Starting Out as a PE Teacher

As a student PE teacher you are embarking on the long, but exciting, process of becoming an effective teacher; of translating your knowledge and love of PE into the ability to encourage pupils’ learning and progress towards becoming physically educated. You need to understand both the wider role of the teacher and your specific role as a PE teacher, as well as what you are aiming to achieve in your lessons. There are numerous teaching skills you need to develop, along with the ability to use the right teaching skill in the right way at the right time to improve pupil learning. An understanding of how teaching skills interact with each other in a lesson is also valuable. To develop into an effective teacher you also need to be aware of the range of factors that impact on your teaching, including understanding yourself, your values, attitudes and beliefs and be able to reflect on how these influence what you are doing and therefore on how they impact on pupils’ learning.