According to Stidder (2001) the General Certificate of Secondary education (GCSE) in

physical education has witnessed a dramatic growth in the entrants to an estimated 80,000
candidates. This demonstrates how much the status of PE has increased, however despite the
influence of the GCSE has lead to the non-accreditation to be pushed out from the Key stage
4 curriculum (KS4).

In today's climate with children's disengagement from PE on a heart pounding increase

schools are beginning to look towards other methods of delivering the KS4 curriculum
looking at increasing the number of accredited courses for their pupils (Capel, 2004). A
reason to why schools may start to be looking at redesigning the curriculum is to suit their
pupil’s needs, despite the increase in the number of entrants of the GCSE as previously
mentioned. This route is not suitable for all pupils, as not every pupil will be academically
capable, therefore the school’s curriculum will not be fully inclusive (QCDA, )

Schools have now the opportunity to deliver the KS4 curriculum using a variety of methods
to make it fully inclusive for all pupils, in this present climate with obesity on a striking rise
all pupils should be following a particular route of accedition/non-accreditation or
voacational. This can be through GCSE for the academic, coursework such as the BTEC first,
or through leadership work such as the Junior Sports Leaders Award (JSLA),

Therefore stidder (2000) states pupils that have followed an examination course in physical
education for all pupils can raise standards, increase motivation, improve achievement and
provide every pupil with certified evidence of their efforts in physical education (PE) after
their two years work GCSE’s but according to young people and national survey 2002
encouragingly the percentage of young people taken part in PE has increased since 2002 but
prior to this the levels were decreasing, in1994 it was 46 per cent to only 33 percent in 1999
to 49 percent in 2002 what about the other 51 percent of the class. OFSTED (1998) have
suggested that it would be far better for pupils to take GCSE short course in PE cause it
provide a better layout for a large majority of pupils who have a restricted amount of
timetabled curriculum PE due to this qualification that provides a limited range of activities
in a shorter period of time can be a highly motivating for pupils thus creating a higher level of
participation in PE.
Accredited courses have given pupils the opportunity to develop their subject knowledge not
only physically but theoretically. Green (2008) discusses the ‘academicisation’ of the subject
due to the theoretical side within the breadth of study. This means that it can now be said that
the subject has created various academic conceptualisations. In turn, this has been a positive
for the subject and for education, as more pupils now than ever before are taking physical
education as an examination subject, which in turn has had a positive effect for physical
educationalists and school league tables. Despite this, the subject is still about physical
activity, and should not become like other subjects by focusing on theoretical aspects to
greatly. (Murdoch, 1997)

Stidder and Wallis (2003, p187) believe that ‘pupil’s achievements are highest when they are
following an accredited course’. However, this may not always be the case, especially when
faced with pupils who are not seen as ‘sporty’ and do not enjoy the subject as this may
achieve the opposite effect, which will now be discussed.

Problems that arise due to the route of accredited PE for all, is that all pupils within a school
may not be fully motivated and interested in Physical education, and so may not participate to
their full potential.

This is a limitation to accreditation, as teachers would be educating pupils for what suits them
and how they were taught (Evans and Penney, 1997), and would not be thinking about pupil’s
personal learning or interests. Schools would also need to make sure that they have enough
space, staffing and timetable space to facilitate all pupils learning within the PE curriculum
(Stidder, 2000). This may not always be possible as schools would need to have enough
funding and time in order for these problems to be withdrawn, and is an extra burden on PE
departments (Green, 2001; Green 2008)

PE departments need to also make sure that the value of PE is not dismissed and that pupils
should still learn through personal, social and moral education (Theodoulides and Armour,
2001; Laker, 2001; Stidder and Wallis, 2003; QCA, 2009) This can normally be taught better
through ‘core’ PE, such as discussing the benefits of health and fitness and lifelong
participation, as pupils can be given the opportunity to learn new skills in order to improve
their personal self, as well as social self by becoming a more confident and rounded
individual which is an objective of the Governments ECM agenda (2003). This is a positive
for the non-accredited route, as this type of education can be taught better through ‘core’ PE.

Within the current national curriculum, the QCA (2009) suggest that ‘A high-quality PE
curriculum enables all students to enjoy and succeed in many kinds of physical activity’.
Therefore, the curriculum planned within Key stage 4 should be inclusive for all pupils
whether they wish to take an accredited route or not. This could be succeeded by offering
accredited courses to those who wish to pursue them such as GCSE PE and BTEC First as
well as opportunities to fulfil a leadership course such as JSLA, which will allow the pupils
who wish to have certified evidence of their commitment to PE, while keeping ‘core’ PE as
part of the curriculum at Key stage 4 compulsory.

