An examination of the correlation and compromises of Ofsted, The National Curriculum, and Physical Education in British Schools

Malhi, Tarandeep and Hamilton, Sukhbinder and Mikuska, Eva (2025) An examination of the correlation and compromises of Ofsted, The National Curriculum, and Physical Education in British Schools. JOURNAL OF APPLIED TECHNICAL AND EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES, 14 (4). pp. 1-23. ISSN 2560-5429

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Abstract

Physical Education (PE) is a core national requirement in the English National Curriculum (NC) that is timetabled for all children up to the age of 16. It requires students to acquire a mix of physical, social, and cognitive competence through sports. This study reports on levels of inclusiveness within the PE curriculum in a sample of 30 British secondary schools that had recently undergone an Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) inspection. This was done through close document analysis of the PE curriculum maps of these schools, which are available in the public domain. Using a grounded theory approach, inductive thematic analysis was applied to identify themes such as sporting activities, teaching methods and pedagogy, opportunities within the curriculum, and skills and knowledge taught. The primary findings show that the information available through the school websites was disseminated mainly through the sports that the NC highlighted, implying that the schools’ best approach to spreading PE knowledge is through organised sports, as well as secondary curriculum designs, knowledge, and assessments, that are more concerned with NC aims and objectives rather than considering inclusive practice and alternative sporting activities for their students.

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