A-level PE teaching tips: 10 blogs every new (and current!) A-level PE teacher should read this summer

The summer holidays are well and truly underway, which means two things: you've (hopefully) put your feet up at least once, and the new academic year is edging that little bit closer (sorry!). If you'll be teaching A-level PE for the first time, there's no better moment to get ahead than now, while there's still time to read before INSET days and back-to-back meetings, getting your new teaching timetable, planning the new extra-curricular programme, lesson planning..... The list is endless.

So make sure you’re sitting comfortably, and take a look through our top ten blog recommendations at your own pace over the next few weeks. Some focus entirely on subject knowledge, while others include teaching strategies and downloadable resources for when you’re ready to start thinking about lesson planning. All ten are designed to help you prepare for the demands of A-level PE (and lots of them are also relevant for teachers of IBDP SEHS). Let’s get started.....

1. You asked for it! Extended writing for ALL PE exams 📝

Our first recommended blog features extended writing frameworks, including synoptic questions, for AQA, Edexcel and OCR A-level, all in one place and covering all extended writing questions*. Useful if you're building a bank of downloadable frameworks for your whole department to use with your students.
*Bonus: this also includes extended writing frameworks for AQA, OCR and Edexcel GCSE!

2. Ten Most Common Misconceptions in PE Theory Teaching 😕

The jump to A-level doesn't clear up misconceptions, it just makes them more technical (think energy transfer, diffusion and lever systems). Featuring a bonus FREE video tutorial and a quiz to check your levers knowledge! A reassuring read for anyone worried about getting the finer details wrong.

3. Struggling with AO2 or Making Examples? Not anymore! 👟

AO2 is where marks are often lost, and generic examples rarely cut it at this level. This post contains links to 300 (yes, 300!) practical examples and free downloadable performer profiles based around the E-I-O model, so your students always have sharp, specific examples ready to rely on under pressure.

4. Teaching the Learning Theories in PE and Sport Lessons 🧠

Observational learning, classical and operant conditioning, cognitive learning and constructivism can feel like a psychology degree crammed into a few lessons! This post breaks the theories down with practical classroom strategies applied to A-level PE, whichever exam board you're teaching.

5. Teaching the Commercialisation of Sport in PE Lessons 💴

Some of the sociocultural content has a reputation for being a bit ‘listy’, with commercialisation being a prime example. This post rebuilds the topic into a genuinely evaluative lesson, complete with an "I do, we do, you do" extended-writing sequence for exam skills that you can put into practice.

6. How to Teach Technology in PE Lessons ➕➖

A natural companion to the commercialisation post above, tackling the same challenge of teaching analytical and evaluative skills through the lens of technology in sport. It includes a live OCR A-level worked example, so you can see the technique in action before trying it with your students.

7. Fluid Mechanics: Teaching the Bernoulli Principle ⛷️

Few topics intimidate new A-level teachers quite like fluid mechanics, but this post breaks down Bernoulli’s principle with basic examples, imagery to support application, and a FREE 80-page biomechanics booklet to complement your lesson planning for biomechanics.

8. Fluid Mechanics: Teaching the Magnus Force 🎾

The natural follow-up to the Bernoulli post for OCR A-level and IBDP SEHS teachers, this one tackles spin, topspin and sidespin using sporting examples and also including our FREE biomechanics booklet mentioned above.

9. The CUB Technique: Earning PE and Sport Students Extra Exam Marks Right Now ☑️

Want a quick win you can use immediately? This technique works just as well on a 3-mark short answer question as it does on a 15-mark extended writing synoptic question. A simple, repeatable method for helping students pick up marks they might otherwise miss.

10. Free Resources Page 🆓

Beyond individual blog posts, this dedicated page collects all of TheEverLearner's free, exam-board-specific resources in one place. This includes infographics, revision materials, extended writing frames and ready-made exam questions you can download and use straight away. It's the fastest way to get your hands on ready-made materials without needing to search the blogs one post at a time. Subscribe to our free resources page directly and new resources will land in your inbox as soon as they're published, rather than you needing to go looking for them.

Conclusion and next steps

So there we have it! You can find even more blogs by going to “The Changing Rooms Blog for PE teachers”, where you’ll find a wealth of previous blogs. Think there’s something missing that you'd love to see covered? Please do get in touch and let us know what you’d like to read about next!