Making Every PE Lesson Count

Written by James Crane, Making Every PE Lesson Count: Six principles to support great physical education teaching provides realistic and practical strategies that will help teachers make abstract ideas more concrete and meaningful in both practical and theory PE.

PE provides a unique opportunity for some students to flourish and become professional athletes or achieve excellent academic outcomes. However, if you ask any PE teacher, their main aim is that all students leave school with a love of physical activity and lifelong participation in sport. The benefits on physical, mental and social health are undeniable. The place PE holds in the curriculum is therefore fundamental to society in that it acts as a vehicle to promote resilience, determination and perseverance.

Writing in the engaging style of the award-winning Making Every Lesson Count series, James Crane articulates the fundamentals of great PE teaching and shares simple and practical strategies designed to challenge students across all aspects of the subject. In an age of educational quick fixes and ever-moving goalposts, this precise and timely book returns to the fundamental questions that all PE teachers must consider: 'What can I do to help my students thrive in the wide world of physical education?'

Making Every PE Lesson Count is underpinned by six pedagogical principles - challenge, explanation, modelling, practice, feedback and questioning. Good PE teaching is littered with all these principles, not as a checklist or plan as such, but to ensure that teaching is well structured and thought out.

This book aims to bring the evidence around effective teaching linked to the six pedagogical principles to life through the lens of a physical education teacher. It focuses on all aspects of PE in secondary schools with reference to real-life examples from a huge range of sports and physical activities and classroom theory. James links his findings back to the subject throughout and offers reflective questions for teachers to sharpen their practice.

Making Every PE Lesson Count aims to synthesise the latest research on teaching and learning and link it specifically to PE. There is a huge amount of evidence available for teachers, and this book acts as an practical guide that will successfully bridge the gap between the world of academic research and PE teaching.