Physical exercise is the subject of which most students in upper secondary schools are not rated because of high rates of being absent. Pupils and teachers point to body and performance pressure.
In 2017-2018, 2.8 percent of students did not receive physical education in VG2 due to high absenteeism or lack of assessment basis, figures from the Directorate of Education indicate.
“Higher absenteeism and fail rate in physical education, is something we have been familiar with in the school system for many years,” says Tormod Korpås, Rector and Head of the Educational Association Council, to NRK.
Although the figure is relatively low and has fallen from 3.3 percent in the past two years, the Educational Union believes that it is disturbing:
“There have been fewer fails in physical education in recent years, but three percent are quite many,” says Korpås, who is the senior vice president.
Higher-grade students who lack this grade must recapture the subject as a privatist to obtain an approved education.
Educational Federation believes that some of the solutions come from the already underway work to renew all school subjects, combined with giving the physical education teacher better time for their students.
“In addition, enough performance focus in the physical exercise profession should be reduced,” says Korpås.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
