Traditions, not Traditional

Traditional PE. "Traditional". A description of the way we have always done PE against more contemporary approaches. A qualifier that is used as a pejorative. Employed indiscriminately - within the academic literature, on social media and in discourse around PE - as a substitute for practice we don't like. I have used it often, in …

Meaningful PE – just good teaching?

Meaningful PE (MPE) is a framework which recommends drawing upon and applying a set of practices within PE teaching. The essential ones (in my opinion) being; vision, shared language, reflective practices and democratic practices. Vision (Ní Chróinín et al, 2019) consists of a set of vivid and concrete hopes, practices and purposes. Having one is …

4Ms of transformative PE curricula

“Emphasizing the effectiveness alone may help PE teachers and students get through the school day but may not enhance students’ interest and willingness to engage in physical activity outside of school and throughout their lives.” - Ennis (2017). For Catherine Ennis, if PE is to educate students for a lifetime of physical activity, then it …

PE is an empty vessel

A week does not go by without some big claim being made about the positive developmental benefits of PE. PE will sort out children's behaviour, better prepare children for the work place and create a fit and healthy nation. This week's big claim is that PE will improve children's academic achievement. These claims are misleading …

Advocating for Meaningful Experiences in PE

The mystery Every day PE Teachers are trying to help children to move, with the aim of them becoming adults that move, but there is a mystery for us to solve. Habitual daily movement clearly has a positive correlation with a large number of beneficial outcomes that we would all want to have in our …

Going through the Gears

'Going through the Gears' is a shared mental model that can help pupils to make decisions, communicate those decisions with each other, then reflect on the effectiveness of those decisions. The idea is that team (and individuals) performance improves if team members have a shared understanding of the task that is to be performed and of …

Towards the Deep End

Do we teach for joy and delight? These words from Scott Kretchmar have been ringing in my head since I first heard them on Andy Vasily's podcast with him a few weeks ago.  Fun and Delight are two human experiences which can be realised through movement. To Kretchmar fun is a shallow and fleeting distraction, …

The PE Playbook – October 2015 Edition

Welcome to the October 2015 Edition of the PE Playbook. The PE Playbook is a review of blog posts over the past month that are specific to Physical Education or Youth Sport. Its about bringing these blog posts into a format that is easy to find, use and share. Hopefully this will result in more PE …

The PE Playbook – September 2015 Edition

Welcome to the September 2015 Edition of the PE Playbook. The PE Playbook is a review of blog posts over the past month that are specific to Physical Education or Youth Sport. Its about bringing these blog posts into a format that is easy to find, use and share. Hopefully this will result in more …

The PE Playbook – August 2015 Edition

Welcome to the August 2015 Edition of the PE Playbook. The PE Playbook is a review of blog posts over the past month that are specific to Physical Education or Youth Sport. Its about bringing these blog posts into a format that is easy to find, use and share. Hopefully this will result in more …