Points for Life is a back to basics approach to physical education with lifelong benefits for our kids – Coghlan

Fine Gael Dublin Senator and former world champion athlete, Eamonn Coghlan, today (Monday) launched the Points for Life initiative at St Cronan’s National School in Bray, Co. Wicklow. Points for Life is about building a strong foundation for physical literacy and motor skills in children from a young age so as to help tackle childhood obesity and promote participation in sport. Points for Life, in partnership with the Department of Education, is currently being piloted at four national primary schools in north Wicklow. Senator Coghlan aims for the programme to be incorporated into the national primary school curriculum. In June 2014, the project evaluation team will report their findings to the Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn TD, who will then decide on whether to take the programme further.

“The traditional approach to physical education is that you are instructed to run, jump, throw and catch but you are not shown the basics on how to do it properly. Points for Life, which I hope to see incorporated into the primary education curriculum, is focused on physical literacy which is about improving a child’s motor schools by focusing on the ABCs of physical activity: Agility, Balance and Coordination.

“By teaching children the basics of how to run, jump, throw and perform the fundamentals of physical activity we will increase their confidence and competence, so that they are more likely to participate in sport further into life. By doing things repetitively on a consistent basis you can instil these basic competencies in children which will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

“This is not about developing elite athletes, it’s about getting the very basics of physical education right so that our children are more likely to pursue a lifelong interest in sport and physical activity. It’s all the child’s understanding of how to move, twist, turn and throw in an efficient manner. The programme will teach the children what physical literacy is all about, not just about its value in the short term, but as something that has lifelong benefits.

“I am delighted that Minister Quinn and the Department of Education have decided to pilot the programme. The pilot will give them a solid base of evidence on whether to progress the scheme further. It is my hope that Points for Life will be incorporated into the national primary school curriculum.

“Physical literacy is the foundation of the behaviours, knowledge and understanding related to healthy active living and positive health choices and ought to be given the type of focussed attention like that assigned to other areas of learning such as literacy or numeracy. The programme takes a systemic approach to developing physical literacy in our children in a range of contexts in the school and in the community, but, firstly and principally, in physical education lessons.”