This add-on Honours Degree in Physical Education course will add to the theoretical and technical knowledge gained at Ordinary Bachelor Degree level. Given current world health trends, a physical education degree provides graduates with the opportunity to help a new generation of children, adolescents and young adults to strive to be fit and active, life a healthy lifestyle and flourish physically and psychologically.

Physical education, physical activity, sport, fitness or education are not engaged in for the purposed of merely reducing disease risk but rather for the purposes of improving function and capacity and in the process being enjoyable or bringing about a sense of achievement.  The sense of achievement and capacity building brings about greater degrees of self-awareness of our overall relationship with our bodies and lifestyles that will spill over into other factors that contribute to our health and wellbeing, such as what we eat, what we drink, what we do to relax, what we do to rest and replenish ourselves. Engagement with physical education in this regard will provide children with the requisite knowledge competence and skills upon which they will to build a positive associations and with PE, Sport, fitness, and activities of daily living leading them towards the goal of lifelong participation. Students on this specialism will enhance their research skills during this year as well as engage in work experience within the school environment.

Following the UNESCO quality Physical Education Guidelines graduates from this course should emerge from their training with a strong theoretical basis for the relationship between health and lifestyle that is rooted in positive, strengths based approaches, a skill set that will enable them to work with individuals and groups forging wellbeing, and competence to develop and implement policies with wellbeing at the core whether within the school or community environment. They should have the capacity to influence policy, provision and practice in the following sectors; education, sport, health and community. These physical education professionals will be advocates for a strengths based approach to human capacity development. This approach focuses upon bringing the person towards a state or goal of optimum functioning aligned with self-actualisation.

This course provides an alternative pathway into second level physical education (UL/ UK) and into primary school teaching.

The Health and Leisure with Physical Education specialism graduates have studied much in common with the Health and Leisure Graduate and therefore have the theoretical and technical knowledge and skills to work in a variety of settings within youth work and adult education settings and broader community leisure settings. They can take on roles coaching, coaching within leisure facilities, facilitating coaching courses for communities, schools, colleges and teams. They are specifically educated to work within the school environment and apply a strengths based approach to physical flourishing. They will have completed work placement within the school environment and conducted research during this final year of their studies.