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Dear colleagues,
I wanted to take this week’s blog as an opportunity to share with you all that the PE Data Centre is now officially live and is available for all ExamSimulator customers.
Whilst “The PE Data Centre” might not sound like the most invigorating of projects by name, I believe its impact could be very significant for PE teachers and students in the years to come.
Before we get started...
Whether you are already a customer or not, you can find out more about our ExamSimulator product (and the PE Data Centre) by completing this form. If you are already a customer with ExamSimulator on your subscription, don't worry - you already have access to it completely for free 😊...
What is the PE Data Centre?
In summary, the aim of the PE Data Centre is...
When you read this statement, you might believe that the PE Data Centre is purely about exam preparation. This would be inaccurate. In my opinion (and as I hope you will see below) the PE Data Centre is a provocative tool that will challenge PE teachers to consider, broadly, the experiences they are providing and the skills they are developing in lessons whether through assessment or through any other means.
The PE Data Centre is, in many ways, a "drop-in" resource for PE teachers. It enables a teacher of AQA GCSE PE or of OCR A-level PE Paper 1, say, to visit and inspect the exact ways in which that course or paper is examined and then ensure that what they are providing meets, and hopefully exceeds, the standards required for that particular unit of learning.
Perhaps an exam would work well to demonstrate this. Let’s say that an AQA GCSE PE teacher is preparing learning materials including assessments for the teaching of the Physical Training unit of the course. Amongst other things, the teacher needs to develop an understanding of components of fitness, fitness tests and methods of training. In summary, this is the content from the specification:
Before we get started, ask yourself what assumptions you or “The average PE teacher” might make. By looking at the specification we can summarise the content which is needed. But what about the skills? What about how this content might be assessed? That is where The PE Data Centre comes in.
So, the PE teacher might do the following:
Step 1
Visit TheEverLearner.com, log in and access The PE Data Centre for AQA GCSE PE via "Assignments/Exams > Build Exam"
Step 2
Examine the Paper 1 tab taking note of the skills that the physical training unit requires.
You will notice that The PE Data centre provides the PE teacher with the exact assessment history of each section of the content. For example, look closely at Components of Fitness in row 29.
The Data Centre clearly shows us that the most relevant skills are justifying, evaluating and explaining and that, moreover, the majority of focus needs to be on far more than simply the definitions.
Step 3
The teacher then might start reflecting on the components of fitness lesson and complete, perhaps, my PE Lesson Checklist previously published via the blog. That checklist might end up looking something like this:
Step 4
The PE teacher may choose to inspect the more general picture of the AQA GCSE PE Paper 1 exam. For example, they may review typical question totals and skills that are more highly relevant:
Look closely at the importance of identifying and explaining as well as the range of AO3 commands for Paper 1. It clearly shows the teacher that any time invested VIA the components of fitness lesson(s) on justifying, evaluating and explaining will be highly relevant to the students’ general Paper 1 exam preparations.
Step 5
The teacher may go further and inspect the typical question scales for Paper 1. Take a look here:
Notice the importance of one-, two- and four-markers across Paper 1 as a whole. It clearly shows the teacher that any time invested VIA the components of fitness lesson(s) on one-, two- and four-mark questions will be highly relevant to the students’ general Paper 1 exam preparations. This does not rule out other question types. Absolutely not. But the teacher has the picture above and can make informed choices as a result.
Step 6
Finally, the PE teacher may choose to use specific exam practice questions in order to challenge the students most accurately in relation to an exam. Here’s a short video of me doing exactly that:
So, colleagues, what do you make of this? How would you like to see the PE Data Centre develop in the coming months? The thing is, what you are seeing above is just the start point. There are many, many more things that can be analysed. What would you like to see in this domain?
Thank you for reading and have a lovely day.
