News story

200 specialist primary PE teachers to be in place by December 2015

How your school can use and engage with the primary PE specialist initial teacher training (ITT) programme.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The primary PE specialist initial teacher training (ITT) route is a postgraduate, school-led, 1-year training course. It is made up of 50% generalist primary training in the core subjects (English, mathematics and science) and 50% PE training.

The pilot was announced by the Prime Minister in March 2013.

From 2015, there will be 11 providers. More than 200 specialist primary PE teachers will be in place by December 2015.

Delivery models

Three teaching schools, Ashton-on-Mersey SCITT, Belleville Primary School and Thomas Telford School, worked with teacher training providers to develop and deliver the course in the pilot phase. They were supported by national and regional sporting bodies to enhance the additional specialist elements.

Teaching school Training provider
Ashton-on-Mersey School, Trafford, Greater Manchester Chester University
Belleville Primary School, London Kingston University
Thomas Telford School, West Midlands West Midland Consortium SCITT

All the pilot schools started their courses with a pre-ITT summer school. This was delivered by specialists from national sporting bodies and subject associations.

Find out more about the primary PE specialist ITT pilot course (PDF, 34.3 KB, 2 pages).

Feedback from sporting bodies and school leaders

We have just had the pleasure of having our work highlight of the year by being given the opportunity to work with 20 aspiring teachers at Belleville. Hand on heart, if these people make it through the year with more to follow like them in future years, we really will change the experience children have in PE.

Lindsay James, Youth Sports Trust.

We are really delighted that this has been mainstreamed and we congratulate everyone in the pilot programme for making such a success of the pilot. The Youth Sports Trust remains firmly committed to fully support this programme and we look forward to working with all 12 providers in the future.

Baroness Campbell, Youth Sports Trust.

Next steps

Think about how your school could:

  • use a PE specialist
  • engage with providers, for example, taking trainees on placement
  • get regional support, for example, is there a specialist primary PE teacher available to help you provide continuing professional development

Contact one of the pilot schools above for further information and advice about specialist primary PE teachers.

Published 4 February 2015
Last updated 27 February 2015 + show all updates
  1. Updated the number of providers.

  2. First published.