The multistage fitness test is about to begin...

On twitter recently, I’ve seen a few instances of The Beep test debate resurfacing. I’ve seen videos which show it being used at a junior football training session and I think it was the first session back after the COVID break (not a great example of a game sense coaching approach there). I’ve also seen videos from primary PE teachers who are using ‘modified’ Beep tests with KS1 students to gain points for house competitions, and another instance of a teacher asking whether it’s ok to use it to track and monitor pupils progress from KS1-KS3

(no it’s not, would be my answer). It’s definitely one that divides opinion amongst the PE community and I want to try and consider whether it can and should still be used in any way at all.

As someone in their 30s who went to a British school, I did The Beep test during PE. It never stuck in my mind as something I loved or hated, it was just a thing. But I know that’s not everybody’s experience- we know now that many people were harmed by their experiences in PE to the point where it took them years as adults to want to be physically active again. In a recent webinar I watched about Equity & Justice in PE, the wonderful Sherri Spelic (@edifiedlistener) & Justin Schleider (@schleiderjustin) spoke of the idea of “do no harm” being a central tenant in PE, and it’s been on my mind since.

Now, unlike many people, where their experience of The Beep test (or multistage fitness test, MSFT for short, as it’s ‘affectionately’ known by some organisations) ended at school, mine did not. I did it when I joined the British Army at 17 (a short lived venture due to a knee injury and me being an impulsive teenager), I did it to pass the assessment for the MOD Police when I was 19, I did it multiple times as an Army Reservist in my 20s during PT, and I did it as a rugby player nearly every preseason. So I’ve probably done it more than many people and still I don’t hate it. I mean it’s dull and repetitive and I wouldn’t ever choose to do it but I always just considered it a ‘done’ thing to test your fitness. I wasn‘t even really aware what components of fitness I was testing.

I suppose that’s why when I saw it used during my NQT year in a Year 7 PE class as a basis for setting the students, I didn’t really bat an eyelid. Makes sense right, surely good runners with better aerobic power should be ‘top set’ (and setting is another blog for another time) in PE...It was only when I started to become more interested in widening my knowledge of one of the subjects I teach and developing professionally as a PE teacher that I began to consider the issues involved with the test. Especially as I’m someone who values inclusive lessons where students enjoy themselves, learn and come away with a want to be physically active for life.

Firstly, The Beep test, created in the 1980s, had previously been plugged as a reliable predictor of V02 max, but now we’re starting to get research which says that’s not the case (Walker 2016). In addition, considerations such as sub-maximal efforts, familiarity with the test and test regulation can all impact a performer’s score, therefore invalidating the results. So if we use the test to ‘set’ students or measure their performance, how can we be sure our results are valid? And if we’re using it to teach about energy systems, fitness components and as a measure for the effectiveness of our cardio respiratory system, we’ll have to look elsewhere, or use other tests in addition, so why use this particular test in the first place.

Secondly, the Beep test has been frequently lauded by coaches in sports such as football (soccer), rugby and AFL as a key indicator of aerobic performance. So what relevance does it have to our PE classes? Newer tests such as the Yo-Yo test, developed by physiologist Jens Bangsbo, which incorporates recovery time and replicate game situations in sports such as soccer and hockey more closely are taking over in some clubs who regularly test their athletes (Wood 2008). But we’re not testing athletes in our PE classes. If we’re trying to encourage young people to love being active and to understand their bodies and to understand movement and to find things they can enjoy to pursue outside of school and as they grow up, is The Beep test really going to help with any of that?

Thirdly, and the most important point for me, is the consideration of how much damage are we doing by asking students to do The Beep test as a test? I know I’ve spoken to friends of a similar age who said they were embarrassed, they didn’t want to come last, they didn’t want to feel hot and sweaty for the rest of the day at school and often they hated the way their body felt and looked enough as it was and didn’t want to enhance that feeling by running in front of the rest of their class. Is this really an example of “do no harm?”

