Physical Education and Youth Sport Coaching

Physical education and youth sport coaching addresses a set of interrelated challenges that sit at the heart of how children and young people are introduced to physical activity, sport, and healthy living. Physical education provides the educational framework, asking how movement, play, and sport can be taught effectively in schools to develop not just physical skills but confidence, teamwork, resilience, and lifelong habits. Youth sport coaching takes a more performance-oriented perspective, focusing on how young athletes are developed, motivated, and supported to reach their potential within and beyond the school environment.

Together, the two areas address the urgent question of how to create a more physically active generation.

At the University of Huddersfield, this three-year, full-time degree develops your understanding of both dimensions of practice. You will study the science of physical development and performance alongside the pedagogy of effective teaching and coaching, learning how to design and deliver sessions that are developmentally appropriate, motivating, and evidence-based. The programme engages with the national agendas around physical activity, participation, and sporting pathways, preparing you to work within these contexts professionally and critically.

Graduates from this degree pursue careers as physical education teachers in schools, working through initial teacher training following graduation, or as coaches in clubs, academies, and community sport organisations working with young people across a range of sports and abilities. Roles in sports development, youth work, after-school programme delivery, and school sport partnerships also draw on this combination of skills. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in education, sport science, or coaching, deepening their expertise and qualifying for teaching roles.