Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make it his policy to increase the minimum number of hours training in physical education required as part of teacher training.

Physical education (PE) is a compulsory subject at all four key stages in the National Curriculum (2014). Through the primary PE and sport premium, the Government has invested over £600 million of ring-fenced funding to primary schools to improve PE and sport since 2013. An independent evaluation report into the premium was published in December 2015. It found that 87% of schools reported that the quality of PE teaching had increased since the introduction of the premium.

Providing the best possible initial teacher training (ITT) is at the heart of the Government’s drive to improve teaching standards. All programmes of ITT must prepare teachers to demonstrate that they have met the Teachers’ Standards (2011), and demonstrate good subject and curriculum knowledge. This includes physical education for all primary trainees, and for secondary PE subject specialists.

The amount of time that primary trainees spend in training on each of the subjects of the National Curriculum is not specified by Government. However, ITT providers must ensure that trainees meet all of the relevant standards by the end of their training.