David Cameron faced
a furious backlash from teachers after he criticised staff for refusing to play
their part in running school sports.
The Prime Minister warned there would have to be a "big cultural
change" in schools if Britain was to build a successful sporting legacy in
the wake of the London Olympics.
His comments drew
an angry response from teaching unions who pointed to cuts to the School Sport
Partnership and the continued sell-off of school playing fields, despite
coalition promises that they would be protected.
The row erupted as
it emerged that ministers had ditched a target introduced by the former Labour
government for all state school pupils to take part in at least two hours of PE
and sport a week.
Mr Cameron defended
the decision, arguing that Labour's approach had been counter-productive.
"If you just
simply sit there in Whitehall and set a target but don't actually do anything
to help schools meet it, you are not really solving the problem," he told
London's LBC 97.3 radio station.
"By just
saying 'Look, I want you to do this many hours a week' some schools think
'Right, as I've hit that minimum requirement, I've ticked the box and I can
give up."'
The Prime Minister
insisted a lack of resources was not the problem, with £1 billion being
invested in school sport over the next four years, and said the real issue was
the need to restore a "competitive ethos".
"Frankly, if
the only problem was money, you'd solve this with money," he said.
"The problem
has been too many schools not wanting to have competitive sport, some teachers
not wanting to join in and play their part.
"So if we want
to have a great sporting legacy for our children - and I do - we have got to
have an answer that brings the whole of society together to crack this, more
competition, more competitiveness, more getting rid of the idea
all-must-win-prizes and you can't have competitive sports days.
"We need a big
cultural change - a cultural change in favour of competitive sports. That's
what I think really matters."
His comments were
branded "foolhardy" by Christine Blower, general secretary of the
National Union of Teachers, who said he failed to realise that he was "the
architect of a worsening situation".
"It's not
because of teachers that funding for the School Sport Partnership has been so
drastically reduced," she said.
"What we need
is the support of Government, not the shifting of blame. We know of many
teachers who are spending time from their summer break taking children from
their schools to the Games."
Chris Keates,
general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said it was "unfair"
to blame schools for failing to foster a competitive spirit.
"The real
issue is the major cuts that this coalition Government has made to school
sports. They have cut school budgets in real terms, which has reduced the
resources available for schools to spend on sport," she said.
"By ratcheting
up the high stakes school accountability regime, ministers have forced schools
to focus on a narrow core of academic subjects, which has reduced time in the
curriculum for PE."
Malcolm Trobe,
deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said
school sports needed the right facilities and funding to flourish.
"Obviously,
the selling off of playing fields by both major political parties has not been
a good step," he said.
"I think it's
a bit rich to make a comment like this when one of the most successful schemes
was the work done by sports colleges and school sports partnerships, and two
years ago that funding was removed by the current Government."
British Olympic
Association chairman Lord Moynihan said that while different teachers had
"different agendas", there were many who did get involved in sport
and who deserved support.
"It is right
some would not choose to stay on after school to teach sport but there are a
lot that would," he said. "We need to give them the tools to do the
job - the time and the facilities."
Mr Cameron
acknowledged that since the coalition came to power, 21 school playing fields
had been approved for disposal - but said in each case it was because the
schools concerned were being closed or merged, the land involved was marginal,
or it was for reasons of improving sports access.
"It was a
mistake that playing fields were sold in the past. They are not being sold any
more," he said.
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