The use of coaches in PPA time. |
We have received a number of enquiries in the last month about using Sports Coaches to cover for PPA time and are aware of 1 school in the SSP that has been doing this and individuals and organisations who have been offering their services to schools. afPE have warned against this for many years due to the expectations in the Public Service Agreement and NCPE that children are entitled to 2 hours of high quality PE. Their advice is that sports coaches may teach classes in timetabled PE provided they only assist or support the work of a qualified teacher in school, are subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher and have satisfied the head teacher, through a risk assessment, that they have the skills, experience and expertise required to carry out the specific work. As well as expertise in the range of activities taught coaches need to demonstrate competence in delivery of the national curriculum process model, good class control and group management showing appropriate relationships- teaching children not coaching sport.
If schools choose to use coaches in this way they should ensure that they are not missing the opportunities that class teachers have to develop children within and outside the classroom linking both areas. They will also be expected by OFSTED to have a system of regular monitoring and evaluation of the coaches work which will be inspected against the TDA HLTA standards. If schools feel their teaching staff are not able to teach satisfactory PE lessons the LDA can provide training at no cost to the school to support and develop colleagues. Children may benefit far more from other areas of the curriculum being contracted out whilst teachers teach PE.
Coaches are a very valuable part of the school workforce, the contributions which they make to OSHL and when they work alongside teachers during PE lessons add value to the experiences of children. Their use as cover for PPA time is something that the SSP feel is not educationally sound, our coaching team have been told never to work in this way!
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