“As part of the survey, we also tried to find out why PE is stressful or unenjoyable for many students. Many of them dislike, among other things, being graded according to fixed tables, a disrespectful attitude from some PE teachers, monotonous lesson content, or the feeling of embarrassment when something doesn’t go well and others are watching. Perhaps that’s also why up to thirty percent of students use excuse notes even when there’s practically nothing wrong with them,” commented Radek Schich, director of GTS Alive.

Among specific activities in PE classes, students most enjoy strength training and fitness, volleyball, floorball, and other ball games, combat sports, or yoga. Least popular are aerobics, rope climbing, vaulting over the pommel horse, box or vaulting table, gymnastics in general, and exercises on rings.

And what is the most common content of PE classes at Czech secondary schools? Students spend the most time on running and sprinting. Among ball games, volleyball leads, followed by basketball and floorball. Warm-ups, long jump or high jump, and gymnastics are also frequently included.

At the vast majority of schools, students have two PE lessons per week. 85 percent of students received an “A” in PE on their last report card, and ten percent a “B.” Most schools also organize ski trips, which the vast majority of participating students enjoy. However, one fifth of students did not attend, even though their class went.

Young people also answered how often they engage in sports. Nearly 40 percent do so a few times a week, and more than one fifth almost every day. Interestingly, students who are very active typically don’t do so through a club or team but on their own, informally. For example, one third of students at least occasionally go to a fitness center. However, one in six students does not engage in sports at all. The most frequently cited reasons are a lack of interest, lack of time, or lack of motivation to be physically active.

Family also plays a role. “The influence of the family and its attitude toward sports and physical activity in general is crucial. If children lack family role models, they usually don’t develop a strong relationship with physical activities from an early age—and often carry that into adulthood. Interestingly, the survey shows that families are split roughly fifty-fifty in their attitude toward sports. About fifty percent of students’ parents are actively engaged in physical activity, the rest are not,” says Štefan Blahovec, director of the Form Factory fitness center network, which provided expert support for the survey. Form Factory is also the initiator of the FIT-4-SCHOOL project, which aims to motivate the younger generation to be active and develop healthy habits through themed seminars, training sessions, and sports challenges held directly at schools.

A significant part of students’ physical activity also comes from walking. During a typical weekday, students cover a surprisingly large distance on foot. For 60 percent of them, it’s more than four kilometers (over 4,800 to 6,000 steps). Only just under two percent walk less than one kilometer per day (i.e., below 1,200 to 1,500 steps).

As part of the survey, students also had the opportunity to grade their PE teachers. The most common grade given was a B, followed by an A. However, one in ten students would give their PE teacher an F.

And how do PE teachers, in turn, assess today’s students? Speaking for many, Marek Čepelák, a PE teacher at the Business Academy in Prague–Holešovice, said: “Students’ approach to PE today varies greatly; it depends on many factors such as their personal interests, motivation, lifestyle, and also the conditions in which physical education is taught.”

“Some prefer traditional sports like football or volleyball, while others lean toward more modern forms of movement such as group fitness classes, yoga, or parkour. Because of this, it’s challenging to cater to all preferences within a single school subject. During the pandemic, many students experienced remote physical education, which unfortunately may have affected their relationship with physical activity. Some students discovered new ways to stay active at home, while others got used to a sedentary lifestyle. All of this played a role and changed their attitude toward PE after returning to school,” added Marek Čepelák.

Table 1: How much students enjoy or don’t enjoy activities they do in physical education classes

Table 2: Which activities take place most frequently during physical education classes?

Selection of typical student responses to the open-ended question:
“Please briefly describe what PE classes are like at your school. What do you like about them, and what don’t you like? How does your PE teacher approach the lessons?”

(student responses are left in their original form, including typos and spelling errors)

