Burnley Grammar School

Here is a typical PE class of old times. Boys are barechested. At the end of the video girls are running over. None of the boys seem to care.

http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/video/schoolboys-take-part-in-a-pe-lesson-on-a-rooftop-news-footage/450605582

Andrea, did you also do PE in just underpants?
I know this was common practice in many primary schools.
At my primary school we also changed in class in front of our teacher, but we just took our uniform off in just underpants and put on white shorts and white vest, both boys and girls, which was our PE uniform.

Incidentally, talking about school uniforms, I wonder what other posters here wore for school, what kind of uniform, if any, or just plain clothes.
At my primary school we boys wore a white shirt and grey shorts while girls wore a white shirt and grey skirt. We also wore a grey jumper, don't know what they call it today, over our shirts when it was cold weather.
In secondary we also wore a grey jacket with the school logo on it, which we called a blazer in those days.
But PE kit was always white shorts and vest, both in primary and secondary.
In secondary it was different because we had a gym where we changed which was an all boys school. We also had showers in the gym changing room.
In primary we did PE exercises in the school yard or the yard corridor if it was raining. Then went back to class and changed back into our uniforms.

I don't believe that a female teacher would be supervising naked boys in a secondary school.

At Primary School (up to age 11) our (female)teacher used to supervise the whole class (girls and boys)changing together in our classroom. It was only down to underwear though as there were no showers at Primary.

Sometimes if our usual teacher wasn't available a male teacher would supervise.

John, I would certainly have found it embarrassing being supervised by a female teacher in the showers at that age.
Although it could have been normal in some places for female teachers to supervise boys showering up to maybe age 11 or 12 at the most, I think that this would have been rare for boys up to 16 as in your case.
What kind of school was it, if I may ask?

Dave, an excellent example there. We had an ex Army PTI and did exactly what was shown there, without girls in the group though. By the time we had reached Pull ups most of us had started to sweat. A perfect reason for boys being barechests!

Kenny and Mark, it was considered quite normal to be supervised by female teachers, we were 11 to 16 years old and it was quite embarrassing. We were whacked by the teacher on our bottoms and there was no way we could complain or object. Our teacher was also formidable and we learnt to do as we were told.

In some russian schools boys are still shirtess for physical exercises. You can watch for example a co-ed morning run here Boys have to be barechested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9SKh5NDUTE

John, how old were you and the other boys at the time? Did you find it embarrassing or just normal?
I don't think this was very unusual for boys up to a certain age for female teachers to supervise in changing rooms and showers.
Not long ago I saw an article stating a school's rules about supervision during swimming lessons. It said that teachers must be present to supervise during changing and showering. It stated clearly that both male and female teachers can supervise in the boys room, but only female teachers in the girls changing room.
Talk about double standards. It even stated that the pupils must take a shower before entering the pool under teachers supervision.

We had communal showers at school and they were supervised by our male PE teacher. He was also a housemaster and sometimes was called away if there was an emergency. The girls PE teacher would stand in for him. She was a well built fearsome lady. If she caught us running straight through the shower, she did as our usual teacher did, and gave us a whack on the bottom with s green flash. This was in the 70s.

We often had boys only team events and had to use the girls' changing area and facilities which included a separate cubicle for the teacher. We had to use communal showers and changing area and was supervised by the lady teacher in charge.

Anyone had teachers of the opposite sex supervising showers or changing rooms?

No, it never bothered me because no one talked or looked at each other while in the showers as everyone was quite inhibited, so it wasn't that daunting,

Brendan, it is interesting to learn about the more up to date situations re school PE. Times have obviously changed because back in the mid 60's when I was a pupil in an all boys after the lesson the teacher would be present in the changing rooms and around the showers to make sure there was no fooling around. I know that these days that would not be allowed, but we never worried that a teacher was present.

Also it seems from comments from earlier contibutors, that
it is thought that lads are more inhibited about taking communal showers or even changing in one room. Did that ever bother you?

hi wren, there were only five showers available. Usually, after pe finished, we would go to the changing room, take off our kit and wait in line. However, showers were literally less than a minute long so we'd never have to wait more than a few minutes. Although the showers were compulsory, there was never a punishment for not having a shower as teachers are not allowed into the changing and shower rooms (for obvious reasons) so they could not see who showered and who didn't.

brendan what were your showers like? What was the punishment for not showering?

