Paltry PE programme is unfit for purpose

Well done to Scott Hastings for highlighting the lack of physical activity in Scottish schools (Letters, 3 February). However, this is yet another "initiative" doomed to failure because there is not the political or educational will to make fundamental changes to our exam-driven curriculum.

The ancient Greeks, who are generally regarded as a benchmark society, valued the healthy mind and the healthy body, ergo a curriculum that was 50 per cent academic and 50 per cent physical activity.

When you reach 40, which is more use: eight Standard grades or six Standard grades and a healthy heart and lungs, combined with an understanding of, and interest in, how to stay healthy?

The mystical target of two hours' physical education will also never be met. The PE timetable at my own school is generous, but only S1 classes receive more than two hours. When you add in the time taken to reach the department, get changed and travel to pitches, actual teaching/activity time can be a lot less than that timetabled.

The drive from national and local government is simply not strong enough, nor well enough resourced to provide what everybody seems to agree is desirable – two hours a week as a bare minimum, with daily PE or physical activity for all pupils as the ideal.

It is bordering on farce that this happens at a time when the national government is making cuts in teacher training places and local government is imposing, once again, significant cuts in the budgets of all schools.

If it was good enough for the ancient Greeks, surely it is good enough for us, but someone has to find the will, the courage and the resources to implement radical change. That someone has to be a politician with the power to enable change, rather than a well-meaning celebrity attached to a pressure group.

ALASTAIR KIDD

Principal teacher, physical education

Earlston High School, Borders