Game, set and match to Ron Mackay (TESS, June 25) who requires no top spin to expose the baseline position of current physical education departments, which I recognise and fully endorse.
The curriculum is becoming punctuated with the drop-in, one-off novelty acts, tournaments and festivals which satisfy an established format and remit of providers who must achieve public recognition.
This undervalues the teachers who should be able to organise constructively and meaningfully if sufficiently resourced with content, back-up staff and equipment.
Perhaps we are now encountering the demise of the physical educationist, the trained specialist teacher who can sustain a progressive programme of work to develop and impart a vocabulary of movement skills and knowledge.
Professional physical educationists with a bank of experience know too well that PE teachers can get by in a supervisory role.
Katrine V MacDonald
Clarence Street, Thurso
