Physical Activity
The Physical Education Review Group published a report in June 2004 which looked at how schools could be supported to improve the PE curriculum. It looked at improving and increasing participation in PE and performance in PE, sport and physical activity for life.
In a response to this report the Executive gave a number of commitments on PE aimed at:
- increasing the time allocated to PE in the curriculum
- improving the range of activities on offer in schools and providing extra PE teachers.
A programme of work has since been underway at a national level to improve PE in a number of ways:
- providing extra time for PE
Schools have been asked to work towards providing 2 hours quality PE for each pupil every week. The team working on A Curriculum for Excellence are aware that school curriculum is flexible enough to include this. Since August 2005, HMIe have been monitoring the move towards providing 2 hours PE per week as part of their school inspections.
The Executive has also funded a number of pilot projects to look at how the 2 hours PE per week can be delivered. A number of interesting approaches have came out from the education authorities involved. All the projects should be completed and evaluated by July 2006. When complete, the outcomes of this will be shared on the LTS website.
- improving the range of activities and quality of PE programmes
The Executive also wants schools to improve the range of activities they offer and the quality of their PE lessons in general. It is for schools to decide which activities they offer, but the Executive is trying to encourage improvement by gathering examples of good practice in PE. This will be showcased on the LTS website and at a national conference in Autumn 2006. LTS have recently seconded a PE Development Officer to work with schools, education authorities and HMIe on this.
- providing more PE teachers
More PE teachers are required to meet these goals. The Executive is commited to finding 400 additional PE teachers as part of the drive to increase teacher numbers to 53,000 by 2007. The target of 400 PE teachers will be met in 2 ways: through newly qualified PE teachers and through retrained primary teachers. To date there has been an overall increase in the recruitment of trainee Physical Education teachers from 9 in 2003-2004 to 80 in 2005-2006.