What does PE look like now?
What is the position of Physical Education and Outdoor Learning? There have been a variety of PE frameworks created in the last 40 years, from Bunker and Thorpe in 1982 (Griffin and Butler, 2005) focusing on developing skill through playing games; to, Siedentop (1994) using a variety of roles within sport for example participant, coach, captain. Thorburn and Horrell (2014) describe these as operational ideas of PE and outdoor learning, “developing talent [instead of] developing physical literacy and self-esteem” (p.622). Little has been discussed in recent decades that promote the wider responsibilities and benefits of PEOL learning other than the physical, thereby neglecting its role to develop social, emotional and environmental skills. The impact of COVID has highlighted the importance of being healthy in a holistic sense, and the importance of PEOL on primary school children to tackle physical and mental health as well as increase improve social skills, nature conn...