Who you work with#
Dream a Dream, as described in Brief 01. This problem sits inside their Thriving Schools programme, which works in government schools alongside the state curriculum.
The situation#
Physical education is on the timetable from Grade 1 to Grade 10. One teacher takes a class that spans a wide range of ages, sizes, confidence levels and physical abilities. Equipment is limited. The state curriculum sets what must be covered.
What is going wrong#
Most PE sessions are one game, played by the children who are already good at it. The rest stand at the edge. A child who is smaller, slower, less confident, or disabled gets less activity, not more, which is the reverse of what PE is for.
Dream a Dream wants sessions that are inclusive, engaging and right for the age group, across a ten-grade range.
Why it is not fixed yet#
The teacher is the bottleneck and cannot be replaced. Anything that requires a PE specialist, a lot of setup, or careful supervision of small groups will not survive contact with a real school day. Equipment that needs storing, charging or repairing disappears within a term.
Skills and Expertise#
- Branch — Mechanical, and any branch interested in design or sport. Little software content.
- Technical skills — Low-cost product design, fabrication, materials and durability, safety testing, designing for measurement.
- Other skills — Working with teachers and children, observation and measurement, inclusive design, curriculum reading.