Fit for purpose?....

Someone said to me the other day "The National Curriculum for England and Wales is not fit for purpose anymore".....

Is quite a statement isn't it, and obviously a hugely subjective one that could be argued about long into the future. What does fit for purpose mean? Who is it fit for? When it comes to Physical Education the discussion around the translation of curriculum guidance into practice has grown in volume ever since the 2015 revised version was released.

With PE in schools such a divisive and often controversial subject area, it is no wonder that 7 years on from the release of the NCPE there is still no clear consensus as to what PE programmes should look like.

You only need look around educational twitter or LinkedIn to see the huge variety of opinions, points of view and the depth of feeling towards how best to provide our pupils with a meaningful physical education with genuine benefit beyond practical understanding of a handful of sports.

At this point it is only fair that I point out that I lead a PE team in an international school outside of the UK. Clearly this brings opportunity to deviate from curricular requirements without worry about OFSTED or league tables, however like most international British schools are starting point for curricular design was always the ENCPE. However, more and more I am seeing that this is simply not the case anymore....

And if the rest of the world is moving away from ENCPE foundations, what does that say about its benefit to pupils back at home?

In the past month or so I have read articles about the benefits of SHAPE, The Victorian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education, PHE Canada as well as numerous articles discussing the benefits of holistic curriculum models such as HHH and MEinPE. With so much choice, resource available now and extensive research taking place globally about the fundamental question of what PE is and what we deliver to our pupils, its reassuring to hear more and more PE departments moving towards more tailored programmes within the context of their individual settings.

Why do I care? Well COVID-19 gave us all a chance to stop, pause, reflect and review everything we do in education. This was no different within my team here at Brighton College Al Ain. We had a good curriculum. Solid, well planned, effective, but was it really fit for purpose? It might have been pre-Covid, but with a changing pupil demographic, falling student numbers and the need to reintroduce a whole cohort to Physical Education and Physical Literacy, we began to believe we could do better. One of the founding principles of our school is "Be the best you" and with this firmly in mind we set out to review everything we offer.

Whilst the process is far from complete, the journey has been both rewarding and enlightening. From departmental discussions to huge research projects on the variations of curriculums, we have searched out the aspects of PE and PL that really apply to our pupils, with their unique backgrounds, cultures and attitudes. We have cherry picked the bits we like, discarded the bits we don't and thrown things up in the air to see how they land, time and time again.

Our revised curriculum is based around the MEinPE model. Its holistic in its aims and generalist in its approach. We are moving away from "Sport" and towards "Concept" and developing an assessment process that encourages success for all, rather than success for some. We are looking at how we support those pupils who have slipped between the PE cracks previously and looked for ways to showcase their abilities rather than accepted their lack of. We've gone back the very roots of Physical Education and considered what it means to be physically active in todays world. We've tried to build a programme that complements the lives our pupils live and that will stand the test of time. Its also provided a Succession plan for me, knowing that whoever comes after me and my team will have all the tools, resources and processes to continue to deliver something really special.

I know, through the wide contact I have with PE teachers, PE leaders and PE departments across the world, that this is not unique to us. These discussions and reflections are happening more now than ever before am there is an amazing array of work coming out of those reflections.

I am seeing schools tear up their old ways and being dynamic and creative in a way that would never have been possible had the 2020 pandemic not happened. Many PE departments would have continued to do this "the way we've always done them", including, if I'm honest, us. Doing things "the way they've always been done" is fine, if the way you have always done them is outstanding, but so often we pick up programmes from previous iterations of PE departments designed in a different time, for a different type of pupil, by very different teachers. This has given everyone a chance to renew and reinvigorate for a new generation.

Whether you are in Bradford or Belize, Dartford or Dubai, your pupils and school is unique and therefore your PE provision should be too. Take the time to pause, reflect, research and reconnect and its amazing what can happen. I don't think I've ever been as excited or enthused about an upcoming academic year. We are still in the midst of a dark time for education, but the light at the end of the tunnel just gets brighter and brighter.