• We get graded for everything, but why? We go run 800 meters and have to make it in a certain time or we get a B or worse. I don’t get it. How is it even possible to grade something not everyone is good at? I don’t get the school system.
• Either we can do whatever we want—so nothing really, because we don’t talk to each other and the teacher is gone—or suddenly it’s all serious and we “have to write something down”... so we go run or do long throws. Another teacher at the school grades everything by charts. The whole thing just seems wrong—the timing of classes, being forced to do something we don’t like or aren’t good at, with people we’re uncomfortable with... I get that movement is important, but for me it’s more about the mental aspect.
• Two lessons a week, separated by gender—each gets either the gym or the fitness room. Most time in the gym is spent playing volleyball without proper explanation or instruction. In the fitness room, we often get to choose what to do, usually working out along with a video. The PE teacher’s approach is a bit lax, unempathetic toward less skilled students.
• Breathing, yoga, fitness, when we need a grade then we run or do rope climbing. Sometimes we play volleyball, which I’m scared of and my teacher knows that, but she still forces me.
• The classes are pretty okay, we often play different games—some I like, some I don’t. What bothers me most are the grading charts. I think it’s very demotivating for us students, and in my opinion, this way of grading should be scrapped. Effort should be rewarded instead. Some students simply can’t perform as well as others. What makes me saddest is that it leads some of them to fake excuses and avoid participating.
• The classes vary; we always do things listed in the curriculum. But I don’t like the outdated grading system and physical tests overall. Every person is individual and shouldn’t be graded in PE based on performance. PE should be about getting kids to move—not stressing them out about reaching some prewritten result that doesn’t consider their individuality.
• The classes are just awful. Either the teacher yells at us or mocks us. Any injury is brushed off with “You’ll be fine.” One girl hurt her leg and the teacher sarcastically asked if she’s okay and if she can walk—this girl’s been seeing doctors for a year and might need surgery.
• The classes seem pointless. Half the class doesn’t participate, and the ones who do aren’t enjoying it either.
• PE classes are stressful for me. I feel like everyone’s looking at me like “ugh, how lame is she.” I don’t know where it started, but sometime in elementary I developed this massive fear of balls and ball games. I can’t swim and I’m not good at other sports either. The only activity I truly enjoy is dance. But in PE, that’s the rarest thing. And if we do dance, it’s just traditional ballroom stuff (at least in elementary school it was).
• I don’t mind PE too much, but I think our teacher should stop humiliating students and forcing us. PE in high school seems pointless. At this age, everyone can choose to move around in their free time as they see fit.
• Individual approach—if I don’t want to do something, I don’t have to. There’s a wide variety of activities, so everyone finds something they like.
• Depends. We always start with running and I enjoy that, then a warm-up, and then some activity (endurance, athletics, ball games—I like those). But our teacher takes it way too seriously and is super strict, so nobody looks forward to PE and everyone tries to get out of it whenever they can.
• We have two lessons back-to-back. In the first one, we do athletics or gymnastics, which is nice because we learn new things instead of doing the same stuff over and over. The second hour we play ball games we choose ourselves. Our PE teacher is great, he tries to meet everyone’s needs and still teaches us new things. He also pushes us to improve and I really appreciate that.
• We have a nice lady teacher, we do various activities. I don’t really like sports, but PE itself doesn’t bother me too much.
• There’s one teacher for 32 kids, so unfortunately she doesn’t have time for everyone... so everyone does whatever they want, no one pays attention to her, and no one takes PE seriously. Boys kick balls around and girls mostly sit and watch. I don’t think that’s how it should be. Either split us up or add another teacher.
• She doesn’t really prepare much. We just play the same games over and over. Sometimes we do one class for grading, then back to football, floorball, volleyball, basketball, ping-pong, badminton.
• Start – Running – Warm-up – Game/Activity – End. I’m more or less okay with everything.
• Sometimes PE gives me anxiety because of the people. I don’t feel comfortable going to the pool with them, for example, and I think swimming should be optional, not mandatory. Some people are afraid of water or don’t like changing in front of others. But otherwise, we can choose what to do, and I like that.
• Before we changed PE teachers, I enjoyed it. He got involved in the games, classes were active and fun. Now we got a new teacher and he’s the complete opposite. Now I just look forward to the class ending.
• PE should be an elective or kept only in elementary school. The only good PE teacher we ever had was a former police officer. He taught us self-defense basics, led circuit training, showed us proper exercise techniques, and adapted the classes to us. He never forced anyone, and he had almost 100% attendance. The rest of the PE teachers focus on the wrong things, don’t teach anything useful, and make younger generations hate sports.
• Luckily, our PE teacher has a good attitude, and we usually play football or other games. But for me, PE is just annoying because I have to wake up early—we have it at 7 a.m. and it’s two hours long. I find it pointless since I already do other physical activities almost every day (gym, golf, running, walking...). I get that some kids need movement if they won’t do it on their own, but I don’t think it’s necessary in 3rd or 4th year of high school.

Notes for editors:

GTS Alive s.r.o. in the Czech Republic issues and manages ISIC student cards and ISIC Scholar pupil cards, ITIC teacher cards, and, to a lesser extent, other cards. The company was founded in August 2000. Its predecessor in the Czech Republic was GTS International. GTS Alive s.r.o. is part of the international GTS Alive Group, headquartered in Prague, with branches in seventeen countries on four continents.

GTS Alive, through the ISIC PORT chip identification system, also provides many elementary and secondary schools with secure access to their buildings and an electronic attendance system. The company also facilitates travel or accident insurance for students.

For more information, contact:

Jan Šimral, media representative of GTS Alive
Tel.: +420 737 944 370
E-mail: info@jansimral.com