EDITORIAL

New Horizons Ahead for PE Professionals in 2013

If you are among the approximately 13,000 member supporters of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), news from the Charlotte National AAHPERD Convention will interest you. Voting delegates at the convention approved plans to make AAHPERD a unified professional association replacing the existing five separate and independent national associations.

On the minds of many physical educators were questions such as "What exactly does this mean for the programs, products, and services presently delivered by NASPE?" and "Who's going to be responsible for physical education into the future?" In view of NASPE's longstanding professional leadership, uncertainty about where this transition is headed is unsettling. As this new professional organization begins to reform itself and navigate new waters, it faces many challenges. Not unreasonably we might ask, "Why take this risk?"

Unfortunately, it's pretty clear there's no easy alternative. There's no safe way forward. In fact the trends are alarming. Professional associations of all types are facing financial and membership crises. As publishers of printed media know well, the explosion of access to free information has changed the communication landscape. Today, people are reluctant to pay for anything and even less inclined to pay membership dues to groups that don't clearly meet their needs. Going forward, a critical challenge facing the new AAHPERD leadership is trying to identify what exactly physical educators want.

Since the 1960s when AAHPERD membership totaled over 50,000, fewer and fewer physical educators have been willing to support a national professional association. Embarrassingly, less than 5% of the health and physical education teachers nationwide are professional members. Not surprisingly, it's becoming harder and harder to effectively defend against program and position cuts or to advocate to legislators the importance of K-12 physical education. With non-membership the norm, our professional association simply doesn't have sufficient funding, personnel, or political clout to counter the tendency to focus on so-called core competences in our public schools.

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For far too long K-12 physical educators have endured a lack of respect from teaching colleagues and school administrators. Getting no respect is for many PE teachers the norm. And so it was exciting to hear at this year's convention the opening of a unique and time-sensitive window of opportunity for the physical education profession to recreate itself. What now remains to be seen is whether we will be imaginative or insightful enough to take it?

If you haven't heard, a new initiative called Let's Move, Active Schools was just announced. It's a huge collaborative effort to bring back physical activity into the nation's schools. Announced by First Lady Michelle Obama, and with a $50 million five-year funding commitment by Nike, Let’s Move, Active Schools will be managed by the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (PCFSN), the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, and our very own AAHPERD.

This initiative gives physical educators a chance to establish themselves as leaders in school physical activity promotion. But to do so is going to take a speedy reimagining of the profession. If we fail and continue thinking of ourselves as "gym teachers" (depressingly labeled after the name of the room in which we teach), it will be a lost opportunity that could potentially lead to the demise of the profession. And with the Obamas in the White House for only three more years, the time for change is now.

The problem is that if the nation's economic problems persist and the pressures of academic accountability increase, physical education classes will continue to be squeezed from the curriculum. Embracing the Let's Move, Active Schools initiative gives us a chance to establish ourselves at the core of the school experience. More and more evidence – if more were needed in addition to common sense – is pointing to the connection between health and academic performance. And if that wasn't enough, worries about the spiraling health care costs of the consequences of sedentary living are likely to spur even the most cost-conscious legislators to support school physical activity promotion. But who's going to lead this bold initiative?

It's pretty obvious that the best-qualified individuals to promote school-wide physical activity are physical education teachers. Less certain is whether we will be willing and motivated to work out how we can do this, as well as teach physical education classes. But the consequences of failing should alarm us. This is a call to action. Already, physical education programs around the country have been cut and replaced with physical activity. Is there a difference? Apparently not in the minds of many school administrators. Many have discovered that hiring physical activity instructors is a whole lot cheaper than professional physical educators.

But today – and for a limited time only – we have a chance to straighten the record. Physical activity is important. In fact, it's a huge measure of a successful PE program. What kids choose to do when they are not in our classes is significant. If they choose physical activity, we should celebrate that they are on the road toward healthy and active future lives. But starting them on this path depends on preparing them with the skills and knowledge they'll need to be competent and confident movers. This is our chance to show the public that physical education provides children with the foundation to counter sedentary living. And this moment may not come again.

Somehow physical educators have to step up and to do more. Carpe diem! Let's seize the day. The job responsibilities we anticipated when entering the profession weren't a guaranteed lifetime contract. They have to change, and we with them. Failing to adapt to the changing 21st century school environment is a gamble with extinction. One thing is certain. If we don't take responsibility for school-wide physical activity promotion, someone else will.

For the physical education profession there will be no do-overs. Physical educators will become increasingly isolated and marginalized in their gymnasiums, and the profession will continue its decline. Pretty predictable will be the emergence of a new school physical activity promotion profession. Private enterprise is probably already licking its lips and mobilizing. With Nike's involvement in Let's Move, Active Schools, heeding the company's "Just Do It" slogan has special significance today for the physical education profession.

So this year as AAHPERD transitions itself into a more focused professional association, it's going to be a period of challenge and change. All of us have roles to play. Certainly it's incredibly shortsighted for us not to become member supporters of our professional association (tell your colleagues). K-12 physical educators and those preparing future teachers need to personally support and get our colleagues involved in initiatives such as Let's Move, Active Schools. It would truly be sad to look back on 2013 as the year of missed opportunities when collectively we could have solidified physical education's status as central to K-12 public education, but instead failed to act.

Steve Jefferies, publisher pelinks4u