Einleitung

The UK’s coalition government released a statutory national curriculum in September 2014 that specified the programmes of study and attainment targets for each subject in all local authority-maintained mainstream schools in England (Department for Education [DfE], 2013). The aim of this short article is to debate the potential impact of the 2014 national curriculum physical education (NCPE) on the long-term participation in physical activity as an aspect of the leisure lifestyles of pupils identified as having special educational needs (SEN). Positive early learning experiences in mainstream physical education (PE) are supposed to have a significant impact on the lifelong participation in physical activity as part of young people’s leisure lifestyles (Kirk, 2005), including those with SEN. While attempts to address lifelong physical activity as part of people’s leisure often focuses on young people generally, and their experiences of PE in particular, the needs of those with SEN are rarely considered by government, schools, service providers or academics. Of course, differences in national legislation, education structures, funding mechanisms, school priorities and conceptualisations of SEN will influence the PE experiences of pupils with SEN in other countries (European Agency for Development in Special Needs Education, 2003) and, therefore, future lifestyles. Particular light is cast in the direction of the UK’s newest NCPE given that the position of team games and competitive sport appears to have been strengthened, rather than challenged, in mainstream secondary schools despite research suggesting that (1) it is more difficult to meet the needs and capitalise on the capabilities of pupils with SEN when these activities are delivered (Fitzgerald, 2005; Morley, Bailey, Tan, & Cooke, 2005; Smith, 2004) and (2) that the traditional, structured and hierarchal sport-based PE curriculum is at odds with the lifestyle activities of adults, which can influence whether young people carry on participating in physical activity into adulthood (Wheaton, 2010).