Against a background of perceived threats to physical education, an investigative world-widesurvey of the state and status of physical education in schools funded by the International Olympic Committee was carried out in 1998–9. The survey findings, based on data collated from a globally administered semi-structured questionnaire and an extensive literature survey, reveal that school physical education is in a perilous position in all continental regions of the world. Specifically, the article addresses issues of legal status and actual implementation, restricted or decreasing curriculum time allocation, subject status and attitudes of headteachers, other teachers and parents, inadequacies in financial, material and human resources and teacher preparation, curriculum trends, as well as scepticism about the subject’s future. Concluding comments allude to the main sources of concern and international efforts to sustain physical education in schools in the next millennium.
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