Coventry martial arts group launched a campaign to reinstate the sport in GCSE PE

IN A BID TO rectify what they see as an unfair exclusion, a Coventry Taekwon-Do academy has launched a campaign to reinstate martial arts in GCSE PE.

The petition, has gained support from local and national communities, argues that martial arts, despite being deemed too specialized for teachers to mark, should be evaluated using similar criteria as other specialized sports already included in the GCSE PE curriculum, such as horse riding and swimming.

The academy, in collaboration with a team from Aylesbury, is leading the charge to bring about this change, with the backing of numerous martial arts practitioners and educators, including PE teachers and headteachers.

The effort has extended to engaging with local Members of Parliament, the Department of Education, Ofqual, and all the examination boards.

The campaign’s online petition, hosted on the UK Parliament website, has already garnered 9,300 signatures, inching closer to its 10,000-signature goal required for government consideration.

Zoe Tizick who is heading this campaign said: “We believe that martial arts offer valuable physical and mental benefits to young people, and it’s unfair to exclude them from the list of approved activities.

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“Our aim is to ensure equal opportunities for all students across the country.”

Students in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, as well as those attending private schools in England, can incorporate martial arts into their GCSE PE activities, students in state schools in England are currently unable to do so.

Zoe added they want to address the discrepancy that allows sports like skateboarding, windsurfing, and figure skating to count towards students’ PE grades while martial arts do not.

In addition to the online petition, the campaign has established a presence on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, where they share updates and engage with supporters under the handles ‘MartialArtsGCSE’ and ‘@gcseMartialArts’.

Visit: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/657717 to find out more about the petition.