Page 331 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Contemporary European Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 331
the role of physical activity in esl
ESLers are on average less physically active, it is also crucial to raise their
awareness about the importance of being physically active.
Another important aspect of physical activity is its impact on a stu-
dent’s socio-emotional well-being. ESLers often lack a sense of acceptance
and belonging to peers, the school and also the community as a whole.
The first important step in raising their sense of belonging through sports
is the cooperation between schools and the wider community (sport fa-
cilities, adult education organisations, health organisations and employ-
ers). WHO (2011) points out that the local environment has a vital role in
promoting sport and physical activity since it is mainly in the local set-
ting that opportunities to be physically active are provided. Taking a life
course approach and offering physical activity in different settings, includ-
ing schools and workplaces, is essential to the promotion of physical activ-
ity, especially for vulnerable groups such as ESLers. Extracurricular sport
activities organised in schools and organised sport events are therefore an
important way to strengthen ESLers’ social and cultural capital, their sense
of belonging and acceptance, to include their parents in educational activ-
ities and to keep ESLers off the street in socio-economically disadvantaged
environments.
Besides including and carrying out regular basic forms of physical ac-
tivity in ESL prevention and compensation programmes, it is important
to include practices (e.g. socio-drama, role playing etc.) that enable stu-
dents to express themselves through movement and body language. In this
way, physical activity can be used as a tool to improve ESLers’ self-aware-
ness and help them address their problems with school failure, discrimi-
nation, learning disabilities, communication difficulties and behavioural
problems. Drawing on encouraging results from different initiatives (e.g.
Accrochage Scolaire Services project, 2013; The Forum Theatre against ESL
project, 2013; Facing Youth unemployment from its very beginning pro-
ject, 2014), it may be worthwhile to rethink school physical education ac-
tivities for teens in the context of ESL prevention and compensation pro-
grammes so that, apart from physical and practical purposes, they include
body language expression, rhythmic-expressive activities or techniques of
self-awareness. Unfortunately, some authors (e.g. Castelli et al., 2014) point
to the fact that in today’s educational practice there is a big tendency to
reduce physical activity in schools in order to increase students’ produc-
tivity and academic achievements in other areas of learning. Such an ap-
proach contradicts with the findings described in this article and therefore
331
ESLers are on average less physically active, it is also crucial to raise their
awareness about the importance of being physically active.
Another important aspect of physical activity is its impact on a stu-
dent’s socio-emotional well-being. ESLers often lack a sense of acceptance
and belonging to peers, the school and also the community as a whole.
The first important step in raising their sense of belonging through sports
is the cooperation between schools and the wider community (sport fa-
cilities, adult education organisations, health organisations and employ-
ers). WHO (2011) points out that the local environment has a vital role in
promoting sport and physical activity since it is mainly in the local set-
ting that opportunities to be physically active are provided. Taking a life
course approach and offering physical activity in different settings, includ-
ing schools and workplaces, is essential to the promotion of physical activ-
ity, especially for vulnerable groups such as ESLers. Extracurricular sport
activities organised in schools and organised sport events are therefore an
important way to strengthen ESLers’ social and cultural capital, their sense
of belonging and acceptance, to include their parents in educational activ-
ities and to keep ESLers off the street in socio-economically disadvantaged
environments.
Besides including and carrying out regular basic forms of physical ac-
tivity in ESL prevention and compensation programmes, it is important
to include practices (e.g. socio-drama, role playing etc.) that enable stu-
dents to express themselves through movement and body language. In this
way, physical activity can be used as a tool to improve ESLers’ self-aware-
ness and help them address their problems with school failure, discrimi-
nation, learning disabilities, communication difficulties and behavioural
problems. Drawing on encouraging results from different initiatives (e.g.
Accrochage Scolaire Services project, 2013; The Forum Theatre against ESL
project, 2013; Facing Youth unemployment from its very beginning pro-
ject, 2014), it may be worthwhile to rethink school physical education ac-
tivities for teens in the context of ESL prevention and compensation pro-
grammes so that, apart from physical and practical purposes, they include
body language expression, rhythmic-expressive activities or techniques of
self-awareness. Unfortunately, some authors (e.g. Castelli et al., 2014) point
to the fact that in today’s educational practice there is a big tendency to
reduce physical activity in schools in order to increase students’ produc-
tivity and academic achievements in other areas of learning. Such an ap-
proach contradicts with the findings described in this article and therefore
331
