A-Level PE Conference

Physical Education PGCE and School Direct students attended a one-day conference that addressed the teaching of post-16 accredited physical education courses.

During the conference students presented a 20-minute session to their peers on an identified topic from the A-level syllabus. Topics presented included:

• The Olympic Games – blessing or curse?
• Bandura’s model of observational learning theory (observational learning)
• Violence and deviance in sport; Sport, sponsorship and the media
• Discrimination in sport
• Sport, sponsorship and the Media
• Sportsmanship, gamesmanship,
• Performance enhancing products – reasons for, consequences of and solutions to the problem of drugs in sport

Course leader Dr Gary Stidder said: “The contemporary physical education teacher now requires a very different skill set compared to a decade ago. The teaching of theoretical components within post-16 physical education courses is an essential requirement and expectation for all new qualified PE teachers.

“Trainee teachers need to have an understanding of the subject content but also be able to teach A-Level PE in both a practical and theoretical context. The A-Level PE conference was designed to help the trainee teachers to develop their subject knowledge and have the confidence in presenting to a post-16 audience.”