secondary pe
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Key Contact

Helen Ostell
NASBTT Associate Consultant
Secondary Physical Education

Email: secondarype@nasbtt.org.uk
Twitter: @HelenOstell1

Latest News

New DfE PE guidance for schools

New PE guidance has been published by the DfE. New PE guidance for schools strengthens equal access to sport Read the guidance here.

Birmingham City University publishes Ramadan Guidance

Birmingham City University has now published its Ramadan Guidance which will help to improve inclusivity of physical education classes in schools. This is groundbreaking guidance developed by Dr Irfan Khawaja which will…

Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP) in Secondary Physical Education

By Helen Ostell (ITT Consultant) Working as a DfE Associate, supporting providers around stage two readiness, has made me think about which aspects of the curriculum I would deliver through…

Subject Resources

Welcome to the resources area for secondary Physical Education. 

In this area you will find information about the Subject Association, links to useful websites, a recommended reading resource, links to relevant video clips, event recordings and resources, Ofsted subject reports and any other relevant information.

The area will be regularly updated to provide the best possible support for those involved in training secondary Physical Education teachers so that all trainee teachers are equipped with the relevant subject specific knowledge and pedagogy to successfully teach core and examination Physical Education and understand the wider role of Physical Education in supporting whole school outcomes. 

The area is far from exhaustive and if you cannot find what you are looking for in the information provided then please get in touch with me via the email address above and I will do my best to point you in the right direction.  Likewise, if you find anything that you think is useful and that you would like to see added to the area, please let me know by emailing me. 

I look forward to working with you.

The Association for Physical Education (afPE) is the representative Subject Association for Physical Education in the United Kingdom.

Its purpose is to promote and maintain high standards and safe practice in all aspects and at all levels of Physical Education, school sport and physical activity, influencing developments at national and local levels that will impact on pupils’ physical health and emotional well-being.

It provides quality assured services and resources, and valuable professional support for its members and the Physical Education, school sport and physical activity sector.

There are a number of memberships plans available that can be viewed on the website, including those for schools, individuals, trainees and HEIs. There is also a dedicated ITTE Network area on the website which can be accessed by clicking on the Professional Leaning tab.

The Youth Sport Trust (YST) is the United Kingdom’s leading charity, improving every young person’s education and development through sport and play. There is a number of programmes, resources, and membership packages that can be viewed on the website.

The School Games inspires young people to be physically active for life through positive experiences of daily activity and competition. It is funded by Sport England, delivered by the Youth Sport Trust and involves funded School Games Organisers (SGOs) at a local level and School Games County Alliances at a county level working together to create an annual calendar of competition. Resources for selected sports are available on the School Games website.

National Governing Bodies of sport, also known as NGBs, govern and administer a sport on a national basis. Aside from overseeing rules, clubs, coaching and competitions, the NGB of each sport decides how to spend income generated by membership fees, TV rights, Lottery Grants, and investment from Government and the four UK Sports Councils. Most NGBs offer CPD for coaches and teachers and a range of resources for those involved in coaching and teaching. Below is a list of selected NGBs:

Examination Boards provide CPD for teachers and access to resources. The most common ones for Physical Education are listed below:

As a starting point see the North East Partnership SCITT’s ‘Recommended Reading Resource for Physical Education’ The North East Partnership SCITT is a specialist Physical Education provider.

This resource comprises:

It is constructed around the ITT Core Content Framework and enables users to filter the spreadsheet entries by core content headings and phase of education.

Warm-Up Activities and Drills

Please click on this link to access a bank of 40 warm-up activities and drills plus an explanation sheet to support trainees with their planning for core PE lessons.  Thank you to Ben Holden from @WannaTeachPE and High Tunstall College of Science for his support in collating this resource. 

Modelling and Feedback in Secondary Physical Education – NASBTT Video Resource Bank 

Curriculum Design in PE

There are a number of video clips on the AfPE website in the ITTE Network area which can be accessed via the Professional Learning tab.

Intensive Training and Practice (ITAP) in Secondary Physical Education

Introduction

Working as a DfE Associate, supporting providers around stage two readiness, has made me think about which aspects of the curriculum I would deliver through ITAP if I were still the Director of a specialist Physical Education (PE) SCITT.

What follows is an overview of the focus areas I would select, the rationale for these choices, where each would fit in the wider curriculum, how the ITAP blocks would be structured and the use of experts.

Focus Areas

Five key areas immediately spring to mind, which I would potentially reduce to four: 

  • Routines and Transitions
  • Effectively Linking Learning Objectives, Activities, and Plenaries
  • Explanations and Demonstrations (Modelling)
  • Questioning or Feedback
  • Adapting ‘in the moment’ Teaching

Subject to being well planned and delivered I feel that these would meet the requirements of the 2024/25 ITT Criteria.  Each is sufficiently granular and selected from a broader curriculum strand.  For example, the ITAP on routines and transitions is selected from the behaviour management strand and the one on questioning from the assessment strand etc.  All can be put into practice immediately and all have the potential to impact on trainees’ classroom practice irrespective of context.

Rationale for Choices

These choices are based on things that are quite specific to PE, things that the trainees I worked with traditionally found difficult, or things that I believe are important for trainees to master before being able to move on to the next stage of their development. 

Establishing clear routines and smooth transitions is important in practical PE lessons if trainees are to maximise learning time and minimise low level disruption.    How many times have you observed a trainee sending a whole class of thirty students to collect a piece of equipment all at the same time from the same area, or students waiting between each phase of a games lesson while a trainee frantically runs around setting out cones or setting up pitches, or the equipment being left on the field at the end of the lesson?    Equally, it is important that PE trainees can give clear and concise explanations supported by high quality demonstrations.  This is particularly pertinent when teaching outside in the winter to minimise periods of inactivity and when teaching complex skills such as a lay-up shot in basketball or a somersault in trampolining.   How many trainees have you observed giving a lengthy explanation with no demonstration to support it, leaving students with no visual image of what they should be practising? 

