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School sport: How should Sport England-funded secondary school teachers be trained?

In its new strategy Sport England said it will invest in training two teachers at every secondary school to “help them better meet the needs of all children, irrespective of their level of sporting ability”. However, there was little detail on how they’ll be trained. Will the focus be on traditional sport, fun-based activity or a holistic approach to wellness, including diet and behaviour change. We asked our experts for their views

Published in Sports Management 13 Jun 2016 issue 122
The teacher training is part of Sport England’s new £250m funding package / rawpixel.com / shutterstock
The teacher training is part of Sport England’s new £250m funding package/ rawpixel.com / shutterstock

Dean Horridge,

Chief Executive,

Fit For Sport

Dean Horridge
Dean Horridge

Sport England’s proposal to invest in teacher training is a great opportunity to start engaging all children in activity - not just the ‘sporty’ children.

For years, sport has disengaged more children than it has engaged. Fun activity sessions create a positive experience of physical activity for children from a young age, yet through emphasis on technique and performance, children have become disengaged and inevitably less active and less likely to participate in sport.

The new strategy offers a great opportunity to provide teachers with the fundamentals to engage all children and achieve the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines of 60 minutes of activity a day. With support and training from children’s activity professionals, teachers can become confident to deliver inclusive activities and help children to embed healthy habits for life.

Active children also do better at school. Using key times throughout the school day to be active – including before and after school as well as lunch and break time – children’s concentration and behaviour levels improve. However, until there is an Ofsted requirement to measure children’s fitness levels, the academic and health benefits of creating an active school remain bottom of the agenda.  

To support Sport England’s vision we must work together to bridge the gap between schools and the community and make facilities available for children – and their families –to be active beyond the school gate. We must also provide teachers with healthy lifestyle advice to help develop healthy habits.

"We must work together to bridge the gap between schools and the community"

Ian Stephens,

Chair of the Culture, Tourism and Sport Board,

Local Government Association

Ian Stephens
Ian Stephens

In response to the Sport England strategy consultation, the LGA called for work with young people to be linked to the government’s child obesity strategy. We’re looking forward to closer cross government working between the Department for Culture Media and Sport, Sport England and the Department for Education to ensure that sport and physical activity provision in curriculum and extra curriculum time complement one another and do not duplicate or work in opposite directions.

For example, teachers that lead on sport and physical activity should have an awareness of what sport and physical activity opportunities exist in extra curriculum time and how best to support young people within their schools to access this provision or support.

Offering training to at least two teachers in every secondary school in England to help them better meet the needs of all children, irrespective of their level of sporting ability, is well-timed.

Councils will back a diverse approach which would cover a mixture of traditional sport, fun-based physical activity and a holistic approach to wellbeing. The amount of time spent on each would be determined by individual schools.

'Councils will back a diverse approach which would cover a mixture of traditional sport"

Julian Leybourne,

Chief Executive,

Icon Training

Julian Leybourne
Julian Leybourne

Sport England’s new strategy requires sustainable, holistic and integrated actions between all key stakeholders to make ‘active lives’ a core message and vision for everything they do.

The Sport England-funded school teachers must be able to understand this bigger picture, together with the rationale of why active lives are so important in underpinning the five key outcomes: physical wellbeing, mental wellbeing, individual development, social and community development and economic development.

It’s pointless for teachers and Ofsted to measure the range of physical activity outcomes, unless teachers understand the context of the importance of physical literacy and the consequences of failing to act as a nation to reduce physical inactivity.

Teachers will also need to understand the inequities of opportunity and to understand how to break down barriers and objections from groups which may feel threatened by the emergence of a national curriculum which includes minimum levels of physical activity for all school children.

A blended approach between formal team and individual sports, physical exercises, all fuelled by ‘fun’, against an understanding of behaviours and individual needs of children will be essential to avoid an institutionalised approach of compulsory sport which will simply not work and stifle natural enthusiasm for many.

Teachers will require a strong knowledge base of nutrition and balanced diets and the consequences of excess fats, sugars and the future dangers of alcohol and smoking.  

Finally the critical success factor for any teacher in addition to the above will be a passion for physical activity with high energy leadership.

"The Sport England-funded teachers must be able to understand the core message of active lives"

Ross Walker,

Managing Director,

Teachsport

Ross Walker
Ross Walker

As an external independent deliverer of sports education, we see high quality, professional and passionate teaching of sport on a daily basis at the secondary schools we work in.

From our experience an issue that is always mentioned is the lack of core skills in each new cohort of year sevens, forcing the teachers to start from scratch.

We should always champion the solid teaching of traditional sport, which encourages commitment and competitiveness – in turn inspiring a long-term love of sport, leading to young people living active, healthier lives. To support this, we have a massive network of clubs and organisations, outside school, which give opportunities for the continuation of sport and recreation with all its related benefits.

I would like to see teachers teach sport – with skill, commitment and infectious passion – and become role models for our children. Sport can be used to educate children about the importance of wellness, diet and behaviour while guiding them to good lifestyle choices.

There are also added benefits. Our traditional sports are still used as a platform for many of life’s activities. I’ve seen many a big business deal agreed by a handshake during tea at a Lord’s Test.

As a nation we have consistently punched above our weight in many sports, so I am delighted that the Sport England funding will in part support the training of our fantastic teachers.

"We have and always will champion the solid teaching of traditional sports"

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