Many of our children are exposed to greater diversity than ever before, through direct contact with the people around them, as well as via various media channels with which they interact daily. However, our world also reflects a society that is increasingly affected by intolerance, suspicion and stereotyping. A huge component of human wellbeing is tied up in how we meet the world, and how the world meets us. Recent world events have made this ever more acutely felt - our safety and wellbeing is inextricably linked to how we compassionately engage with other people and with our environment, whoever we are.
Our legal obligation to the Equality Act 2010 as educators has ensured a heightened focus on schools' engagement with their statutory duties with this Act, which prohibits unlawful discrimination and the less favourable treatment of an individual on the basis of any protected characteristic, including sex, religion and belief, race and disability. This engagement must go beyond simply putting in place the all-important policies and procedures. It involves reaching into the hearts and minds of staff and students alike in ways that are human, tangible and often fiendishly difficult to tackle as part of the curriculum - not least during a global pandemic.
No matter the circumstances which may act to restrict their movement across physical boundaries or geographical borders, the curriculum should include meaningful interaction with the world around us. We are preparing global citizens to take their place in the world and we need to both maximise on the cultural capital they bring with them, and with that of each other and the wider world. PE professionals are not all about whistles, windy playing fields and winning games - the PE curriculum has a firm commitment to educate the whole child, and practitioners are creative and inventive in how they do this.
We were delighted to have the opportunity to work with Youth Sport Trust recently. PE inclusion leads were invited to explore Lyfta's interactive and immersive human storyworlds and use them as a tool to support young people with special needs to engage with physical activity offline.
We collaborated with Youth Sport Trust on an online training session with a group of 50 PE Leads across a number of schools nationwide. They were given access to the platform and over 100 lesson and assembly plans, including a special resource created by Lyfta and Youth Sport Trust focusing specifically on PE, school sport, health and wellbeing themes within the storyworlds. Teachers were particularly interested in using Lyfta to ensure that their students engaged with physical activity during lockdown, the period of return to schools, and beyond.
Teachers involved in this project with Youth Sport Trust found that the experience of using Lyfta was impactful for a number of reasons:
Empowerment
The self-navigation of the platform enabled children to make decisions, discover and report on what they had explored, developing their sense of confidence and empowerment.
