We are really excited to share with you that Will Swaithes has joined our team here at PE Scholar. As you know, we are committed to providing you with the insight, support and resources necessary to deliver the very best in Physical Education and School Sport, to bridge the gap between theory and practice and help PE thrive!
2020 has been a challenging year and we are not out of the woods yet, but it also marks our 10th Anniversary so we would like to indulge in a moment of reflection. Since PE Scholar was born back in 2010 we have:
- Shared hundreds of high quality resources (including lesson plans, schemes of work/learning, blogs/insight, research and teaching products), which have been accessed over 2 million time, from people all over the globe.
- Built a network of over 60,000 teachers, across our website, social media and wider networks.
- Launched the PE Scholar Outreach Fund to support projects aimed at improving engagement in physical activity.
Our co-founder, Dr Liz Durden-Myers (@LizzyMyers) has over the last ten years also:
- Moved from secondary school teaching to higher education and currently works for The University of Gloucestershire and Bath Spa University teaching on the PGCE in PE.
- Completed two Masters degrees one in Education and another in Psychology.
- Chaired the International Physical Literacy Association.
- Presented at conferences and events globally including on behalf of UNESCO.
- Been a consultant for PIXL, Ofqual, Sport Wales, DfE and helped support the new National Curriculum for Wales.
- Completed her PhD in Physical Literacy which included the design, implementation and evaluation of a physical literacy professional development programme.
Over the next ten years we want to continue to grow our network and help thousands more teachers and students worldwide. Through the PE Scholar platform our aim is to continue to create high quality resources, sharing insightful content and research that supports the evolving needs of the profession. This is why we’re so pleased to be welcoming Will Swaithes to the PE Scholar team. Will’s passion, philosophy and commitment to supporting the profession align tremendously well with our own and will enable us to offer you even more going forwards.
If you haven’t already completed our recent network survey, please could we invite you to spend just 5 minutes completing it here.
For those who don’t already know @WillSwaithes, he has built up a reputation as a highly credible, creative and solution focused contributor to the delivery of quality physical education, school sport and physical activity. He is relentless in his pursuit of ensuring PE is a positive experience for all young people by seeking new, different, and smarter ways to support and challenge the profession to make that a reality. He has already worked with us on the highly successful Wellbeing Curriculum and shared his story about PE’s response to covid-19. Will joins us with over 20 years’ experience in education with previous roles including Advanced Skills Teacher, Specialist Leader in Education, Assistant Head for Teaching and Learning and Head of PE and Achievement for the Youth Sport Trust. Alongside his work with us, Will continues to do considerable work for YST; contributes to the PGCE PE programmes at Loughborough University, University of Buckingham and Birmingham City University along with guest lectures for a number of other ITT providers; leads the Head of PE network for two Nottinghamshire Teaching School Alliances; and also does a variety of other consultancy work.
Watch out for his contribution to our blogs, resources and courses. Here is a sneak preview of some of what we have to look forward to:
- Insightful stories about how PE is responding and evolving from around the globe
- Top tips for trainee teachers, mentors and subject leaders
- Recent research informed ideas to help update and transform your practice such as how to utilise models-based practice or develop a concept-based curriculum
- Resources to support high quality PE delivery, both in the current covid climate and beyond
- A new series of bite-size courses to help challenge and update your practice
As ever, we welcome your feedback and hope to bring you all together (at least, virtually) in 2021. If you have other ideas for how we could help support you through the PE Scholar network, or would like to speak to Will or Liz directly, then please get in touch.
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