Dave: Our pe kit was shorts, tshirt, shoes and towel for showers. Feel free to ask any questions

Hi Brendan!

What was your PE kit at school indoors and outdoors?

Yep my school still does compulsory showers I only left it last year. There is a shower room where everyone showers. After you finish pe you go to the nearby shower room to have a quick (literally one minute) shower before changing back into schoo clothes. Boys school by th e way

Are there schools which still require group showers after PE?

Regarding n's comments about today's PE, I have looked at the Syllabus and am Inclined to agree although I also think that there is much too much Theory and not enough general Physical Education. I think the main thrust of PE should be actual Practicalities of Keeping Kids Fit and not Team games; These should be offered as Extra to Basic PE (which, by the way, believe should be once again Gender-Specific). I also think Staff should be much more active in promoting Individual Sports e.g. Triathlon or Swimming/Diving or even Climbing which can get Kids out of the "Football/Cricket/Rugby/Hockey and that's it" Mentality.
Very Interesting that just this last weekend Figures have been released showing a Massive increase in the Diagnosis in the population of T2 Diabeties, which is provenly-linked to an Inactive Lifestyle..

To: n
You asked about Today's PE.
Here is the Link to the NC PE Syllabus, in html form so you should be able to see it easily.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-physical-education-programmes-of-study/national-curriculum-in-england-physical-education-programmes-of-study

On the actual topic of PE. Does anyone know whether these days PE is similar to how we knew it. It seemed strnous exercise and it certainly kept you warm even in winter with no top. Admitteddly in doors.. I think I can rmemeber star jumps handsprins and of cousre what I loathed the vaulting horse upon I often barked my shins. Are htese sorts of things now anti health and safety. From what little I have gleaned it seems listening to High school children that most of PE seems glorified games sessions.

hi Spence

We had a lesson with the girls which was called Dance and movement, which was supposed to teach us how to move to music and later on some more formal dance moves. Never liked it much.
Not wearing a shirt was not really an issue for us, as it was considered part of PE and therefore it was obvious that we would wear PE kit.
Some boys might have not liked it very much, but no boy ever said anything. Anyway, he would just have been mocked, bullied told to man up or given punishment PE detention. The no-shirts rule was not an option but strictly enforced.

Back in July 1987 in year 9 lower year Pe ended in Secondary school. No more having to do gym in white shorts and white shirts or having to go topless if you had the wrong top.

No more having to shower in the dreaded walk through showers or having to turn your top inside out for rugby after the boys were divided into 2 teams.

Once you reached year 10 and 11 showers were optional which meant no-one took them. Not that the showers were any good as there was no soap or flannel and water on the floor made a muddy film that was absolutely disgusting.

After you reached the age of 15 and 16 you could choose between judo, squash, weighting training, water polo trampolining and a range of other humane sports activities. At last there was no more compulsory football, cross country and rugby.

No more humiliation by being beaten on the backside as in 1986 or forced up and down to do press ups like in 1987. I am glad the perverted PE Coaches of the past are consigned to history for good!

Hand stands....yes they could be embarrasing. I recall one poor lad who was good at hand stands having to demonstrate this activity in front of the whole class for several minutes. As he had forgotten his shorts he was doing PE in his underpants. Everything had fallen out and was on display. Several of us pointed this out to the teacher, as we stood around the red-faced boy, but he was told to carry on regardless.

James
What activities did the boys and girls do together? Were they inside or outside? How did the boys, especially the shy ones, feel about being bare chested in front of the girls?

I can remember those same exercises prompting our PE teacher to 'suggest' to a few of my classmates that it was time they asked their mums to buy them bras!

Tek, we had three PE lessons a week, two were boys only and the third lesson was with the girls during the first three of secondary school.

Your coments are true Bob. After the first couple of pe lessons in secondary school (all boys) no one worried or noticed what was showing. Especially having to support one another when we did hand stands. Then of course there were the communal showers afterwards. No one cared . Are lads relly that worried these dyas or do they have individual showers?