If your child is thinking of being a PE teacher ...

[finalay]

... you may want to suggest they aim to teach a second subject too.

As the graph shows, there's a massive oversupply of trainee PE teachers and an undersupply of most other subjects. So if your aspiring PE teacher is competing for a job in a good school, the school will be looking to see what else they can teach alongside it! PE teachers who have second subjects that are in the shortest supply will be in a much better position than those who don't.

I'm saying this as someone who knows a couple of new PE teachers who are struggling to get the jobs they want, and also as someone who works in one of the many good schools that are struggling to recruit teachers in some subjects.

Given that most people I have talked to said that PE teachers were by far the most bullying and sadistic they ever had, I would have thought that nastiness would be more of an indication of future PE teacher than lack of intelligence.

Have been out of teaching (secondary) for a few years now but all the PE teachers I knew always had a second subject which they taught alongside the PE. They seemed to get more of the non PE subject the older they were. Does this not happen now?

They did PE as an exam subject too - but only to GCSE, our school didn't have a sixth form.

Back in the 70s all our PE teachers doubled up for a different subject

Sounds like a very outdated view. PE teachers wouldn't get away with that these days. Parents would be calling them out on social media in a heartbeat.

At my school when someone said they wanted to be a PE Teacher the careers person told them "Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. Those that can't teach, teach PE." Maybe attitudes have changed in the last 25 years but certainly back then PE teachers were seen as a sort of sub-class of teacher - if they were required to teach something else, the schools were in very deep shit.

Many PE teachers go into pastoral roles when they discover they don’t want to be standing on a freezing football field at 40. They often have real strengths around managing the difficult kids in a more sympathetic way. That’s why you do see them in leadership roles

A second subject often isn’t offered in training but it could always be possible to offer to teach a subject at KS3 that you had at A Level. If I were a PE teacher that’s something I’d flag on CV or interview.

I know of schools where the PE teacher also taught an academic subject

As an aside OP, I agree with you. I will get flamed for this but I will die on this hill - it takes a certain kind of person to be a PE teacher. I’ve worked I education and I’ve never met a PE teacher who wasn’t slightly sadistic. The ones who taught me were awful. They’re very judgmental if kids aren’t into sports or don’t want to be and don’t seem to want to acknowledge that physical exercise is deeply unpleasant for many. Could do with less of those people and a massive attitude shift IMO.

I also found out that the kids who bullied me relentlessly at high school also nearly all became PE teachers. They were the sporty ones the PE teachers sucked up to

Not now. It's about the only over-subscribed subject when it comes to teacher training, which means you've got to be pretty good to get on the course. There are also now GCSE and A-level courses which means it's about a lot more than supervising kids playing football.

When our son did his teaching qualification there were way more PE teachers and primary teachers than any others . Ours did Comp Sci and he was the only one that qualified although 2 others had started with him . Apparently lots of PE teachers end up in senior leadership - probably because they don’t really want to be running around a football/ rugby field in the rain by the time they hit 40 .

I thought most pe teachers did a second subject? When I was at senior school over 20 years ago now, our pe teachers had second subjects then. I remember one of them taught geography and another science.

I think it's more the other way round in prep schools - they prefer to employ teachers who can coach sports as well as teach their subject - that enables them to have most of the school doing games at the same time, and cope with multiple Wednesday afternoon fixtures.

All subject teachers i know have at least 2 subjects. It's hard to find a job with only one subject.

My pe teacher taught PE, health and biology

@Ace56 they might not be planning/marking in the evenings (although those teaching GCSE & A level PE most certainly are), but at DC’s school at least, PE staff are at the pool for 7am swim squad 4-5 days a week, then organising and taking teams to after school fixtures. (DD gets back from her swim gala at 8pm tonight).

Sat morning DS is at school at 7.30am to travel to a cross country event and DD gets dropped at 8am for a hockey fixture. It’s not the easy option at all.

Totally agree with this. I house shared with a PE teacher in my twenties. I frequently reminded him that his impact on the kids that struggle will be significantly greater than his impact on the talented kids.

Just wanted to say hats off to your son for teaching computer science. (And if he happens to be looking for a new job, tell him to get in touch, because I know a very good school that is recruiting. 😁)

Another outdated view. I suggest you confine it to the past where it belongs.

Let's face it, a lot of teachers said a lot of shit things in the past.

I've been a teacher for nearly 30 years in a variety of schools. I have known very few PE teachers who taught a second subject. There's often at least one on SLT. The fact that there's little (not no) marking no doubt helps when finding the time for hoop-jumping, looking keen and showing that you're going the extra mile with other things.

DH was Director of Sport at an independent school which is just a posh PE job. He studied abroad where every teacher qualified in sport and another subject to A Level standard. He did biology along with the sports. It was a strong scientific degree so definitely not for those who aren't academically bright.

My DH was a talented sportsman who was told 'Keep your sports as a hobby' and teach another subject. He did and retained his enthusiasm for his sports long after most PE teachers he worked alongside. Plus he stayed fitter as being a PE teacher means you're blowing a whistle not running about.

Two of my former PE teaching colleagues went on to become HTs.

I actually thought for a while this was a thing, that they were getting told to have a backup subject. However the newer PE graduates I’ve met didn’t have that.
My experience is male PE teachers do end up in SLT a lot. I think lighter workload than some subjects and the confidence of sports and leadership skills they’ve learnt helps them.

I have met a few PE teachers in their 40s (mostly the men) who have knee issues in particular. They often played a lot of football outside of school when they were younger, plus the activity of the job, it starts to catch up with them. So a second subject is key. I know a lot who teach Health and Social Care.

I know 2 HT who were PE teachers as well.

In the last 3 years we have had 2 Deputy Heads and 2 Assistant heads that are PE teachers. Unfortunately when the 2 most recent were appointed , 2 mainscale PE teachers ( 1 male, 1 female) were made redundant due to having too many PE teachers.

I know someone who is a PE teacher (now SLT) and at the time you had to take another subject alongside. They chose geography but ended up teaching maths, even though no maths A level!