Entry Requirements and Fees
Typical Offer (individual offers may vary):
Tariff points: 96 - 112
A Level: BBC - CCC
BTEC: DMM - MMM
GCSEs: English language and mathematics at grade C/4 or better
IELTS 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5
Interview: Yes. Applicants who demonstrate relevant experience and / or understanding, as well as commitment to and enthusiasm for, the profession may receive a lower (grades) offer.
Enhanced DBS check required.
2021/22 UK fee: £9,250
2021/22 International fee: £14,050
For further details about fees, please see our Tuition Fee page.
For further details about international scholarships, please see our Scholarships page.
Student view
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"I chose to study here as the course was a perfect fit for what I want to do. You learn a wide range of sports to be able to teach and coach on placements and after you graduate."
Course content
- 15th for student satisfaction (Complete University Guide Subject League Table 2021)
BA (Hons) Physical Education (Secondary Years) is designed to provide you with the opportunity to experience and develop the core skills underpinning the teaching of physical education in secondary schools. The modular approach to this degree will enable you to develop an understanding of the science of pedagogy and understand the lifespan of athletic development of individuals who participate in sport activity. The course content will build on your existing knowledge of sport activity and provide the opportunity to develop a sound academic foundation on which students will build their teaching skills.
Our degree course is delivered on a modular basis covering academic and pedagogical studies. You will experience a variety of teaching methods across the modules including lectures, group work, seminars, practical workshops and laboratory sessions. In addition, there is individual directed work leading to research and enquiry.
You are assigned an academic advisor who provides a personal link for the entire duration of your time on the course. Your own personal expertise and experience is valued to enhance the overall learning of the whole group supplementing the formal university input.
We have over 180 years’ experience of training top quality teachers which proves that we are among the best institutions in the country to train you. The modular approach to this degree will build on your existing knowledge and encourage you to explore and learn the art of teaching and sports coaching through a well-balanced diet of practical and theoretical activities.
Our ‘learn through doing’ philosophy is central to the course and our expert staff will engage you with a variety of dynamic and interactive approaches that encourage strong theory-to-practice links. You will spend a proportion of time on placement in school and, under the careful supervision of your personal academic advisor and professional workplace mentor, you will develop your skills in teaching.
For those wishing to progress to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), we offer progression routes on to the PGCE in Secondary PE. We also provide opportunities to train through School Direct.
There is the option to study abroad in Europe at one of our partner universities.
Our facilities
Campus Location: Chichester
We offer you some of the best sporting facilities available to study for a degree. All of our facilities are designed for academic teaching, research, British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) competitions and for your social/recreational use throughout the week and weekends.
The world-class Tudor Hale Centre for Sport is the focus of sporting activities both academic and recreational at the University. It incorporates a suite of state of the art sport science laboratories, a sports injury clinic, a strength and conditioning room and a fitness centre. In addition there is a sports hall. Located beside the Tudor Hale Centre for Sport you will find our Sports Dome, lano sand dressed astro turf and a grass rugby pitch.
Facilities:
Sports Dome
Four tennis courts which can be used for a variety of sports.
Sports hall
Used for basketball, netball, trampolining, badminton, volleyball, cricket, soccer, table tennis, hockey and ultimate frisbee.
Fitness suite
Various membership levels available. Weights, resistance and cardio machines.
Indoor and outdoor climbing walls and climbing boulder
Available for any student to use after an induction and when Tudor Hale Centre for Sport is open.
Grass football and rugby pitches
Floodlit lano sand-dressed astro turf
A top of the range Lano sand-dressed astro all completely compliant to International Hockey federation standards.
- 110m synthetic athletics track
- Strength and conditioning room
- Two multi-purpose gymnasiums
- Outdoor netball and tennis court
Two seminar rooms
Cricket nets
Sport Science Laboratories:
Four dedicated psychology labs including a Virtual Reality Reader, Brain Imaging Unit and Observation Suite.
Two dedicated biomechanics labs
Five dedicated physiology labs
Used for testing on treadmills, bikes and various other pieces of equipment.
An environmental chamber
Used to simulate heat, altitude, etc.
A sports injury clinic and adjoining rehabilitation space
Sports Therapy students use these spaces for practical sessions and run a clinic. It is open for students, staff and external visitors who require treatment also either from Sports Therapy students or staff.
Where this can take you
Many students are committed to teaching Physical Education in a secondary school. It will provide a valuable degree qualification that will take you forward to your chosen career path including: PGCE leading to QTS (secondary age ranges)/School Direct/further degree qualification.
