Engaging boys in PE

It might seem unusual to be writing about engaging boys in PE when the focus tends to be on keeping girls involved.  But it has long been established that girls and boys learn differently (M. Gurian, 2002) and this applies to PE lessons as well.

It can be extremely useful to have a few simple techniques up your sleeve to ensure boys are getting on and staying on task during their PE lessons.  This engagement will lead to better progress and ultimately creating a lifelong love of physical activity and sport!

Talk Less

This is standard for all teaching whether it be boys or girls and we should be aiming for 10% teacher speak. It is recognised that boys are not as good listeners as girls at the same age, being approximately 2 years behind.

Get boys active

Focus boys on the ‘doing’ part of the lesson.  Boys tend to veer towards action so include quick, simple steps in your delivery to allow them to carry out a task as soon as possible.

Challenge boys

Ensure there is plenty of extension ideas for each activity/task/skill so that you can challenge your learners.  ‘Can you do this?’,   ‘Now try that’ will keep them focused and engaged.

Include competition

Many boys thrive on competition, even if it is just against themselves.  Ensure all lesson allow for some kind of competitive element e.g. can you do more?  Can you go faster?  Can you work together to do better? Etc.

Of course we know that it is not as simple as saying boys learn one ways and girls another, but it is important to be mindful of some of the differences between genders.  Of course there are girls that love competition and everyone should be challenged in your lessons!!

Attempting to include some of the techniques described can help mitigate some of the low level behaviour issues boys’ display, allowing everyone in the class to do better.

For further plans and exciting schemes to help deliver PE for boys and girls why not subscribe to one of our lesson planning packages for your school?

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