Schools are told to pay attention to fitness tests of students in physical education classes.
New advice from the Ministry of Education seeks to ensure that students are not exhausted unnecessarily and that students with low physical fitness levels are not discouraged.
A major concern is aerobic fitness tests such as the bleep test. In the bleep test, he runs continuously between two lines two meters away until he hears a beep.
Fitness tests are intended to measure performance in health-related areas such as cardiorespiratory endurance, or performance-related areas such as reaction time or speed.
There are a variety of what are known as maximal aerobic exercise tests, including the bleep test, which is a test of fatigue.
Other components of fitness testing include the Sit and Reach (SAR), which assesses flexibility, and the Standing Board Jump (SBJ), which assesses lower extremity strength.
Elementary school students are allowed to use limited tests such as SAR and SBJ. However, maximum aerobic testing should not be used except in exceptional circumstances such as ethically approved studies.
For schools after elementary school, departments are discouraged from “using whole-class physical fitness tests to assess who is the fastest or strongest, etc.”
These activities “de-motivate students with low fitness levels,” he said.
The guidance adds: It is not limited to testing students with the belief that this test will somehow make them physically fit. “
However, students who choose to participate in a test, such as a bleep test, as part of their study in the new Senior Cycle Physical Education (SCPE) framework or the recently introduced Leaving Cert PE subject must be allowed to do so. I have. state.
However, if maximal aerobic capacity tests are used, students should also be given the option of sub-maximal alternative tests such as step tests. I’m exhausted.”
The department also sets various good practice procedures for maximal aerobic exercise testing. This includes an explanation of its purpose and advice on the need to drop out if you feel overly tired or unwell.
Well-ventilated rooms, access to cold drinking water, and instructions for post-exercise recovery are also prerequisites, and schools are said not to publish their students’ results.
