Reading time: 3 minutes
Forming the PE curriculum – one of the most interesting, but most challenging, roles that a Head of PE can have! With very little structure or guidance from the national curriculum, it is often left to the department manager to decide the direction and structure of the PE curriculum. In this article, we explore ways to make the curriculum relevant to the students.
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There is no denying the importance of Physical Education to the health and wellbeing of a child. The benefits to a child of being physically active are proven and profound. In this article, we summarise the significance of PE in whole-child development.
The obesity crisis in the UK is well documented, with a government action plan published in 2017 stating that almost a third of 2 to 15-year-olds are considered to be obese, and that these people are continuing to remain overweight into adulthood. This can lead to a myriad of health issues, both physical and mental. A Stay Active paper published by the Chief Medical Officers in 2011 highlights the strong evidence between younger children who are physically active having less prevalent health issues. The research suggests that pupils who are physically active at school from a young age are more likely to remain active as they get older, increasing the likelihood that they remain healthy.
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Nelson Mandela once said that “Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire. It has the power to unite people in a way that little else does. It speaks to youth in a language they understand. Sport can create hope where there was only despair”.
Although this inspirational quote may touch the heart of those who relish and engage in physical education, it may not resonate quite so much with pupils who have lower levels of engagement. In this blog, we explore methods that you may use to raise the aspirations of those who don’t like PE.
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The Government has announced £320 million in PE funding for the 2020-21 academic year.
Along with the announcement, the Department for Education also confirmed that any funding not spent during the 2019-20 academic year can be used next year – giving leaders the opportunity to add to their existing provision.
But who is the funding available to and how should it be spent? This blog post explains.
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Measuring the progress of pupils has been performed in a manner of different ways over the years.
As different governments have come into power and the Department of Education looks to develop new strategies, the approach to assessments have been modified.
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Reading time: 4 minutes
Obesity, technology, evolving curriculums, ever tighter school budgets – they’re all influencing and impacting the role of the PE teacher.
Make no mistake – the role of the PE teacher seems set to change beyond recognition. But what should be expected of this 22nd century PE teacher? Let’s explore a range of expert opinions…
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Reading time: 2 minutes
Integrating maths with PE is yet another way schools and academies can seek to develop interdisciplinary lessons for children, and it doesn’t have to be as difficult as it first sounds.
With a few simple tips you can have a rugby lesson that is not only teaching them about the game itself, but also gets them to participate in maths lessons without them even realising it.
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Is your school sports budget being reduced as part of wider school funding restrictions?
81% of schools have been hit hard by cuts, with 14% reporting the need for teacher redundancies; almost four years after the ring-fenced funding for the national School Sport Partnerships (SSPs) ended alongside the necessary two hours of PE in schools each week, we’re really beginning to witness the disastrous aftermath on PE departments up and down the country.
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Reading time: 4 minutes
PE Office has spoken of assessment without levels before, if we rewind to April 2014 we stated that ‘we all have to accept that level descriptors are no more and embrace the new challenge of assessment without levels…Embrace the new curriculum, because any short term pain from adapting to the new system will result in long term gain. I believe that change may prove to be a good thing for PE, provided we get it right.’
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It goes without saying that effective planning is of the utmost importance in PE.
There are certain factors that need to be considered during the planning process; if the teacher gets these wrong, the lesson will fail to be effective and will negatively influence the students’ learning
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Consciously or unconsciously, everyone who takes part in sport at whatever level will use both literacy and numeracy skills.
From PE lessons of all Key Stages, to grassroots clubs of different sports, all the way to elite level athletes and their coaches, literacy and numeracy skills are utilised to a greater or lesser degree.
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Reading time: 2 minutes
In order to perform effective assessment in PE, we have to overcome specific barriers that do not arise in other subject. Firstly, it is harder to spot if the knowledge being taught has been understood and implanted by the students in a PE lesson. This differs due to technicalities of each individual sport, from the tactics, to technique, to reading of the game.
Assessing the children practically is about personal perspective, as two individuals may have contrasting ideas on how best to assess one pupil in the lesson.
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Attainment: the action or fact of achieving a goal towards which one has worked. The Oxford English Dictionary.
Attainment is used in an educational process to show the students the levels they are working at and towards; a student getting a C at Christmas with their target grade being a B, for example. All forms of education, from year one to degree classification, have some form of attainment level system which allows people to strive to achieve their best.
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This softball lesson plan covers base running, developing pupils’ understanding of the laws governing running between bases, stealing and tagging.
The importance of communication with team mates should be emphasised throughout this lesson
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“I forgot my PE kit” must be one of the most frequently heard statements at the beginning of any PE lesson, from swimming to outdoor sports, and there is possibly nothing more frustrating. Depending on the school’s policy this may mean finding extra kit, organising other work for them to do, or a student entirely missing yet another lesson.
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Special Educational Needs (SEN) is a serious issue for schools, with almost 3% of all students having a statement of SEN and a further 16-17% having no statement, but still having SEN (DfE).
This means that one in every 5 students needs some form of extra help in the classroom.
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The BBC reported this week that primary schools need to offer more chances to take part in swimming sessions, as a report released by the Amateur Swimming Association indicated that around 1,300 primaries ‘do not offer swim lessons, even though it is a skill on the national curriculum’.
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With the changes to the PE National Curriculum and the call to end “the damaging prizes for all culture”, it has to be asked – is it a good thing to have winners and losers? And what are we actually teaching children either by giving them all prizes, or by separating them based on skills into winners and losers?
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There was a collective groan up and down the country when changes to the curriculum were announced, with teachers imagining the changes to lesson plans, learning new sections of the curriculum and in general another year explaining to students that they were the first year to be taking this new exam/course/curriculum, but we all hoped that changes would be made to improve the subject.
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At the beginning of this month, I was lucky enough to see the Tour de France go through my home town of Sheffield in Stage 2 of the Grand Départ. Taking my spot amongst the crowds, the atmosphere intensified as we waited to be a part of the magic by seeing the cyclists an arm’s breadth away.
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Last week, Ofsted released their report on competitive school sport: Going the extra mile: Excellence in competitive school sport. 45 schools were visited as part of the study: 10 independent schools identified for their good reputation in developing a good level of competitive sport, and 35 state schools.
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Develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
This competence is developed through continued practice and development of fundamental skills to accurately replicate movements and tackle different activities and competitive sport. Key areas for development include balance, co-ordination, agility, flexibility and strength.
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May is National Golf Month, an initiative encouraging people of all ages to get playing golf.
As the New PE National Curriculum encourages a diverse range of sports to be offered in schools, the benefits offered in golf are extensive, making it a great sport to include in your department.
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Reading time: 3 minutes
As a physical education teacher, it is paramount that the physical literacy quest has been at least introduced, if not ‘drummed into’ a child’s education from the start, as it is not a scheme of work or highlighted part of the curriculum.
The most effective way of achieving these goals is by actively emphasising the importance of physical literacy, rather than remaining an unseen objective.
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This month we found an interesting quote from Ken Green in his 2010 text Key Themes in Youth Sport. Green stated that “the contribution of extra-curricular PE (as with PE itself) to young people’s leisure sport is highly likely to be limited for the most part to those youngsters already committed to sport”.
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This lesson plan covers defensive strategies, ensuring your pupils’ knowledge and understanding of each formation’s advantages and disadvantages and using this understanding in a full-sided game.
Encourage students to reflect upon their performance, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and discuss the different defensive strategies in other team sports.
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This autumn, I attended a PE conference where I was both disappointed and saddened by the negativity of the comments from some PE Teachers about the new PE curriculum and the proposed new assessment of pupils without levels.
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