Can you clarify the ministry of education policy regarding the number of minutes students should have health and physical education and daily vigorous physical education?
The Ontario Curriculum does not provide specific time expectations for any subject area. With the recent provincial emphasis on literacy and numeracy, there is currently an expectation for a certain amount of “blocked” literacy time and that expectation is expected to come for numeracy also. On one hand, it would be good to have a ministry mandated number of minutes for health and physical education. On the other hand, it may be dangerous too push too hard for that in case the mandated number of minutes that is decided upon is inadequate. Some school boards have been making their own recommendations. There is a very good example from Thames Valley on Ophea.net. Look on the H&PE Resources and Materials page. The Ontario Health and Physical Education curriculum states that, “This curriculum requires that students participate in vigorous physical activity for a sustained period of time each day. The amount of time suggested is described in the expectations and varies from grades 1 to Grad
