Should Sixth Form Have Compulsory PE? A Teacher’s On-the-Ground Perspective
Last Tuesday, Mia burst into my form room 10 minutes early, her blazer still dotted with October rain, and threw her A-level biology textbook on the desk so hard a pencil rolled onto the floor. “I’m this close to pulling out of compulsory PE,” she said, leaning against the back of the chair. “I have my UKCAT next Saturday, I blocked out this morning’s free period to practice, and now I’ve lost it for 40 minutes of running around a badminton court I don’t want to be on.” She crossed her arms. “I walk my dog for an hour every night after dinner, and I swim twice a week at the leisure centre. Why do I have to do this?”
I’ve been a sixth form tutor at a 16-18 college in southern England for seven years, and we introduced compulsory timetabled PE two years ago as a response to rising rates of student stress and a noticeable shift toward more sedentary free periods. I’ve sat through countless staff meetings about the policy, and I’ve heard every angle from students and parents, so Mia’s frustration wasn’t new. But it’s a stark contrast to what I’ve seen with another of my tutees, Tom, that makes the whole debate so messy.
A few desks over that same morning, Tom was packing up his calculator after a quick problem-solving session before his next lecture. Tom does maths, further maths and physics, and holds an offer for engineering from Imperial College London this year. Before we brought in compulsory PE, he’d spend every break, lunch and free period at his desk, rarely talking to anyone, and his mum emailed me three times in one term saying he was sleeping less and snapping at his little sister over nothing. When he was forced to pick a PE option, he signed up for the school’s indoor climbing wall on a whim, because it was the only thing that didn’t involve running. Last week he told me that hour a week of climbing is the only time he doesn’t think about grade boundaries or interview prep. “I leave the gym and my head feels empty, in a good way,” he said. His mum told me last month he’s now sleeping seven hours a night, up from five this time last year.
No one is debating that physical activity is good for 16 to 18 year olds. The problem comes when you make PE compulsory, one-size-fits-all, timetabled into an already packed sixth form schedule. Unlike lower school, sixth form students have uneven timetables, juggling A-level classes, work experience, extracurriculars, part-time jobs and last-minute revision for upcoming mocks or entrance exams. Shoving a PE class into their only two-hour free block of the week doesn’t just take an hour of activity—it takes 15 minutes to change, 10 minutes to get back to the study area, and another 15 minutes to refocus on work after. That’s almost two hours lost for an hour of movement that many students would already get another way. That’s what was eating at Mia.
After a year of feedback from students and parents, we adjusted our policy this year, and it’s made a huge difference. We didn’t scrap the physical activity requirement—we just uncoupled it from compulsory timetabled school PE. The rule now is simple: all students need to log 2.5 hours of moderate physical activity a week, matching the national guideline. They can do this through our in-school options, which include climbing, yoga, a local walking group and the traditional team sports, or they can log any activity they do outside of school. Walking the dog, dance classes, horse riding, gym sessions before school—anything counts, as long as they check in with their form tutor once a half-term to confirm their log.
For parents whose children are frustrated by their school’s compulsory PE policy, this adjustment offers a clear path. Don’t just default to telling your kid “it’s good for you” or jump straight into a heated complaint to the school. First, ask them to pin down exactly what the problem is: is it the activity? The inconvenient timetabling? Do they already have a consistent routine they don’t want to give up? Then help them draft a short, specific email to the head of sixth form. Instead of saying “my child hates PE and shouldn’t have to go,” frame it around the shared goal of wellbeing: “My child does one hour of daily walking plus two hours of swimming a week, which meets the recommended activity guidelines, and would like to request to log their external activity to meet the requirement instead of attending timetabled PE, which is currently taking up their only weekly study period for their upcoming entrance exam.” Most schools brought in compulsory PE to support student wellbeing, so they’re usually open to reasonable adjustments when the request is specific.
This new system isn’t perfect. Some students forget to log their activity, or fudge their logs because they don’t move much at all. We’ve had to add a 10 minute check-in at form time every two weeks to keep everyone on track, which adds a small amount of extra admin for already stretched staff. Some of my colleagues still argue we should force everyone to attend in-school PE, because that’s the only way inactive students will build a habit. But so far this year, 80% of our students who were inactive last year have picked an activity they actually enjoy, either in or out of school, compared to just 30% when we forced everyone into the same badminton or football sessions. Mia got approved for her external log, got her study period back, and still sticks to her walking and swimming routine. She told me last week just feeling like the school trusts her to manage her own health has cut down her stress more than any compulsory PE class ever could.
We’re still tweaking the logging process, still talking through the kinks with students each half-term. There’s no perfect one-size-fits-all solution for any sixth form policy, really. But what’s become clear to me is that if we’re asking 17 year olds to plan their own university applications, manage their own revision and prepare for adult life, it makes sense to trust them to manage their own physical activity too. Compulsory movement makes sense for sixth form—compulsory PE doesn’t have to.
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