Secondary Teacher Training Programme

Sport England PE teacher professional development programme findings

Sport England, in association with Sheffield Hallam University, Youth Sport Trust, Activity Alliance and Association for Physical Education, has shared key insights taken from its Secondary Teacher Training (STT) initiative.

The research explores how secondary schools can adopt inclusive practices and incorporate student voice to provide a better Physical Education, school sport and physical activity (PESSPA) environment for all children and young people.

Inclusive physical education

Inclusivity, increased participation and student voice were the dominating topics brought to life through pupil-focused research.

It found that giving young people, especially those who are less active, the chance to shape their PE lessons created a happier environment.

How getting to know and understand students’ motivations and barriers can help encourage enjoyment and engagement, and that the least active students don’t recognise opportunities to be active at secondary school, as easily as their active peers.

5 infographics outlining the key secondary teacher training findings

To showcase the findings, Sport England has created five infographics detailing key outputs from the STT programme to be shared far and wide across the secondary school teaching community.

Secondary Teacher Training - Why Pe Matters

The five infographics include top tips and insights covering:

10 case studies films that highlight key insights from secondary teacher training schools

In addition, Sport England has also developed 10 short films which feature case studies of teachers and students positively impacted by the programme.

The films highlight the easy-to-adopt examples of how secondary school teachers have implemented and developed new approaches having completed and engaged with the secondary school teacher training programme.

In the films teachers and pupils focus on key themes such as:

  • why an inclusive approach is key to increasing participation
  • why a changing the approach to PE makes students think differently
  • and easy ways to incorporate student voice.

Raising the importance of activity in secondary schools

The research also talks about the importance of activity in schools, with a view to the benefits it has on the mental health and wellbeing of young people.

Key Findings

According to the secondary school research findings:

  • More active students report an average happiness score of seven out of 10 (compared to just five out of 10 for less active students).
  • Almost three-quarters of students (69 per cent) agreed that being active helps them build resilience.
  • More than half (62 per cent) agreed that it helps them make healthier life choices.
  • More than half (59 per cent) said it improves their mental wellbeing.
  • Nearly three-quarters (71 per cent) said it improves their mood.

Over 2,500 schools reached across England

The STT programme was created in 2018, to support secondary schools with access to professional development opportunities that support teachers in placing pupils’ enjoyment at the heart of PESSPA participation.

The research was conducted throughout the £13.5 million Lottery Funded programme that impacted more than 2,500 secondary schools across England.

PE Scholar and the secondary teacher training programme

STT funding enabled a number of secondary PE teachers, department’s, schools, clusters and multi-academy trusts to reach out to a range of organisations with the aim of enhancing their PESSPA offer.

We have had the pleasure of supporting and working with hundreds of teachers as a result of this programme.

Awesome PE in 5 wAys - Short Course
Awesome PE in 5 Ways

Our curriculum design, awesome PE and physical literacy PE courses have been popular choices, and we have now had more than 500 teachers enrol on one or more of our courses.

Meeting the needs of all children in PE

Our very own Lee Sullivan (Head of PE at Upton Court Grammar School and Education Consultant at PE Scholar) also featured as one of the 10 PE case studies discussing inclusion.

He eloquently describes how:

Inclusion is about meeting the needs of all children, and is about understanding that all children have different reasons to engage.

Lee Sullivan – Upton Court Grammar School

Watch Lee and his pupils in action in the video below:

Lee Sullivan – Inclusion is…. “meeting the needs of all pupils”

What and where next…

The Sport England Secondary Teacher Training professional development has certainly returned some fantastic insights and has reached a great number of secondary schools and physical educators.

It has enabled many settings to rethink their pe, school clubs and physical activity offer. Physical educators up and down the country have incorporated more inclusive teaching strategies, reconsidered their curriculum offer, all with the support and insight from their pupils through student voice.

We hope that more support and more initiatives such as this are in the pipeline to continue to enrich secondary school pe provision.

For more information

To view the full report, suite of infographics and videos that can help secondary teachers to make PESSPA a more inclusive and enjoyable experience with top tips for their students click here.

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