Meet Tim Laing

I am a senior lecturer and course leader for all undergraduate primary teaching degrees, as well as the ITE curriculum lead for primary PE.

My journey to teaching

I have a lifelong love of PE and sport in all its forms, created through wonderful personal experiences and opportunities in this field when growing up. The huge enjoyment, lifelong friendships, and confidence gained from this experience has led me to want to provide this experience/opportunity for all children.

Following the successful completion of a BSc degree in Sport & Exercise Science, my career in primary education started with working as a support teacher for children with complex needs and as a PE and school sport teacher in a preparatory school before enrolling on and successfully completing a PGCE in Primary Education with QTS (PE Specialism). I then moved to Brighton as an NQT as a year 4 class teacher in a partnership school.

Over the next 10 years I taught across all year groups as a class teacher and took on the role of PE subject leader. Through transforming the curricular and extra-curricular PE and school provision in the school gave me the foundation to successfully apply for a 0.2 secondment to the University of Brighton to teach aspects of the primary PE ITE curriculum in partnership with Jackie Hannay and Nigel Cook. This then led me to gain approval from the school senior leadership team and governing body to create and take on the role of PE specialist teacher.

This role again allowed me to further develop and sustainably improve the PE and School sport provision at the school and other local schools. I was then delighted to successfully apply for the full-time position of senior lecturer in primary education with responsibility for primary PE at Brighton.

How my work responds to global challenges

My underpinning motivation is to ensure outstanding practice and standards in teaching and learning of primary physical education and sport in order to provide the next generation with the very best opportunities and experience. 

As a lifelong lover of sport in all its forms, I have an unshakeable belief in the power that PE and sport can have in transforming the lives of children, no matter their background, disability, gender or ethnicity. Hence, I am a fierce advocate of breaking down all barriers, be they financial constraints or entrenched societal views, to provide every child with equality of circumstance to enable access to each and every opportunity to participate. In so doing, my work at university, in schools and in the local community goes some way to positively transforming the circumstances of children to access these opportunities to participate and reap the benefits of all that PE and recreational school and community sport have to offer.

What I love about teaching…

I love making a positive difference to the lives of all children. As a primary school teacher, I love being a teacher, ambassador and advocate for ALL subjects – getting to be an art, science, history, geography, English, PE, RE, science, maths, computing, music and PSHE teacher is incredible. I love that no day is the same. I love learning as much from the children as they learn from me!

My advice to students

The advice I give to prospective students is to ensure that they have experience in the primary classroom before applying.

Find out more about undergraduate teaching courses at the University of Brighton.