school recreational sports competitions, Mr Heng said these are meant to “enrich the student’s experience in playing sports”.

Schools may organise activities such as badminton, football and softball inter-class competitions. The value of such competitions is about, for example, “the friendships that are forged when a team is formed and challenged to work towards a common goal”, Mr Heng said.

He added: “It is about the discipline and courage that competition requires ... and working hard to overcome them. It is also about the resilience and strength of character.”

Parents whom TODAY spoke to welcomed the move to allow all secondary students to participate in recreational sports competitions.

Mr Jimmy Ng, a 56-year-old technician, said his son, who is in Secondary 1, shuns sports because he is not good at it. “This will also help (to) create interest in sports,” he added.

Mr Heng cited a Students’ Health Survey conducted by the Health Promotion Board last year which found that many students spend more time on television, computers and video games than the recommended two hours a day.

“Compared to students in England and the United States, our students are significantly less active. What is of greater concern is that fewer students stay physically active as they got older,” Mr Heng said.

The new primary school PE syllabus will be centred on building a strong foundation in fundamental movement skills and broad-based development. These skills will be taught across activities such as dance, swimming and gymnastics.

At the secondary and pre-university levels, the students will be provided opportunities to apply the skills through a variety of physical activities.

For sports and games, the different game concepts, tactics and strategies will also be taught. Health education and elements of sports science will be taught at all levels.

To help prepare schools for the new syllabus, workshops and training tools will be provided for teachers.

The MOE said that by 2017, all schools would have implemented the one-hour increase in PE curriculum time to two hours per week.

All secondary schools have increased PE lessons partially and 23 secondary schools have implemented the full increase in PE time.

For primary schools, 42 schools have implemented the full increase while 55 primary schools have implemented it partially.