Funding boost for primary school PE

Extra funding is to be made available to double the number of physical education (PE) specialists working in primary schools in England. The Department for Education (DfE) said specialist staff were vital to ensure children developed ‘a sporting habit for life’. Funding worth £360,000 would be put towards training primary teachers with a specialism in PE, the DfE said. It is hoped 240 primary PE specialists will take up posts by September 2015. A pilot training programme was launched last year, with the first cohort of 120 PE specialists due to be working in primary schools from this autumn. Children’s minister Edward Timpson said: ‘PE teaching is a specialist role and deserves bespoke support. PE specialists are vital to really embedding sporting expertise in schools, as well as giving children every chance of developing a sporting habit for life. That’s why we’ve announced extra funding to create a second intake of specialist primary PE teachers to support other teachers in developing their skills and improve quality of PE teaching. We must harness this and ensure more schools across the country can benefit from their expertise.’ Trainee teachers on the programme study PE and sport for 50% of their overall course, as well as training in the other core subjects, according to BBC.