The case in summary Teachers report low participation among girls in joint swimming lessons at secondary school. Many girls fear comments and body pressure, and therefore avoid swimming lessons. With separate swimming lessons, participation among girls increases significantly. Teachers and principals believe that separate swimming lessons can be a solution to ensure that all pupils participate. The rule that pupils should not normally be grouped by gender is laid down in law, but there is room for interpretation in some cases. Many pupils, especially girls, want separate swimming lessons. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. – Body and body pressure take up far too much space in our society already, we can’t let it change the school as well. I therefore believe that girls and boys should mainly have joint swimming lessons. Physical pressure cannot change the school, says state secretary from the Labor Party, Synnøve Mjeldheim Skaar. Photo: Kristine Urke Johansen / news These are the words of Synnøve Mjeldheim Skaar, who is state secretary in the Ministry of Education. Skular news has spoken to tell that it is difficult to get girls into the pool if there are boys there. – Last class it was only two other girls and me who had swimming together with 20 boys, says Amila Plecan. She is a student at Eknes junior high school in Krokstadelva. Last year, Eknes school had a trial project: Separate swimming lessons, boys and girls separately in the pool. – Then the participation was high, especially among the girls. With the boys, she is mostly very good anyway, notes teacher and swimming instructor Anita Stensli. Then joint swimming lessons were put on the timetable again. Then the participation of the girls dropped. According to the organization Flyte, almost as many people die in drowning accidents in Norway as in traffic. One of the measures against drowning is that more people learn to swim. What do you mean? Have your say at the bottom of the article. The physical education teachers (and the married couple) at Eknes junior high school Anita Stensli and Stig Holanger. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news The girls fear comments about their bodies Steinsli says that gendered swimming lessons versus collective swimming lessons are like night and day. – It shouldn’t be like that, but it is. In my class, there are 68 students. At the last swimming lesson, there were 27 girls who did not participate, only 11 swam, she reports. Should schools have gender-segregated swimming lessons? Yes, I think so. No, the pupils should swim together. Maybe it should open up to be optional. Show result The Ministry of Education, on its part, is ready. – When children and young people find it unsafe, embarrassing or difficult to swim together with the opposite sex, the school’s task is to find good solutions. Children and young people must also learn to handle pressure, shyness and difficult situations, they don’t learn that by the school giving in to physical pressure, says the state secretary. Anita Steinsli has been a teacher for over 20 years, and points to a negative development: Fewer and fewer girls participate in swimming lessons. She believes the reasons are a combination of: Religion Ethnicity Social media Norms/trends General social development What one learns at home It still boils down to one thing. – Many girls are afraid of comments, of being looked at and talked about, says Stensli. – Do they talk to the boys about this? – Yes. We will not hear a single comment, because it is super important that you do not comment on each other’s bodies and appearance. Stensli would have preferred to see that the swimming lessons were mixed, that the pupils were confident enough in themselves and others. Not least considering that there are few swimming lessons during the year. – But for the school’s part, considering the participation, I think we should have separate swimming lessons. Adapts the teaching according to the wishes of the student council Arild Sandvik is the headmaster at Harestua school in Lunner municipality in Akershus. He says that the school periodically has gender-separated swimming lessons for grades 9 and 10 – and that body pressure is a topic they have on the agenda in several arenas. – The great focus on the body is a general problem in society, and it may seem that several pupils are more vulnerable to stares now than before, says the principal at Harestua school, Arild Sandvik. Photo: Privat – We know that most of the students, among the girls, want gender-segregated education. This is something we try to adapt according to the wishes of, among others, the student council. Then it could be that we drive by gender for one month at a time. The result is the same as at Ekne’s junior high school: Far more girls participate than the boys are not in the pool. – Our experiences are clearly positive. The girls are safer, more participate. The reason why the girls want this is fear of comments and body pressure, says Sandvik. He emphasizes that the school is not familiar with rude comments directed at either the boys or the girls. – There is probably more fear of this happening, and that they think it is a bit uncomfortable to be seen in swimwear. Gender-segregated swimming lessons or collective? That’s the question. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news The rule that pupils should not normally be grouped by gender is enshrined in law. The head of justice from the Ministry of Education says that this rule must be interpreted strictly. Preben and Stanislaw set an unofficial Norwegian record for swimming under the ice. – The municipality as school owner is responsible Cathrine Børnes is department director at the Norwegian Directorate of Education. Cathrine Børnes at the Directorate of Education. Photo: Pressefoto/Uddanningsdirektoratet When asked whether there are guidelines for how swimming lessons are organized and whether this is up to each school/municipality, she replies: – It is the municipality that owns the school and is responsible for following up that the pupils receive the training they have claim on. She refers to the Ministry of Education, which in 2017 published a guideline on the organization of students in groups. The Ministry of Education’s head of justice The pupils should not normally be divided into groups according to gender. This main rule must be interpreted strictly. Only if weighty pupil care dictates it, it may be appropriate to divide the pupils according to gender. Each division must be assessed concretely. For example, division by gender can be considered for classes where the theme is gender identity or sexuality. Another example is linked to swimming lessons or other parts of the physical education subject where the school’s facilities such as changing rooms do not make it possible to have separate changing rooms for girls and boys. If the school only has access to one changing room, there may be an argument for holding gender-separated physical education classes. In each case, it must be carefully assessed what one achieves with the sharing and what negative consequences it may have. It must also be assessed whether the pupils’ needs can be taken care of in other ways than dividing the education by gender. In connection with swimming and physical education, the school should consider other measures, for example whether something can be done with the wardrobe and shower situation or requirements for clothes, instead of dividing the teaching into groups according to gender. Owing to periods to skip swimming Amila Plecan at Eknes junior high school has nothing against swimming with the boys, but says that many of her friends feel unsafe. – There may be rude comments from the boys towards the girls. Amila Plecan says that some of the girls are afraid of comments about their bodies, but that she herself has not experienced it. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news – What do the girls say when they don’t show up for community swimming? – That they have their periods. But they don’t want swimming with the boys, replies Plecan. Classmate Linus Gulbrandsen suggests that one can have separate swimming in the 8th grade and perhaps switch the following year. – Then we are a bit more mature and know each other better too. – Do they comment on the girl’s body so that they can hear it? – I haven’t heard anything in any case, not in the dressing room either. It is important that children and young people are confident in who they are, and are in a class where they feel safe. If he could choose, he has no doubt what is best. – I would probably have everyone together. But then it is of course important that everyone feels comfortable, Gulbrandsen replies. Happy as the fish in the water (and on land), from left: James Bartosz Roger, Amila Plecan, Linus Gulbrandsen, Ali Sina Ahmedi. Photo: Henning Rønhovde / news Hello! Welcome to dialogue at news. Since you are logged in to other news services, you do not have to log in again here, but we need your consent to our terms of use for online dialogue
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Joint swimming lessons in secondary schools cause many girls to drop out – news Buskerud – Local news, TV and radio
