Blog: 'Every school should undertake this training'

New to the English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) website in 2015, we'll feature a blog post every Friday through the year.

This month's theme is training, and for the last post of January EFDS have invited Karen Erikson, Director of PE, Sport and Community at Arbour Vale School in Slough, to blog about Sainsbury's Active Kids for All Inclusive PE.

The programme makes free training and resources available for teachers and school staff in providing high quality PE provision for all young people.

Karen Erikson blog:

My background is as a PE teacher in a mainstream school, and from experience I know what teachers are faced with; they’ll have a mixed ability group of up to 30 pupils. And if you’re at a school in a selective area it’s amazing the type of young people that you will have to deliver any kind of lesson too, never mind Physical Education.

But a teacher’s responsibility is to work to engage all young people, many of whom are disengaged from physical activity.

I’m part of a small group of people who have really lead on the development of the Sainsbury's Inclusive PE (IPE) training, initially for secondary teachers. But then it became apparent that there was an obvious need to broaden IPE to include primary school teachers, because they don’t get any particular training for PE, which they have to deliver on a weekly basis.

And don’t forget, there are a lot of teachers out there who had their own bad experiences of PE lessons in the past, and yet they are expected to have a knowledgeable background in PE.

'Engaging trainee teachers is fantastic'

So there was an obvious demand from both primary and secondary teachers who all wanted support in developing Physical Education, as well as training people at universities who are on the cusp of becoming qualified teachers.

Engaging trainee teachers is a fantastic development for IPE, because if you can get to them before they qualify as either primary or secondary teachers, then that’s fantastic. They will then be the ones who will go into schools, newly-qualified and motivated.

Any programme, such as IPE, that they then take with them and apply in schools, can only be of benefit both to us and also to their departments and schools. So we’re covering every base at the moment, which is great.

'It’s aimed at all young people'

I’m from New Zealand but moved over here and taught at a mainstream school for five years before moving to a special school.

I enjoy ensuring that Physical Education has an impact on all young people across an entire school, so you develop PE and sports opportunities as well as community involvement.

I have been delivering IPE across the UK, though there is still this misconception that the project is about engaging disabled children. It’s not, it’s aimed at all young people.

Or sometimes teachers think they are already being inclusive in their lessons whereas the might actually not be. You always want to think you’re doing the right thing, in this case being inclusive, but you might not be.

'So much is implementable in the classroom'

When I deliver the course face-to-face teachers’ eyes are opened, particularly when we look at devising practical activities and incorporating them into lessons – that’s when it really starts to click. As soon as we start applying theory in practical situations, then trainees start thinking.

Teachers really benefit, I feel, because so much is implementable in the classroom; typically, it can prove difficult to be inclusive in practice because you don’t know the particular daily challenges of a certain child you’re going to have to include, whether they have a physical or a non-physical impairment.

Of course, the focus is on all children but there is a special focus on how to engage disabled youngsters.

'It is all about learning'

The course starts with a general introduction, in which we looks at the day’s anticipated outcomes. Then we look at various inclusion tools and it’s mostly practical, because we examine every type of scenario which you might have to teach within some stage within the curriculum.

We then take that and have a bank of activities to discuss. EFDS representative also speak, along with people from Youth Sport Trust and some young people recounting their experiences.

It is all about learning how you can best cater for the needs of all the children in your class. And it’s very practical – the more practical work the better, according to those who have attended in the past.

'Every school should undertake this programme'

It’d be so good if we can engage more schools – I think every school should undertake this programme.

The improvement in kids’ self-confidence is amazing. In my school I see young people benefitting and how they improve, how they develop as leaders and then go and deliver in lessons is incredible.

The confidence inclusion gives young people is the biggest thing for me, just witnessing that growth in self-confidence.

But it’s what we want to deliver for teachers too, so that they feel confident about delivering Physical Education and being able to include every young person.

Click here to download the frequently asked questions sheet about this specific programme. For further information about this project please email: AK4A@efds.co.uk or phone: 01509 227751.