There has been much debate – both nationally and internationally and over a sustained period of time – about the subject of physical education (PE) and its place and purpose within schools (Kirk, 2010; Ekberg, 2021; Gray et al., 2022a). It has long been recognised by those within the subject that it has much potential for realising learning across multiple domains (Hooper, Sandford & Jarvis, 2020; Lamb et al., 2021) and for supporting the holistic development of young people (Bailey et al., 2009; Luguetti & Oliver, 2020). However, questions have continued to be raised about the educative capacity of the subject and the contribution it makes – or is able to make – to the education of young people (Quennerstedt, 2019). These questions typically stem from what has been considered to be the relatively limited change with regard to how PE has been conceptualised and enacted in practice (Kirk, 2010; Herold, 2020; Gray et al., 2022a) and the continued dominance of particular agendas (i.e., health) within PE (Jung, Pope & Kirk, 2016; Lindsey et al., 2020; Gray et al., 2022b). Nonetheless, advocates of the subject have continued to ‘make the case’ for the subject and to argue its value to and for young people (see UNESCO, 2017; afPE, 2019). Calls for PE to become a core subject are not new, though in England these were formalised by Harris (2018) on behalf of the PE Expert Group.

It is notable that PE is the only foundation subject that is compulsory from Key Stage 1 to Key Stage 4 but while this is somewhat akin to core status it is not an equivalent and interpretations of this in practice have been varied. As such, there has continued to be sustained interest and advocacy – following the formal call from Harris (2018) – in making PE a core subject and momentum has been gained in this regard following the formation of the Association for PE (afPE) Taskforce in 2020. The afPE Taskforce was assembled to consider (and make recommendations on) the future of PE within England and comprised expert representatives from across the PE sector with support from a wider advisory group. As part of their work, the afPE Taskforce published a report on putting PE at ‘The Heart of School Life’. The afPE Taskforce report set out to make recommendations to Government about the subject of PE with two of the headline recommendations relating to making PE a core subject. However, despite the House of Lords responding positively to the recommendation to make PE a core subject, the Government’s official response was less positive, affirming that they “do not currently plan to make PE a core subject” (HM Government, 2022, p. 11). As such, despite a strong case being put forward by Harris (2018) and continued interest and advocacy in making PE a core subject, the Government remain unconvinced.

Whilst there is evidently much enthusiasm for making PE a core subject, from a range of stakeholders, there is a lack of consensus as to what might constitute PE as a core subject and what this might 'look like'. This present challenges when trying to ‘make the case’ for PE as a core subject when – even amongst the PE community itself – there remains uncertainty. As such, this paper presents findings from a project that seeks to address this notable gap, by engaging with key stakeholders (e.g., teachers of PE, PE subject leaders, PE teacher educators, PE consultants) across England to explore their visions of PE as a core subject.

The research outlined with this paper took place from June to October 2023 and adopted a mixed methods approach, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative data to generate rich insights. Data were generated via online surveys sent to key stakeholders (e.g., teachers of PE, PE subject leaders, PE teacher educators, PE consultants) across England. Surveys were disseminated – with support from the Association for Physical Education (afPE) – via social media and newsletters. In total, 332 complete survey responses were received from participants. Data analysis is ongoing but quantitative data will be used to generate descriptive statistics and qualitative data will undergo a thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This is an inductive (i.e., ‘bottom up’) process where themes are derived from close examination and interpretation of the data itself. Data will firstly be read and re-read before codes are assigned to portions of text and memos noted. Themes will then be developed from codes before being reviewed and refined.

As noted, data analysis for this paper is ongoing. However, it is anticipated that this project will extend existing work in this space by Hooper et al. (2023) on PE as a core subject in England.

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