By enshrining the requirement of at least two hours of physical education as a ‘quality requirement’ in the law, Rudmer Heerema (VVD) and Michiel van Nispen (SP) aim to establish ‘a stronger foundation for sufficient and high-quality physical education for all children’, as they write in the amendment.
The sponsors of the amendment acknowledge the efforts schools are already making to achieve two hours of physical education per week, but note that this has not yet been achieved everywhere. To give schools the opportunity to adapt to the new quality requirements, the amendment provides that the minimum standard of two hours of physical education will only become a statutory quality requirement three years after this law enters into force. This gives schools more time to meet the quality requirement and municipalities time to arrange the necessary facilities. To give schools additional flexibility, the sponsors wish to emphasise in this amendment that physical education should be taught in a gymnasium, unless another location is suitable for achieving the core objectives and/or building blocks of physical education and/or the movement and sport learning area.