One in three primary school teachers are influenced by their own negative experiences of PE when they were children, impacting how they deliver the subject to their pupils, the findings of a new study have found.
Research conducted for Bupa and the Youth Sport Trust also found that lack of confidence is one of the major barriers to primary school teachers delivering high quality PE classes.
Start to Move: developing physical literacy: a revolutionary approach to teaching PE to four to seven year olds, supported by Bupa and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, tackles these issues to allow teachers to gain a greater understanding and confidence in key elements of teaching PE at primary level.
It aims to equip teachers with the knowledge and confidence to teach the fundamental skills of movement, locomotion, stability and object control, rather than focusing on particular sports. Teachers receive free training, support and peer mentoring, ensuring that children learn the essentials at a crucial stage, paving the way for a lifetime's participation in physical activity.
The research, conducted by Dr Jeanne Keay, dean of education at Roehampton University, included a mixture of interviews and questionnaires with more than a hundred teachers across the UK from a range of backgrounds. Less than half (45%) felt confident in their knowledge of PE; only 35% were positive about their own primary school PE experience; and a third were negative about their experiences at secondary school. Furthermore, over half (53%) of teachers said they did no or very little exercise themselves. The research also examined how PE is taught across the world and the best practices have been incorporated into Start to Move.
Baroness Sue Campbell, chief executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said:It is not entirely surprising to see that some primary school teachers don't look back fondly on their own PE experiences at school. It has only really been in recent years that we have seen such a transformation in the quality and quantity of PE and school sport which young people can now enjoy. By teaming up with Bupa we aim to equip primary teachers with a far greater knowledge and confidence in how best to deliver PE to four to seven year olds in a fun, energetic way. This in turn will excite and inspire their pupils who will see PE as an enjoyable experience and hopefully be a platform for them to go on to lead healthy and active lives.
Martin George, group development director at Bupa commented:We're very pleased to be supporting this revolutionary approach to teaching PE. This is not just another 'initiative' - we believe that this is the way PE will be taught by all schools in the future. By focusing on the essential skills, such as tracking and catching a ball, instead of teaching a child how to play netball for example, the child's confidence and ability will gradually build. By engaging children while they are still learning about what it means to be healthy, we hope to inspire them to be the next generation of fit, healthy adults.
Start to Move provides free professional development, starting with a day of training delivered by experienced national trainers. Teachers are then supported on an ongoing basis to self review their practice and development needs with the support of local educational specialists.The Start to Movewebsite, which will be live from February, completes the package of support with video clips of children demonstrating their progression in activities; how they have adopted the basic movement skills and developed these into more complex activities.
The programme is being piloted in schools in 2011/12 with teachers from 3,000 schools trained by the end of the academic year. The ambition is forStart to Moveto be available to all primary schools over the next three years, reaching 17,000 schools, 34,000 teachers and 1.2 million children.
For more information visit http://www.youthsporttrust.org/page/bupa
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The Youth Sport Trust: Sport Changes Lives
Our charity is passionate about helping all young people to achieve their full potential in life and in sport through the delivery of high quality PE and sport. We work to:
• give every child asporting startin life through high quality PE and sport in primary schools.
• ensure all young people have asporting chanceby developing opportunities for those with special educational needs and disabilities.
• support all young people to achieve theirsporting bestin school and their personal best in life.
Find out more by visiting www.youthsporttrust.org
Contact Us
For media enquiries
Youth Sport Trust: Emma Gazzelloni: T: 0207 211 5232 M: 07825 065 195 emma.gazzelloni@youthsporttrust.org
Bupa: Joanne Hudson: T: 020 7656 2273 M: 07764 959372 joanne.hudson@bupa.com
Bupa's purpose is to help people lead longer, healthier, happier lives. A leading international healthcare group, we offer personal and company health insurance, run care homes for older people and hospitals, and provide workplace health services, health assessments and chronic disease management services, including health coaching, and home healthcare.
With no shareholders, we invest our profits to provide more and better healthcare, and fulfill our purpose. We are committed to making quality, patient-centred, affordable healthcare more accessible in the areas of wellness, chronic disease management and ageing.
Employing more than 52,000 people, Bupa has operations around the world, principally in the UK, Australia, Spain, New Zealand and the USA, as well as Hong Kong, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, India, China and across Latin America.
For more information, visit www.bupa.com.
