The aftermath of coronavirus and its impact on physical education and sport

Hints and Tips - 4 minute read

Mark Johnson, OCR Subject Advisor

The aim of this blog is to increase awareness of the current coronavirus return to play guidance from both the government and the national governing bodies (NGB’s) for the sports listed on the DfE’s approved activity list.

When will we be able to assess candidates in their chosen sports?

Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus pandemic and the government guidelines many candidates may be concerned about being able to participate and compete in their chosen activities.

We live in hope that all the specific restrictions imposed on sports will be completely lifted soon, and the government and NGB’s continually update the guidance.

We are aware that the major area of concern for centres and candidates are the summer seasonal sports such as cricket and athletics. We fully appreciate that candidates traditionally gather evidence in the summer between their first and second year of study, and many students believe that they will not have a season this summer to do this.

However, things might not be as difficult as many have feared. The England and Welsh Cricket Board website states that the UK Government gave the greenlight for recreational cricket in England to return from Saturday 11 July.

Likewise England Athletics had published a return to competition planning timeline which identifies the following significant dates:

7-19 July: Short period of pilot events organised with identified competition providers to test out systems and provide learning for other competition providers.

25 July: Potential for local competition to take place, probably small numbers and restricted disciplines.

Frameworks, guidance and resources

In addition to the governments return to recreational team sport framework and guidance for the public on the phased return of outdoor sport and recreation in England. The NGB’s for the activities on the Department for Education (DfE) approved list have produced their own guidance resources.

To quickly direct you to the most up to date information that has been published by each of the NGB’s I have compiled a helpful list with links to some of the most commonly assessed activities.

I hope that you will find this useful in your delivery and assessment planning, as we all move forward.

These links are to the most up-to-date information available on each NGB’s website as of 18/8/2020. I recommend that you regularly check each website for further updates and guidance.

Amateur boxing – England Boxing
Association football – The Football Association
Athletics – England Athletics
Badminton – Badminton England
Basketball – Basketball England
Cricket – England and Wales Cricket board
Cycling – British cycling
Dance – English Amateur Dance sport association (EADA) (As there is not one governing body that covers all of the available dance styles included in the specification, I have provided a link to the EADA guidance which is relevant to all forms of dance).
Gymnastics – British Gymnastics
Hockey – England Hockey
Rowing and sculling– British Rowing
Rugby union – Rugby Football Union
Skiing and snowboarding – Snowsport England
Swimming, diving and water polo – Swim England
Table tennis – Table Tennis England
Tennis – Lawn Tennis Association

I hope you found this information useful and if you require guidance on a specific activity or wish to share any other relevant resources you can add these in the comments below.

Stay Connected

If you have any question relating to any activities email your questions to PE@ocr.org.uk call us on 01223 553998 or follow us on Twitter @OCR_PhysEd, You can also sign up to receive email updates.

About the author

Mark joined OCR as a PE and Sport Subject advisor in October of 2018. He graduated from Staffordshire University in 1999 with a BSc Degree in Sports Studies, having previously completed a HND in Sports Science and Sports Injuries at Nottingham Trent University. After leaving University he gained employment as a residential social worker, where he also provided the PE provision in the company’s own school for a small group of 11-16-year olds with challenging behaviour. Mark then opted to pursue a career in teaching first spending a year teaching PE at his old secondary school before then lecturing Sports Studies and Sports Science at an FE College for nearly 15 years. During his time at the college he delivered, assessed and internally verified and moderated a range of OCR, Pearson, NCFE and 1st4Sport qualifications at Levels 1-3. In addition to his full-time employment Mark has also been a sports therapist, nutritionist and fitness coach at several rugby clubs for the last 18 years.