posted on 26 Nov 2024

A Physical Education: On Bullying, Discipline & Other Lessons by Jonathan Taylor

The first chapter made me angry. Angry because I remember Kes and the PE bully Brian Glover. Here Taylor's Mr Yorwin replicates that oaf. It is an image I can appreciate too,  as when I taught PE for over 20 years during the same time Taylor was at school I  came across the same type and despaired. The problem was that there never seemed anything I could do about it as they worked in different schools. 

At my schools, my attitude and that of our Department, was the complete reverse. I knew allowing children to pick their own teams excluded so many and destroyed self-esteem, so would not allow it. If we were outside I wore the same kit as they did, no tracksuit and certainly no coat for me. If it was too cold we stayed indoors unless we were going to have fun with snow ball fights! PE had to be inclusive and life enhancing. We did dance, aerobics, fitness as well as allowing girls to play soccer and rugby. 

Indeed, my girls team were the first to play at Leicester Tigers ground before they played Exeter one Saturday. We were innovative and supportive, but I recognise why so many people hated PE and their PE teachers and it horrifies me to this day. Taylor however delves much deeper into this and how it affected him and it is an insightful reading and one can appreciate where he is coming from, as so many others have suffered the same problem.

Jonathan Taylor investigates bullying through this introduction and he looks at all sides and shades. When looking at bullying I’m not sure about his premise that it’s the system at fault rather than the bully. The bully has the choice about how they should act, the system doesn’t make the bully although it may allow them to blossom.

Throughout this very readable book, there are insights into many aspects of life. Taylor investigates power in the schoolroom and in Education as a whole. But it is the bullying and neanderthal nature of some of his acquaintances that are so upsetting. The system does allow this behaviour, but why doesn’t the system do something about it.

It is heartrending to see the attitude of the dog-eat-dog sympathiser. We can see that even today in so many cases and also where there is too much victim blaming. I don’t see how this makes a man and I am sure that the female of the species would also wonder the same.

Jonathan Taylor tells his own story and it is at times difficult to read, but he has come through it. Many do not and anecdotes about workplace behaviour do not give us much joy. I enjoyed the way he mixes personal feelings and experiences with observations on the workplace or life in general. He wants us to get involved in the argument and by interweaving his stories with the world in general he allows us to do this and he doesn’t wallow in any sense of being a victim. He just says it as it is.

Jonathan Talor gives us many opportunities to say no to the type of behaviour he describes, but then we are the people who perhaps don’t need to take heed.

How do you affect the behaviour of the bully?

If it is the system, how do we change it?

Is discipline just another form of bullying.

All these and more are interrogated in a fascinating book, which is readable and accessible.

The book is published by Goldsmiths Press

 

Jon Wilkins

November 2024