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New activities to boost girls' enjoyment of PE

7th February 2023

The updated Studio You brings new instructors and content to keep helping girls who are put off by traditional PE lessons.

Teenage girls are being given more choice about how they get active in PE lessons as our Studio You platform expands with more content and new instructors.

Launched in September 2021, Studio You is an on-demand video library of activities designed for 11-16-year-olds who have previously felt disengaged from traditional PE lessons.

The campaign has already reached more than 100,000 schoolgirls, with 50% of secondary schools in England have signed up.

Two Studio You instructors stretch in front of a pink backdrop

This update sees more content added to the digital platform, with activities including yoga, boxing, Pilates and dance, as well as an increased range of instructors for teachers to choose from.

As ever, the content has been developed on insight coming from extensive research done with teachers and teenage girls – a vital reason so many schools have already signed up, according to This Girl Can’s head of campaign activation Claire Edwards.

“We know that many girls thrive in a traditional sport setting, that they love to play in a more competitive environment and that this can be a very important part of PE,” she said.

“But our research shows there are also many that don’t, and we wanted to find a way to support these less-engaged girls to get active and start building healthy habits for life to close the gender activity gap, which is stubborn and starts young.

“The aim of the programme is to broaden the pool of activity choices on offer through PE so there’s something for every girl, and to provide teachers with some support on introducing new disciplines that they may be less familiar with.”

This research shows that nearly half of women in England (47%) didn’t enjoy PE activities, compared to only 26% of men.
 

The aim of the programme is to broaden the pool of activity choices on offer through PE so there’s something for every girl, and to provide teachers with some support on introducing new disciplines that they may be less familiar with.

Claire Edwards

Head of campaign activation, This Girl Can

It also showed that 57% of women said PE lessons made them feel judged, compared to 32% of men, while 56% said they felt uncomfortable (vs. 36% of men) and 54% felt anxious (vs. 36% of men).

A further 37% said they had a negative experience in PE opposed to just a fifth (20%) of men.

All of this is why Studio You takes This Girl Can’s ambitions into schools and empowers teachers across the nation to break the PE mould, inspiring positive behaviours and attitudes physical activity in young girls.

Studio You is funded by Sport England and The National Lottery and produced in conjunction with social impact specialists Hopscotch Consulting.

Find out more

Not heard of Studio You but like the sound of it? Tell the PE teacher in your life to check it out.

Studio You