Refocusing sport in schools to build a lasting legacy of the 2012 games
Michael Gove writes to Baroness Sue Campbell to announce the end of the PE and sports strategy.
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The coalition government is committed to reforming sport in schools to create a lasting Olympic legacy. Ministers want to encourage more competitive sport so it is a vibrant part of the ethos of all schools, and to give schools the freedom to organise sport themselves rather than imposing a bureaucratic system for them to follow.
The Department for Education is ending the £162 million PE and sports strategy of the previous administration, to give schools the time and freedom to focus on providing competitive sport. In recent years there has been a decline in young people taking part in traditionally competitive sports such as rugby union, netball and hockey because teachers and school sports coordinators have been too focused on top-down targets. In fact the most recent school sport survey showed that only around two in every five pupils play competitive sport regularly within their own school, and only one in five plays regularly against other schools.
After seven years and £2.4 billion investment from the government and Lottery, the department expects all schools to have embedded the good practice and collaboration developed over this time and to continue providing two hours a week of PE and sport.