Hansard

Mr Yousaf challenged me on which of us was younger and I won through on that, so I can say with some confidence that I am the youngest member in the chamber.

When I was at secondary school, my classmates and I got two periods of PE every week. Those two periods were certainly beneficial to me, although I never needed much encouragement to take off my shirt and tie and get my shorts and T-shirt on—I promise members that I do not have a change of clothes with me, so they need not worry. That meant that although my time at secondary school predated the Government’s targets, if those targets had been in place at the time, they would have been met and my classmates and I would have contributed to another positive statistic for the Government.

However, we must look at the education that is delivered in such lessons. When I was at school, the two classes in my year were merged and then split up into a boys group and a girls group. Roughly 25 boys would be getting ready for PE in the changing room when the PE teacher would announce his entrance by shouting, in his deep, booming voice, “Right boys—football!” There would be a cheer from most of us and then—rain, hail or shine—we would be sent out on to the ash football pitch for a 40-minute grudge match between the two registration classes. From first year to fourth year, I was involved in twice-weekly football matches between the C class and the D class. There was little else by way of PE in between.

As I said, that was beneficial for me. I loved playing football and I still do. As members can imagine, in a west of Scotland school, most of the guys in my class enjoyed it, too. I cannot speak in a debate about sport without mentioning the fact that one of those guys was Darren Barr, who I imagine will feature for Hearts in the Scottish cup final at the weekend.

However, not everyone enjoyed football. The same core of five to 10 pupils would forget their kit or have sprained ankles or sore heads, or they would just mill about the pitch to avoid a confrontation with the teacher. Those five to 10 boys would never have got into the culture of regular activity through their two periods of PE, as the extent of their physical activity was the short jog from the changing room up to the football pitch. Despite that, they would still have been classed as having their two periods of PE every week, in line with Government targets.

I am glad to say that things have changed at my old school. After I left it, the previous Scottish Executive made St Maurice’s high school a sports comprehensive, along with two other schools in North Lanarkshire. That was done to advance the principle of raising achievement for all, which involved recognising that education was not just about academic success and, similarly, that sporting and physical activity was not just about football.

Fitness motivators were piloted to introduce in the PE curriculum classes such as body jam, cheerleading and dance classes. The intention was mainly to encourage girls to participate, but boys took part, too. The provision of those classes marked a shift away from the regular netball PE lessons, which seemed to disenfranchise more girls than football did with boys. North Lanarkshire Leisure now provides free access to the gyms and swimming pools in the area for S5 and S6 pupils during exam time to help continue the culture of regular physical activity beyond S4.

Active schools co-ordinators are driving up participation and performance levels in schools. At the recent St Maurice’s high school awards, the regional and national successes of girls basketball, netball and football teams were amazing to see. Their performance was at a much higher level than that of the equivalent boys teams. I spoke to some of the recipients of awards, who told me that they were planning on moving on to university and that they would join university sports clubs and teams because of the positive experience that they had had at school.

What has happened in North Lanarkshire and at St Maurice’s, in particular, is a shining example of how to engage pupils in sport and physical activity by providing the time for high-quality PE teaching that covers a wide range of sports and activities, and which caters for all abilities.

One of the getting it right for every child principles is that children should have

“opportunities to take part in activities such as play, recreation and sport which contribute to healthy growth and development”.

We should ensure that we have a new generation of young Scots for whom a culture of irregular or no physical activity is alien, because they have been engaged in high-quality physical activity that suited them and which they enjoyed.