GCSE PE has been chosen as it has a good academic breadth of study, with BTEC First
chosen due to its more vocational route, which will enable pupils who aren’t as academic the
chance to gain qualifications through a more coursework based-vocational route which will
enable pupils to take on job specific roles within assignments. This curriculum is inclusive, as
pupils at different levels have the opportunity to complete an accredited course if they wish
to. Pupil’s who have not taken an accredited course such as GCSE or BTEC First will still be
given the opportunity to participate in a leadership course such as JSLA or a coaching
qualification such as FA Level 1 or Sports Leaders UK Level 1 through their core PE time.
This is also inclusive as if a pupil doesn’t wish to do an accredited course, they will still be
given the opportunity to do a qualification for something that they may be interested in or
will enjoy.

The ‘core’ PE model is helpful to students as it ‘provides pupils with the opportunity to
escape the confines of the classroom and relax without the academic pressures of other
examination courses’ (Stidder and Wallis, 2003, p186) It has been commented that ‘core’ PE
can sometimes be taught poorly at Key stage 4, especially when teaching traditional games as
it is normally taught with a limited range of pedagogic methods, which can be seen as a
limitation to this curriculum design. (Penney and Evans, 1999; OFSTED, 2002; Griggs,
2008) This could be addressed by offering pupils a more alternative curriculum which will be
discussed further in detail next.
The teaching of traditional PE within Key stage 4 would be dismissed, and instead replaced
with the use of alternative games and activities. This has been chosen for this curriculum, as
it has been discussed that traditional PE is perceived as having no structure (Hastie, 1998)
with an attitude from both teachers and pupils that it’s a recreational session. Griggs (2008)
and Capel (2007) indicate that it has become visible that schools are unsuccessful in engaging
pupils in activities that are widely available outside school. With the use of alternative games,
including activities such as Cheerleading, aerobics, and yoga would be taught which are
widely available outside of school and can also improve lifelong participation which should
be the key focus to all physical education curriculum models as the New National Curriculum
PE for Key stage 4states pupils should ‘make informed choices about lifelong physical
activity’ (QCDA, 2008).

Changing the content within the curriculum and offering an alternative programme offers
pupils a challenge, which is positive and gives pupils a chance to learn new skills and
activities which they may not have completed before. With alternative games and activities
available within the curriculum, students could choose which activities they participated in
making learning more personalised and appealing to pupils (OFSTED, 2009). Up and coming
games such as handball, are inclusive for all pupils as they provide pupils with the knowledge
of a new game, but also knowledge of a game from Eastern Europe, which could be
beneficial to all pupils including EAL students (QCDA, 2009).

Activities which are based upon leisure such as Pilates and cycling would enhance pupil’s
learning opportunities while engaging the pupils with the benefits to health from achieving
lifelong participation as if they find an activity from the broader alternative route that they
enjoy, they may be more likely to pursue with the activity they have been taught within
compulsory PE education. This is especially important in today’s climate due to the
increasing obesity levels within young children (Capel, 2007) and the PE profession should
be teaching pupils about living a healthy an active lifestyle through all Key stages as the
National Curriculum (2008) states.

This curriculum design also has a number of limitations. Problems that could arise could be
that pupils may still not be interested within PE to participate fully at Key stage 4, and so
schools may waste time, energy and also money in providing new and alternative ways of
engaging and including all pupils. Funding may also become an issue, especially when
departments need to buy new equipment to assist these new activities such as street-surfing
boards, kin balls etc (which are costly equipment) as well as costs for training teachers.

In conclusion, every model has its merits and limitations, and it is up to the PE department to
decide what an inclusive curriculum for all pupils is. Macfayden and Bailey (2006, p101)
believe that ‘examination courses have provided pupils with the opportunity to study in
greater depth’. However, it is believed that the best way to aid pupils for a healthy and active
lifestyle is through lifelong participation, which will only be gained by offering pupils the
chance to enhance their learning through sports/activities that are widely available outside of
school (Capel, 2007). As a physical educationalist, by making sure young people are not
alienated by physical education and therefore physical activity (Kirk and Macdonald, 1998)