From school to college, the coronavirus epidemic is shaking like a coconut tree. In this column, Libé collects bits of life from the inside, behind the walls of schools. Words from teachers, students, school nurses, parents … Who, over the weeks, will portray in small touches this year 2020-2021, necessarily apart. Today, Pierrik Gaillard, 43, professor of physical education and sports (EPS) at Quintefeuille college in Courseulles-sur-Mer, in Calvados.
“On January 14, when it was decreed that the PE lessons were to take place outside, the measure was to last for two weeks. Three weeks later, not even a message to say if the deposit was renewed. Nothing. It is like the rest. As if our discipline wasn’t really one, was unimportant: getting the students to move a little, so that they let off steam, right? We are not facilitators of a free daycare! Our sessions are pedagogically thought out upstream, we gradually build up learning, in a progression. Overnight, our discipline was kicked out. If again this decision was based on scientific arguments … Not even. To date, no figure has been given proving that there is more contamination during PE lessons or during physical practice in general.
“We don’t understand. Not to mention the inconsistencies: at the MJC next door, hip-hop lessons are kept in the hall, because it is considered to be art … In high school, the dance option is maintained but the EPS lessons with a dance sequence are suspended… Where is the logic? It is all the more difficult to swallow as we have adapted to several hyperstrict health protocols: we no longer do team sports, we build sessions that allow the students to stay at a distance, they wear the mask a part of the course… Isn’t it more risky to put 100 students in a dining hall than to teach PE with groups of 30 students in a 100 square meter gymnasium? Ultimately, if the protocol had to be further tightened, why not instead have proposed to do PE in half-groups? This would have made it possible at least to keep the progression of learning over the quarter. Nobody asked the question… We are tired of having to constantly prove that PSE is a school discipline. We are disgusted to see the lack of consideration. Especially at the moment: more than ever our students need to play sports, to exert themselves. They lack physical activity, they are more out of breath than before. It’s very clear. ”
.
