Physical Education
About
As with the other national curriculum subjects there are four strands to support high quality subject knowledge:
National curriculum importance statements
Authentic sources
Subject associations
Twitter communities
To help us get our bearings, it is worth quoting the purpose of PE from the national curriculum programme of study: ‘a high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect’.
The national curriculum for physical education aims to ensure that: ‘all pupils develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities; are physically active for sustained periods of time; engage in competitive sports and activities; lead healthy, active lives’.
Once the importance statements have been revisited, it is helpful for subject leaders and coordinators to discuss and agree with colleagues, the reason why their subject, in this case PE, is important for the pupils in their school. One way of doing this, is to draw on a quote, in this case from James MacAllister, ‘physically educated persons are those who have learned to arrange their lives in such a way that the habitual physical activities they freely engage in make a distinctive contribution to their wider flourishing’. Or it could be Juvenal’s ‘sana mens in corpore sano’1 (a healthy mind in a healthy body). This kind of prompt allows us to formulate our way of stating the importance of the subject. We might agree or disagree with such a statement and in doing so come to a form of words which expresses our view of the importance of this subject, in this school. This moves us away from the territory of ‘we teach this subject because of the SATS or GCSEs’. While the external tests and exams are important, they are not the totality of the subject.
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1 Juvenal
Professional Communities
Subject associations are important because at the heart of their work is curriculum thinking, development and resources. The subject association for PE is the Association for Physical Education and it should be the case that any member of staff with responsibility for a subject should be a member of the relevant subject association, and this should be paid for by the school.
Twitter subject communities are important for the development of subject knowledge, because it is here that there are lively debates about what to teach, how to teach and the kinds of resources that are helpful. For PE it is worth following the Association for PE on Twitter and the hashtags #primaryPE #physed #pe
Myatt & Co Films
Click on the button below to take you to films on Physical Education on the Myatt & Co website