Preparing our Next Generation of Primary Physical Educators

The phrase ‘inspire a generation’ has been an enduring claim of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (Griffiths and Armour 2013, Kohe and Bowen-Jones 2016, Parnell, Cope, Bailey & Widdop 2016). It has connected primary physical education and initial teacher education (ITE) through a number of national policies influencing the subject’s funding (DfE and EfA 2014) and teaching workforce (DfE 2015). Following another successful Games in Rio and an increase to the Primary PE and Sport Premium, it is timely to consider how prepared the future generation of primary physical educators are for the sustainability of this legacy. In this article I wish to present the main findings of a national research project examining the current landscape of primary physical education ITE in England. This project brought together a team across the physical education and school sport sector to: identify pre-service teachers (PSTs) confidence and willingness to teach primary physical education and the barriers and opportunities afforded to their development.