This survey is now closed.

Podium Analytics is launching a survey to find out if and how PE teachers and sports coaches manage young people's workload in the context of sport at school, and their perception of whether it can be done effectively in the school environment to reduce injury risk and improve young people's overall experience of sport and physical activity.

Our findings will inform a major new project on workload, adaptation and injury in sport which, with insights gained from the school environment and experts in the field, aims to establish a set of guidelines and consensus for PE teachers and sports coaches on workload management in grassroot sport.

The project will consider the current state of grassroots workload management in grassroots sport, and how best practice could be translated into school and club environments.

We need your help!

We are inviting PE teachers, Heads of PE/Directors of Sport and sports coaches teaching PE and/or sport in secondary schools or sixth form colleges to complete a short survey that will only take 10 minutes.

The survey features questions on current and past school experiences, PE and extra-curricular activity structure and participation, and confidence in managing workload at school.

For this survey, workload in sport means the activities in PE and sport that young people are doing, (including how much, how long etc) and the efforts needed to do them. Workload management is defined as the monitoring, reducing or varying of activities and recovery, to reduce injury risk and improve their overall experience of sport and physical activity.

If you’d like to share your perspective:

COMPLETE THE SURVEY

About the study

In youth sport, managing workload is a key component of healthy adaptation. It improves general health and performance and is important for growth and development in young people, where too much or too little workload can lead to injury.

How do you know how much is too much, too soon?

This collaborative project aims to develop, deliver and establish of a series of consensus guidelines on workload management in grassroot sport aged 11–18. These guidelines will be developed through a series of workshops involving expert practitioners in training and competition workload, current practice from National Governing Bodies and sport and PE teachers, with a view to supporting support youth coach and teachers’ decision-making.

The guidelines will have practical understanding of, and application to, the school and club environments, and will be supplemented by educational materials designed to help teachers, PE teachers and grassroots coaches deliver the basics well.

The survey will be closed on 20th February 2023. 

How will I be helping?

Your contribution will help us better understand the roles of PE teacher and sport coaches teaching PE and sport working with 11–18-year-olds, and what workload management (the monitoring, reducing or varying of activities and recovery to reduce injury risk and improve individual progression, performance and wellbeing) looks like in schools.

The data captured from the survey and further discussions will inform Podium’s research direction and be used in engagement with experts to illustrate the school context of workload management and the opportunities and challenges that exist.

To find out more, download our Participant Information Sheet below.

“From our work so far, we know that physical load at schools is often at its minimum and sports injury is more likely to occur in the extra hours outside of school competitive sport, where young people can be pushed past their ability too quickly. Young people often compete in multiple sports in multiple environments, or one sport in multiple environments – all without being considered ‘elite’ – and are constantly exposed to multiple cognitive and psychological loads when at school. We want to understand what the sporting picture inside and outside school looks like for young people, and support teachers and coaches with basic principles to follow when they don’t have all the information on young people’s workload, or ability to make decisions to support young people in lifelong participation in sport.”

Contact

If you have any queries, would like to contribute or are interested to find out more about the project, please contact Kat Jones, Research and Innovation: School/Club Programme Lead

kat.jones@podiumanalytics.org