PE and dance to become Leaving Cert subject from September

Students can get half their marks in a new Leaving Certificate physical education subject for projects and performances in activities as diverse as sprinting, camogie, orienteering, or jazz dance.

The first examination of the new subject will be in 2020, when students at more than 50 schools are expected to complete the new senior-cycle course.

The schools will be selected from those responding to an invitation being issued today by Education Minister Richard Bruton to begin teaching the subject next September.

Although no additional resources are being provided to schools, a programme of training for teachers to deliver the new course will begin early next year.

In addition, schools are also being invited to take part in the simultaneous first phase of a new PE framework for senior cycle students, replacing what have been guidelines up to now.

The examinable Leaving Certificate PE course will go beyond the traditional practice of timetable sports activities, as student will learn about technology and media in sport, business and enterprise.

Issues around physical activity and gender, inclusion, ethics, and fair play will also be covered in the two-year course developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment.

Those topics will form half of students’ learning, with the other half focused on participation in physical activity, teaching them about how to improve skill and techniques, the demands of performance, strategies, and planning for optimum performance.

They will take part in three different physical activities, which can be chosen from within six broad areas of athletics, personal exercise and fitness, artistic and aesthetic activities, adventure activities, games, and aquatics.

The final written exam will be worth half of marks, as students will already have completed a physical activity project worth 20% and a performance assessment for 30%.

The project will be completed in digital format, as students apply their learning to develop their personal performance in one of their three activities, either as a performer, coach, or choreographer period of eight to 10 weeks.

A list of suggested activities under the main headings includes various team sports, athletics disciplines, many types of dance, aerobics and spinning, life-saving, tennis, rock-climbing, and many more.

The performance assessment is aimed at providing evidence of a student’s standard of performance in one of their three studied physical activities.

A student will digitally capture their performance in sessions, designed to show their best personal performance in fully competitive or conditioned practices or performance settings. They will be expected to show an understanding of the rules and codes of practice of the relevant activity.

Supporting the introduction of the new subject, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that the benefits will include improved health and fitness for young people, an increased awareness of physical health, and a further increase in the choice of school subjects.

After the two years in which first-phase schools teach the new PE subject, it is expected to be rolled out to all schools which choose to offer it.

The separate new framework is also to be introduced as a structure for teachers to plan a broad PE programme that encourages enjoyable and informed participation in physical activity while at school and in students’ later lives.

The curriculum includes six models relating, for example, to sport education, adventure education, personal and social responsibility, and teaching games for understanding.