Postgraduate level study:
Alumni receive a 15% discount on postgraduate courses at Chichester
- PGCE Primary
- PGCE Secondary
- School Direct
- School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT)
- MA Sport Pedagogy and Physical Education
- MSc Applied Sport and Exercise Nutrition
- MSc Physical Activity and Public Health
- MSc Physiotherapy (Pre-Registration)*
- MSc Sports Coaching
- MSc Sport and Exercise Biomechanics
- MSc Sport and Exercise Physiology
- MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology (BPS route)
- MSc Sports Performance Analysis
- MSc Strength and Conditioning
- Postgraduate Research (PhD)
*Subject to approval
Work placements
Placement opportunities provide you with a strong vocational focus.
This is what our students had to say about placements:
“School placements opportunities are available and these prepare you for a career in teaching in secondary schools.”
“The opportunities provided through residentials allowed me to grow and develop both personally and professionally and allowed me to gain accurate insight into life after university.”
“Good range of teaching placements within a variety of schools.”
“It massively improved my ability and confidence to teach a wide range of sports through great experience in placements and lectures during my time here.”
Placements Office
Chichester Institute of Sport has a dedicated Placement Coordinator.
Students are ultimately responsible for finding their own placement, however, the Placement Coordinator is available to assist students and has a network of contacts in local clubs and schools.
Our students are from all over the UK with the majority from the South and South East of England and a few students from overseas.
Many students find work placements in their home towns, as well as local opportunities in Sussex.
Placements are integral to your development as a student and are integrated within University-based work.
You will need to ensure you have all the necessary documentation in place before you start your placement.
To contact the Placement Co-ordinator please email Clare Deacon c.deacon@chi.ac.uk or call 01243 793542.
Course accreditations

Indicative modules
Year One
Professional Issues in Coaching and Teaching
This module aims to address contemporary topics relating to the professional issues surrounding teaching and coaching whilst exploring and debating current developments in both professions.
Knowledge and Understanding of Individual Activities (Aesthetics)
This module aims to analyse in detail movement related to gymnastics and dance. You will explore gymnastics in its broadest sense within elements identified as Formal, Educational, Sporting and Rhythmic. The application of biomechanical principles, including Laban technique, will be used in the evaluation of gymnastic and dance performance. Within dance, the aim is to explore dance composition, performance and appreciation.
Foundations of Movement and Principles of Games
Explore the teaching of games with a developmental focus. You will learn to break down simple skills into key components to help children learn and understand.
Principles of Play Through Invasion Games
You will participate in a range of practical sessions that will examine attacking and defensive principles of play, and analyse the technical and tactical aspects of performance when applying different principles of play to invasion games.
Fundamental Movement Skills and Child Development
This module aims to develop your knowledge of fundamental movement skills (FMS) and child maturation. Emphasis will be placed on how Physical Education teachers and sport coaches facilitate developmentally appropriate pedagogy.
Active Schools
Explore the issues surrounding Physical Education and its role in the health and activity agenda. Consideration of personal and social barriers and facilitators within and outside the school environment will also be given.
The Enquiring Practitioner 1
While learning the technical components involved in the teaching and coaching of specific skills, you will also be introduced to fundamental biomechanical principles which impact performance. The module will apply research and enquiry to real-life lived experiences that are associated with graduate destinations.
Developing Professional and Academic Skills
This module aims to help you make the transition between UK qualifications levels three and four (Year One at university) by advancing intellectual and academic skills, which will support you throughout your programme. As part of the developing professional skills part of this module you will focus on issues surrounding employability and developing graduate employability skills.
Year Two
Pedagogy for Activity
This module aims to further your understanding as to the ‘why’ surrounding physical activity through Physical Education. You will develop your knowledge and personal philosophy as to what you believe you want to deliver, how, and why, in accordance with school and Governmental policies.
Striking and Fielding/Net and Wall Games
While learning the technical components involved in the teaching and coaching of specific skills, you will also be introduced to fundamental biomechanical principles which impact performance.
Purposeful Practice for Games-Based Physical Education
You will participate in a range of practical sessions that will explore different types of practice and have the opportunity to design practices for developing technical, tactical, and/or physical aspects of games-based performance.
Option Group B: Muscles and Movement – Anatomy in Motion
An introduction to the basic concepts of anatomy and biomechanics as they relate to human movement and performance in sport and exercise. You are shown how such concepts can be practically investigated and will illustrate the integrative nature of anatomy and biomechanics.
Option Group B: Working with Individuals
This module focuses on the multi-faceted process of the coach-athlete and teacher-pupil relationship. Drawing on contemporary psychological research which places this relationship at the centre of athlete and pupil development, this module will explore the sources, nature, and synthesis of sports specific and psychological theory and its application in the development of sporting competence in athletes and pupils.
