Sport England urges schools to invest in PE training for teachers
Sport England has called for primary schoolteachers to receive additional training in physical education and a new national “quality assurance” to be introduced, to ensure that those companies coming into schools are delivering high standards.
An additional £320 million annually has been made available for schools to invest in PE, but there are concerns that a largely unaccountable postcode lottery of provision has emerged amid the significant outsourcing of the subject to sports coaches who may have minimal training.
Sport England is instead urging schools to use more of the money to build the skills of their workforce in PE so that there is a lasting legacy among staff that can change the culture of the school.
“The beauty of upskilling teachers is that the learnings are embedded within the school,” said Mike Diaper, Sport England’s executive director of children and young people. “We would like to encourage schools to spend more of their share of the PE and Sport Premium on teacher training. Sport England is also calling for a new quality assurance for external providers, and for more collaboration from providers and governing bodies of sport to enable them to promote more attractive after-school activities.”
The Government is poised to unveil its School Sport Action Plan and Mims Davies, the sports minis
‘Physical literacy should be given the same priority as other subjects like English and maths’
ter, has promised that it will contain “bold” initiatives which will “ensure every schoolchild has access to quality PE sessions and sport clubs inside/outside school”.
The Daily Telegraph launched the “Girls, Inspired” campaign earlier this year to close the gender gap in school sports amid alarming research which shows that girls are disproportionately affected by a national crisis of inactivity.
The campaign, which has the backing of numerous influential sports bodies, including Fifa, Sport England and UK Sport, specifically calls on the Government to enshrine equality of opportunity to sport in its new School Sport Action Plan; to issue new guidelines that put the benefits of physical education on a par with core subjects and for schools to empower girls by offering wider choice via “Girls Active” and “This Girl Can” schemes.
Diaper says that the School Sport Action Plan represents a huge opportunity and stressed that confirmation of the £320 million PE and Sport Premium investment was hugely welcomed.
“Physical literacy should absolutely be given the same priority as other subjects like English and maths,” he said. “Many schools are using their share of the Premium well to help students get active and it’s right that schools continue to choose how the money is spent.
“What’s really important is that they are equipped with all the support they need to maximise the premium’s impact on their students’ learning and wellbeing.”