The physical education and sport sector has, to some extent been the pioneers of this approach. The years of investment have been instrumental in driving this approach both within schools and beyond into club and community sport. Many of those partnerships have adapted to survive the more austere climate we are now in, and many cases are stronger than they were previously....but, for some reason and despite massive effort, ‘partnership and collaboration’ regarding the investment of resources, never quite pervaded the infrastructure of our complex and multiple funding systems to the extent that they were persuaded to change.  There remains a complex puzzle of funding regimes and schemes, and, so far, we seem to have failed to truly engage multiple investment sources to develop shared objectives and focus on the single objective of making physical education and sport more accessible.

London 2012, has and still requires, a massive team effort, coordinated from the top; gold standard preparation and delivery through partnership for success.   The aspirations of those delivering physical education and sport, the opportunity for a more innovative curriculum, are set against a backdrop of economic turndown, decreased resources, decreased investment into schools, concerns over health of future generations and little or no capacity for investment beyond basic need.  What a huge opportunity for the sector to make a lasting impression, a legacy from 2012 - by truly collaborating – shared investment into project success.

I know it’s a big ask, budgets are set, single agenda’s, multiple pot funding sources remain, but we also know that this has not met always met with success, participation rates have not significantly improved; we still have a system driven through funding opportunities, rather than long term goals.

My plea then, to those charged with investing  our resources, is to harness that same energy that was evident when resources were plentiful, and to truly collaborate as we experience times of economic slowdown and austerity, to give young people the best opportunities possible in  physical education and sport .