Physical Education Teacher

Also known as:

PE Teacher
Sports Teacher - Schools
Teacher, Physical Education

Introduction

Physical education (PE) teachers teach a wide range of physical activities and indoor and outdoor sports to young people of mixed abilities. They organise and supervise groups and encourage young people to take part in these activities. They prepare students for national examinations.

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Work Activities

Physical education (PE) teachers encourage young people to take part in physical activities and sport. They must be able to organise and supervise groups, coach in various skills and motivate young people to improve their performance.

Other activities may include providing specialist coaching to individuals, refereeing matches, travelling with school teams or taking groups to outdoor activity centres.

Most schools offer a number of activities, ranging from indoor gymnastics and human movement to outdoor team sports, and also sometimes pursuits such as sailing, canoeing and orienteering. It is, therefore, important to maintain a wide range of interests rather than specialise in only one area.

School classes usually contain students with a wide range of abilities and interests. Encouraging young people to take an interest in sport and keep fit is not always easy.

Depending on circumstances, teaching methods include whole class lessons, group work and demonstrations. Teachers provide support and back-up at all times and help students on an individual basis as required. Teachers set assignments, projects and tests, carry out continuous assessment and mark students' work and examinations. They prepare students for national examinations.

At all times they must maintain good order among students and deal speedily and effectively with discipline issues.

Away from their daily teaching duties, PE teachers carry out a wide range of other tasks, including preparing lessons, taking pupils on educational trips and outings, doing administrative work such as keeping records and writing reports, attending staff meetings and preparing for and attending parent-teacher meetings.

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Personal Qualities and Skills

As a physical education (PE) teacher, you must be able to communicate effectively with your students, be able to interest and involve them and encourage them to learn and develop. To do this, you must be enthusiastic, energetic, flexible and patient and be prepared to look for and try out innovative approaches. You have to be aware of differing abilities and be sensitive to physical limitations. You should be able to encourage students who are not good at sports, or who do not initially enjoy sporting activities, to progress at their own pace.

You must be able to be firm and to enforce discipline in an acceptable way, when necessary. An understanding of adolescent psychology will assist with this, as it will with all aspects of the teaching process. You must be able to stay calm when under pressure and when dealing with any disruptive pupils. A good sense of humour is important.

You need to be well organised and approach your teaching activities in a methodical and systematic way. A lot of the time you will be working on your own with your classes, but you will also be part of the wider school community, so teamworking skills are important too.

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Pay and Opportunities

Teachers in Scotland are paid on a national scale. The starting annual salary for a probationer teacher from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 is £20,937. The top of the scale for unpromoted teachers is £33,399. There is an additional allowance if you teach in a remote school or on certain islands.

A chartered teacher can earn up to £40,941 and a head teacher can earn from £41,298 - £80,607 depending on the size of the school.

In the private sector, salaries are similar or higher, though they are sometimes linked to state sector pay scales.

Teachers normally work a 35-hour week. However, most teachers work extra hours: marking work, preparing lessons and so on. In Scotland a maximum classroom contact time of 22.5 hours per week has been introduced.

There are opportunities throughout the UK in both the state and private education sectors. There may also be opportunities to teach overseas.

Vacancies are advertised on local authority vacancy sheets and websites, and in the local and national press: The Scotsman, The Herald, The Guardian, The Times Educational Supplement Scotland and The Teacher.

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Adult Opportunities

It is illegal for any organisation to set age limits for entry to employment, education or training, unless they can show there is a real need to have these limits.

Relevant work experience is frequently expected, either in sport and fitness or work with children or young people.

If you don't have the qualifications needed to enter your chosen degree course, a college or university Access course (eg, Access to Teaching) could be the way in.

These courses are designed for people who haven't followed the usual routes into higher education. No formal qualifications are usually needed, but you should check this with individual colleges.

They can lead to relevant degree courses.

• 15% of secondary teachers work part-time.
• 7% work on a temporary basis.

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