Manitoba set to announce phys-ed curriculum overhaul

All high school students will be required to show up for in-person phys-ed classes to graduate, the province is set to announce.

Phys-ed and health are compulsory classes from grades 1 to 12, but students can currently sign up for flexible or self-directed options at the end of their high school careers.

Changes to the curriculum — for Grade 11 and 12 students, in particular — will be announced this afternoon, the Free Press has learned.

Premier Wab Kinew told reporters last week that his government was preparing to announce “the biggest curriculum change in recent memory in Manitoba history.”

The framework for the phys-ed curriculum in Manitoba is more than 25 years old.

Kinew is scheduled to host a 1 p.m. news conference at Victor Mager School in Winnipeg.

The education minister, chief provincial public health officer and representatives from the Physical Health Educators of Manitoba collective and BGC Winnipeg (formerly the Boys and Girls Clubs of Winnipeg) will be in attendance.

Manitoba is outlier in Canada in that the overwhelming majority of jurisdictions do not require students to participate in phys-ed every year.

The Manitoba Commission on Kindergarten to Grade 12 Education, established in 2019, collected feedback about status-quo curriculum from teachers, parents and other members of the public.

One of its 75 recommendations called on the province to replace its requirement that all Grade 11 and 12 students complete phys-ed.

The commission called for “new and more rigorous” credits instead of the current pass-or-fail model.

Students should learn about “the concept of a healthy mind, body and lifestyle” and life skills including financial management, nutrition, entrepreneurialism, employability and parenting, the panel said.

The final report sparked outcry among phys-ed teachers when it was released in March 2021, about a year later than scheduled due to COVID-19 disruptions.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca