Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to reinstate martial arts to the curriculum for (a) GCSE and (b) A-Level PE.

In 2018, the government conducted a public consultation to invite proposals to add activities to the published GCSE, AS and A level PE activity lists. To be included on the list, activities needed to meet the five criteria set out in the consultation and had to be sports recognised at the time by Sport England.

Martial arts, such as judo, ju jitsu, karate, and taekwondo, were put forward for consideration, but failed to meet criterion five. They were found to have too many variations which would make it too difficult for teachers and moderators to reliably assess.

The department currently has no plans for a review of the PE activity lists. The government wishes to provide certainty for schools by not changing the lists of eligible activities on a regular basis. Nevertheless, it is important to note that the inclusion or non-inclusion of an activity on the list does not represent a view on the legitimacy or value of the activity. Activities are included based solely upon whether they meet the criteria set out in the consultation and therefore their suitability as a means of assessing students’ skills as part of a PE qualification.