Pedagogical Skills in Track & Field Athletics and Swimming
This module aims to provide you with an opportunity to develop your knowledge, understanding, and personal performance of track and field athletics events and swimming strokes. You may have the opportunity to apply your knowledge and understanding of technical aspects, by planning and leading small group sessions.
Understanding and Managing Individual Differences
Build on your understanding of effective teaching and coaching by understanding and applying principles of equality and inclusive practice.
Option Group A: Pedagogy of Outdoor and Adventurous Activities
Through theoretical, practical, and residential experiences the module seeks to provide you with an understanding of the activities that are implicit to the programme and an appreciation of the principles that underpin outdoor learning more generically. This module aims to provide you with an understanding of Outdoor and Adventurous Activities at KS3/KS4.
Option Group A: Reflection: Developing Your Teaching and Coaching
This module aims to provide an opportunity to select and develop specialist areas of interest. You will be required to develop skills in introspection, reflection, and reflective practice drawing upon theoretical concepts relating to pedagogy of sport and education. You will agree a suitable programme of work within a professional context of your choice which will involve you immersing yourselves in the culture and practices of this working environment.
Option Group B: Critical Issues in Physical Education and Sports Coaching
Option Group B: Fundamentals of Human Physiology
You will cover the fundamental principles of Human Physiology by examining how key systems such as the musculoskeletal system, the cardio-vascular system, and the respiratory system affect human performance.
The Enquiring Practitioner 2
You will cover the fundamental principles of Human Physiology by examining how key systems such as the musculoskeletal system, the cardio-vascular system, and the respiratory system affect human performance.
Year Three
The Research Dissertation
This module is the culmination of previous learning and is the major element of your independent enquiry on your programme. The module requires that students reflect on, and utilise the knowledge base, context, and application of taught modules, as well as placement experiences. It is designed to encourage you to generate and explore your own `problem' assisted by supervision from a tutor.
Teaching Approaches and Behaviours in Invasion Games
You will have the opportunity to lead practical sessions with a focus on a particular teaching approach. You will need to critically reflect on the different teaching approaches and how the pedagogical behaviours influence performance and learning within these approaches.
Active Schools: Mental Health and Wellbeing
The module aims to analyse the contribution of sport and physical activity to mental health and wellbeing. The influence of the role of teachers/coaches and pedagogical practice on the growing and developing brain will be examined.
Option Group A: Off-Site Educational Trips for Outdoor Learning
This module aims to use a residential experience at an outdoor centre to explore the application of different Outdoor and Adventurous Activities teaching methods to fulfill a range of pupil needs.
Option Group B: Applied Social Issues in Physical Education and Sports Coaching
Option Group B: Planning and Monitoring of Training and Performance
Focus on planning and monitoring the training of athletes and how a programme of physiological support can be used to enhance performance. You will engage in current literature identifying the physiological demands of the athletes chosen sport, key measures of physical fitness, and how we can enhance them.
Option Group A: Practical Applications for Coaching and Teaching
This module aims to provide you with blended learning opportunities via university-based work that develops and enhances depth of knowledge when working practically with performers. It is aimed to run concurrently with the Practical Pedagogy (Placement) module so that you can apply theory to the practical coaching and teaching environments within your micro sessions and placement context.
Option Group B: Biomechanics in Sport & Exercise
The emphasis will be on the application of biomechanics in the assessment, evaluation, and improvement of technique in a range of sports. Practical experiences will include the role of biomechanical kinetic and kinematic assessment in the analysis of sport and the ways we can use technology to aid our understanding of complex skills.
Option Group B: Working with Teams
This module focuses on the requirements of effective coaching delivery within groups and teams. Building on the content of Working with Individuals, this module will critically analyse and address the knowledge and skills necessary to work with groups of athletes across key coaching contexts. You will understand how to assess the needs of a group, and the individuals within, and address this in your planning and delivery.
Practical Pedagogy (Placement)
An opportunity to experience a placement within a practical setting. This module aims to develop and refine pedagogical skills so that you can enhance pupil/performer progress and learning within a practical environment.
International English Studies
Teaching and assessment
We want you to be creative and innovative teachers so we will teach you in creative and innovative ways.
You will be taught through a variety of highly practical approaches. You will be assessed through a variety of methods including your ability to plan, trach and evaluate, group presentations, research projects, lab work, analysis of practical sports performance.
Additional Costs
Additional Costs
Tips for applying
Personal Statement
- Personal sporting expertise – sell yourself!
- Relevant experience working with children (coaching, teaching, leadership etc)
- Transferable skills gained from A Level/BTEC courses, work experience, etc
- Personal qualities, interests relevant to teaching profession
Interview Process
- A short practical task focusing on fundamental movement skills
- A formal interview
Watch the video below about what to expect at our PE interviews.