PE teaching hours: guidance and examples

It's up to you how many hours of PE your school teaches each week. Find out what the DfE recommends, and take a look at how many hours of PE other schools teach.

Last reviewed on 1 October 2025
School types: AllSchool phases: AllRef: 7423
Contents
  1. You decide how many hours to teach
  2. The DfE encourages schools to teach at least 2 hours per week
  3. Take a look at how many hours of PE other schools offer

You decide how many hours to teach

There's no required number of hours you need to teach PE for each week, so you can choose. Take your pupils' needs and circumstances into account when deciding how much time to spend on it.

Maintained schools: you must teach PE as part of the National Curriculum at both primary and secondary level – see your requirements

Academies: you don't have to follow the National Curriculum, but your curriculum at both primary and secondary phases must be 'broad and balanced', and promote pupils' physical development. Read more about your requirements in our other article.

You can also decide what counts as PE time

There's no statutory guidance on what constitutes a PE lesson, so you can decide what counts towards your PE provision. The DfE told us this.

The DfE encourages schools to teach at least 2