It is imperative that trainees understand the principles of planning and in particular the importance of the links between learning objectives, activities, and plenaries if students are to make progress.  Too often this was set as a target during first placement either because trainees had selected their activities first then made their learning objectives match or because mini plenaries were forgotten about and/or plenaries rushed.  Likewise, later in the year a common target was one linked to adaptive teaching and to using the knowledge they were gathering from on-going formative assessment to adapt ‘in the moment’ teaching, rather than waiting until the next lesson to make adaptations.

Finally, effective questioning is key if trainees are to have a clear picture of what students know and understand.  This is important to get right if they are to then adapt their teaching accordingly.   

Whilst these choices are quite specific to the context of my former provision, they will also be relevant to other subjects and phases if contextualised appropriately. 

Timing

The timing of each ITAP is crucial and would be linked to the wider curriculum sequence and to trainees’ stages of development to achieve maximum impact.  

Early ITAP blocks, such as routines and transitions and effectively linking learning objectives, activities, and plenaries, would become part of training on behaviour management and how pupils learn respectively and would take place prior to first placement to provide solid foundations on which to build during the rest of the year.    Others, such as questioning and adapting ‘in the moment’ teaching would become part of training on assessment and adaptive teaching and would be introduced at pivotal points in trainees’ development to build on prior learning.   All would act as springboards to future practice.     

Structure

Each ITAP would last for either four or five days, depending on if I decided to deliver four or five.  The curriculum structure that I had would lend itself to each being blocked into either one full week or the end of one week and the beginning of the next to maintain intensity. 

The structure of each would initially be informed by Pam Grossman’s five-element framework:

  • Introduce
  • Analyse
  • Prepare
  • Enact
  • Assess

In essence, during each ITAP trainees would:

  • Have some taught content, engage with research, and make links to the relevant CCF statements.
  • Observe and deconstruct practice in a variety of general and PE specific contexts.
  • Have time to plan for a range of practice scenarios.
  • Practice, get feedback, refine plans and re-practice specific skills in both low and higher stakes environments.
  • Reflect on what they had learnt. It is important that those planning ITAP blocks are clear about what they want trainees to know, understand and be able to do by the end of each block.  This will ensure that each ITAP develops trainees’ knowledge, understanding and skills and that trainees are then able to reflect against these three things, set clear targets for future practice and understand the links between theory and practice. 

Use of Experts

Experts would play a key role in all aspects of each ITAP and selecting the right experts would be crucial to the success of each and would determine where each would take place.   Experts could include Course Leaders, School Senior Leaders, Lead Mentors, Subject Specialists or General Mentors and may differ for each ITAP.   All would need to receive training and if General Mentors were used, strong quality assurance processes would need to be in place.  ITAP settings could include Lead Schools, Specialist Schools, or Placement Schools.  Where Placement Schools are used it must be made clear to Mentors that ITAP is additional to and different from normal placements. 

Conclusion

If anyone would like to discuss the information above in more detail or talk through your own choices and thoughts, please do not hesitate to get in touch on pe@nasbtt.org.uk.   

See also:

TEMZ Event - Curriculum Design in Secondary Physical Education

Session Outline:

An opportunity to discuss curriculum design with colleagues and to hear from the former SCITT Director of a specialist PE SCITT about a curriculum that was judged to be outstanding by Ofsted.

Expected Learning Outcomes:

Delegates should leave the session with some ideas and thoughts about how they might further develop their secondary PE curriculum.

Facilitator Information:

Helen Ostell, Secondary Physical Education Consultant, NASBTT. Helen was the SCITT Director of a specialist PE SCITT for nine years and was involved in two outstanding Ofsted inspections, including one under the most recent framework.   She now works as an ITT Consultant.

Recordings and Resources:

Watch the recording here.

View the resources here.

Developing High Quality Secondary and Primary Physical Education Provision

Watch the recording here.

Introduction

Secondary Physical Education

Primary Physical Education

Youth Sport Trust

Secondary PE Curriculum Design 

Click here to view the resources

Secondary PE: Themed Presentations

This bank of five narrated power point presentations has been designed for providers to use with their trainees to develop subject specific pedagogy around selected key themes.  

It is suggested that the presentations are used in number order.  Although trainees will be able to engage with each presentation virtually and as individuals, to get the best out of the presentations it is suggested that they are delivered as face-to-face workshops with time built in for discussions, reflections, and opportunities to observe expert colleagues.

Thank you to Sally Bryson for producing these presentations.  Sally is the Deputy SCITT Director of a PE specific SCITT as well as being Head of Girls’ PE and a Senior Leader in school.  She has been involved in two outstanding SCITT Ofsted inspections, including one under the current framework. 

PE guidance published by the DfE March 2024.

New PE guidance for schools strengthens equal access to sport

Read the guidance here.

Curriculum Research Review (March 2022)

Physical Education: Subject Curriculum Insights for Primary and Secondary Teachers and Leaders

  • Ofsted has published a free video specific to Physical Education which provides subject curriculum insights for primary / secondary teachers and leaders, delivered by Hanna Miller, HMI and PE Subject Lead.

Access this video here 

Levelling the playing field: the physical education subject report (September 2023)

This report evaluates the common features in PE in 25 primary schools and 25 secondary schools.  It identifies the strengths and areas for development in how pupils are taught the subject.  It builds on the PE research review of March 2022.   Levelling the playing field: the physical education subject report - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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