Collaboration between student and academics explores primary pupils’ attitude to PE

The paper, entitled ‘“Everyone’s watching.” Examining the reluctance shown by some children to participate in primary physical education and sports day’ has been accepted for publication by Education 3–13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education. 

It was produced collaboratively by Dr Luke Jones, Subject Leader for Physical Education and Dr Paula Hamilton, Programme Leader for MA Social Justice and Globalisation in Education, working with Tanya Sharples, a student on the MA Education, Society and Globalisation programme to draw upon some of the rich primary data gathered for Tanya’s undergraduate dissertation. Tanya collected her data in a primary school where she skilfully utilised creative research methods with young children aged 10 to 11-years-old.  

The paper sheds light on the reasons why some children might be reluctant to engage in physical education and sports day in primary school. The study found that some children, particularly pupils with special education needs, may be disinclined to participate due to concerns about getting injured, failing, and anxiety about being watched.

The paper makes a valuable contribution to the field as much of the current literature available reflects the experiences of students in secondary education. It also suggests that primary practitioners who respond to children’s voices and adopt ‘meaningful physical education’ pedagogy are more likely to result in ‘PE reluctant’ children developing positive dispositions about movement experiences, helping to increase national activity levels among children and young people. This is particularly important as the study mentions that only 44 per cent of children aged seven to 11 meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity (Sport England 2024). 

Tanya said she learned so much from the experience of collaborating with the academics. She added: “Working in collaboration with Paula, who has been a constant support over the past few years and Luke, whose expertise in Physical Education added so much depth to the paper, was an invaluable experience. I have learned so much from them both and I'm incredibly proud of what we have achieved together.

“Having this research accepted for publication has fuelled my passion for academic research, in particular, children's voices in education, something I intend to continue researching in my next step of postgraduate study.”

Luke said: “The collaborative process of writing the paper on primary PE has enabled us to combine ideas and different perspectives, with each person making their own contribution to the final output. We have all benefited from our collaboration, and it has led to a worthwhile research output that will inform the teaching of primary PE.”

Paula added that working with Tanya and Luke had been a rewarding experience. She said: “It has been a pleasure to have supported Tanya since the second year of her undergraduate degree with this research focus, which was when she first recognised that was a gap in the literature available on young children’s perceptions and experiences of sports day. 

“Working in collaboration with Tanya and Luke has been really enjoyable and rewarding as our different perspectives, experiences and interests have enriched our discussions and shaped the paper.” 

ENDS

Image: Dr Paula Hamilton, Tanya Sharples and Dr Luke Jones, and the University's School of Education.