Active school day high on the agenda for physical education teachers

Physical education teachers’ range of responsibilities is expanding

In addition to teaching physical education lessons, physical education teachers are taking on other responsibilities for sports and physical activity provision in and around the school. This expansion of their range of responsibilities may be the result of the increasing focus on an ‘active school day’. Physical education teachers are increasingly being asked to play a role in designing and implementing such an active school day.

Barriers to implementing more physical activity

When implementing more physical activity in and around the school, the physical education teachers identify three major barriers:

• Hesitancy among classroom teachers.
• Lack of time for physical education teachers.
• Insufficient assertiveness among the physical education teachers themselves.

Interviews with eleven physical education teachers

To gain insight into the experiences of physical education teachers, interviews were conducted in the spring of 2021 with eleven physical education teachers who were working in primary education at the time.

Read the full findings in the report ‘The changing role of the physical education teacher’.