‘It’s like it doesn’t really matter’: Are teachers accountable and equipped for teaching primary physical education?

ABSTRACT

In light of the recent trend of outsourcing Physical Education teaching, the aim of this study was to examine primary teachers’ perspectives of primary Physical Education delivery. Fourteen in-service primary school teachers took part in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis led to the development of six themes. Findings were presented as a written playscript, representing dialogue between group primary school teachers, with reflections of four Physical Education subject leads included to supplement the dialogue. The findings suggest a greater emphasis on accountability, subject advocacy, teacher professional development and effective deployment of resources are needed to address the issues raised by the primary teachers.

KEYWORDS:

• Primary Physical Education
• perceptions
• accountability
• qualitative
• ethnodrama

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 SATs are standard attainment tests for primary school children who are in schools that are legally required to follow the National Curriculum in England. These tests take place when children are aged 6–7 years and 10–11 years old.

2 The National Curriculum for primary education (ages 4–11) outlines the programme of study and attainment targets for all children in all state maintained schools in England. It is divided into two categories of subject: Core subjects (Maths, English and Science) and Foundation subjects (Art and Design, Citizenship, Computing, Design and Technology, Geography, History, Languages, Music and PE. The current iteration of the National Curriculum was introduced in September 2014 but has been present in the English Education system since its introduction following the Education Reform Act (1988).