Review of Making Every PE Lesson Count

Making Every PE Lesson Count is a practical, research-informed guide that every PE teacher, and every school leader supporting PE, should have on their shelves. Written with clarity and purpose, the book takes the well-established “Making Every Lesson Count” framework and applies it directly to the PE classroom and sports hall, offering concrete strategies that help teachers raise expectations, deepen learning, and foster a lifelong love of physical activity in students.

From the very start, the book captures why PE matters. The introduction frames PE as more than drills and fitness; it is about resilience, determination, and the development of habits that can shape students’ lives beyond school. Real classroom anecdotes sit alongside references to educational research, making the content both credible and relatable.

What stands out is how the book unpacks six core pedagogical principles, challenge, explanation, modelling, practice, questioning, and feedback, and situates them in the realities of PE teaching. For example:

• Challenge is illustrated through examples of pushing students beyond their comfort zone, not only in practical skills but also in theory content like GCSE exam preparation.
• Explanation goes beyond teacher talk to stress the importance of making implicit thinking visible, “lifting the veil” so students understand not just what to do, but why.
• Modelling is explored through vivid examples, such as breaking down complex actions in athletics or using comparative modelling to highlight the difference between weak and strong performances.
• Practice highlights both purposeful repetition and fluency, drawing on cognitive science to stress the importance of interleaving, spacing, and retrieval.
• Questioning is brought alive with authentic classroom dialogue, showing how effective prompts can move students from surface recall to deeper analysis.
• Feedback is tackled with refreshing honesty, offering sustainable whole-class strategies alongside ideas for fostering self-checking and peer critique.

The book’s strength lies in its balance of theory and practice. Research from Dylan Wiliam, John Hattie, and Daniel Willingham is threaded throughout, but it never overwhelms. Instead, the emphasis is always on what works in a busy PE lesson—whether that’s scaffolding exam answers, giving real-time coaching cues, or managing practice so it is genuinely purposeful.

Visually, the book is accessible and engaging. Simple diagrams, student-teacher dialogue, and checklists make the strategies easy to apply straight away. Reflective questions at the end of sections prompt teachers to consider their own practice, making this not just a book to read but a tool for professional growth.

For school leaders, Making Every PE Lesson Count offers assurance that PE can be just as intellectually rigorous as any other subject, while also reminding us of the unique role it plays in building confidence, teamwork, and resilience. It is a book that bridges academic research and the day-to-day demands of the sports hall, helping teachers at every stage of their career deliver high-quality outcomes for all students.

Verdict:

 This is more than just a PE teaching manual—it is a call to view PE as a vital, intellectually demanding subject that deserves the same professional attention as maths, English, or science. Accessible, evidence-informed, and deeply practical, Making Every PE Lesson Count will undoubtedly become a go-to resource for PE teachers and school leaders alike.