The School Sport Partnership Programme — Raising Levels of Participation in Physical Education and Sport in Schools in England

Abstract

In England, as in many other western countries, poor diet, lack of exercise and obesity have become huge issue in recent years — particularly among children. The Government has launched a number of initiatives to try to improve this situation. These initiatives include the School Sport Partnership Programme, which aims to increase the level of participation in physical education (PE) and out of hours school sport among children in state schools in England. TNS was commissioned to undertake research to monitor the success of the Programme and to assess whether or not key Government targets in this area have been achieved. The research is now in its fourth year and involves data collection among all schools involved in the programme — of which there are currently (2006/07) nearly 22,000. This article describes the data collection process, the key challenges it presents and how it has developed over the four years since it started; highlights some of the main findings; and describes the role which research has played in helping to bring about improvements in this area.