There’s a but

Now I’ve said all that I’m going to caveat it and say I’ve used The Beep test recently, not to judge students fitness or track their progress, but as part of a wider unit around HRF. With Grade 10 (Y11) this year, we taught a unit called Fit4Life which is about giving the students the necessary tools to be able to plan and pursue their own activities in order to stay healthy and active in the future, as we acknowledge this is their last year of formal PE lessons. Students used The Beep test, along with of other fitness tests to look at how they may choose to measure progress (and consider whether these tests were a valid way to do so) and identify how they might find components of fitness they wish to improve and set some SMART goals around. Not all students did this test, the ones that did chose to work in self-identified groups with others of a similar experience level to them so they had a partner to encourage and motivate them throughout. The only people recording the results were the students themselves. In this instance, I don’t mind using The Beep test as one of many fitness tests as long as students are aware of its drawbacks from the beginning, and as long as there’s an element of choice on their part.

Another instance where I’ve used The Beep test this year, or should I say used the audio from the test, is during a Grade 7 HRF unit. This is a very basic unit that looks to introduce students to the FITT principles and different types of training that you could do and what happens to your body systems if you do train. It runs alongside a Science unit focusing on body systems and we look to make regular connections and links across the two units. To explore the idea of interval training, and taking rests in between working and how/why this might be a useful thing, I did a ‘Beep test relay’. The class were split into equal teams of 5. They listened to The Beep test track and watched a video of it being completed. I then asked them to firstly set their own team goal of which level they thought they could achieve together, then I asked them to create a plan of how they were going to do it. It was interesting to see the results, some teams chose to alternate and run 1 shuttle each then rest for 4. Other teams picked people to run the first couple of slower levels and then switched to others who had seen the test before to run as the pace picked up. One team chose for each person to run a full level to give their teammates a longer rest (but quickly realized that as the pace and number of shuttles increased, this was a very challenging approach). Regardless of their approach, each team beat their initial target they‘d set at the beginning, even if only by a couple of shuttles. The students all worked hard and it was really nice to see and hear the support and encouragement that students gave to their teammates as the difficulty of the test increased. At the end, the teams sat down and talked about their strategies and planning. As a class, we discussed the best and worst strategies and what was happening to our bodies as we all got got different amount of rest during the task. Using The Beep test here as a tool where the main focus was on collaboration, planning and goal setting did work, in this context, for this class.

Final thoughts

There is no doubt in my mind that being forced to run The Beep test as a child has probably been a contributing factor to some people’s hatred of PE and physical activity, and I don’t blame them at all. Only now as a profession are some physical educators starting (myself included) to consider that our subject has a long way to go before we can all say that the concept of ‘do no harm’ is fully embedded in what we deliver.

I do not agree that The Beep test should be used by schools, junior sports teams or clubs to assess the fitness of individuals or to set/band them and assess their progress in any way, shape or form. Moving up to senior sports and high school, I do think The Beep test can be used as an example of fitness testing, especially when we are asking students to consider the validity of testing and the implications with using the results from isolated tests such as this one.

I do think that The Beep test can be used in other, more creative ways, in an appropriate situation. I think asking students to work as teams to complete the test as long as the focus is not on the ‘test’ itself works, as per my earlier example. I would also like to set students a task to adapt or modify the test to make it more inclusive (and also more interesting). Again, planning in small groups and students trialing each others’ modified versions then giving feedback to each other about which modifications they preferred and why.

Yes, The Beep test can still have a place, as long as it works in the context and situation so that students have a buy-in, a choice and something they can learn from doing it. And as long as we keep the ‘do no harm’ message at the forefront of our minds and our intention is not to assess our students’ abilities or performance.

References

Schleider, J and Spelic, S (2021) Equity and Justice in Health and PE [Webinar], viewed 15 May 2021, Available at: https://conference.chargedupeducation.com/talks/equity-and-justice-in-health-and-pe

Walker, O (2016), The Multistage Fitness (Beep) Test, Science for Sport, viewed 4 May 2021, https://www.scienceforsport.com/multistage-fitness-beep-test

Wood, R (2008), Yo-Yo Intermittent Test, Topend Sport, viewed 6 May 2021, https://www.topendsports.com/testing/tests/yo-yo-intermittent.htm