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Ākonga reflection: Girl’s participation in sport and PE 

Ākonga reflection: Girl’s participation in sport and PE 

A student-led approach to physical activity has seen impressive results by boosting across-the-board sports participation at Mana College in Porirua, near Wellington. 

In this essay, Heidi Brian, a 2024 graduate of Mana College, explains who is more likely to drop out of sports and how creating a non-pressured space helped all students feel safe to try. 

Mana College is one of 50 secondary schools that are part of Active As, the Sport NZ-funded programme that supports students to create their own physical activity initiatives. In the past three years, Mana College has worked to build a culture where being active is a natural, enjoyable part of daily life – not something students feel they have to do. This includes a strong commitment to boosting female participation in sport. 

Between 2023 and 2025, Mana College’s ‘Voice of Rangatahi’ data showed an increase in the number of females extremely satisfied with physical education (PE), from 23 percent to 40%. The number of females participating in competitive sport at the school also rose from 48% to 61%. 

Heidi’s essay 

I believe it’s important to develop a positive connection with physical activity as early as possible. This means creating physical education (PE) lessons in schools that try to get females more involved. 

Last year, my Year 13 PE class decided to investigate why female participation in physical activity is steadily dropping. We wanted to use our results to create an environment in our school where girls wanted to participate in physical activity. 

We decided to observe the female participation in our junior PE classes. Over four lessons we came up with five key insights: 

  1. Fewer girls participated compared to boys. 
  2. The girls liked to stick together in small groups. If one girl sat out, generally a friend or two would join them. 
  3. The girls generally didn’t enjoy playing with the boys. The girls enjoyed structured lessons, with clear instructions and rules. 
  4. If the girls were playing, they often weren’t actively partaking. They stood more on the outskirts of the game boundaries. 

Next, our teacher organised for us to prepare and lead the junior PE practical classes twice a week for three weeks. 

We decided that supporting the girls to group together might be beneficial. We had girls working together on skills, so they got confident leading up to the game. We had boys playing around with no rules or boundaries, so they got some energy out before everyone came together. 

We were surprised with the result. The girls had gained confidence working with each other and they were no longer grouping during the big games – they were comfortable enough to join in. The boys were more calm and more likely to pass the ball around to everyone. 

I then designed a generic PE lesson plan for the PE department, hoping that female participation in PE 
would grow. 

If we could develop a positive culture of females exercising at school, it might begin to make a positive impact with exercise in our community. 

Ākonga reflection: Girl’s participation in sport and PE

Heidi’s ideal PE lesson 

  • Allow time for students to change into exercise clothes. 
  • Bring the class into a circle and explain to them a concept of the sport (for example, styles of defence in invasion games). 
  • Ask them a question about what they want to get out of the lesson and how they will achieve that (such as better communication, more participation or better sportsmanship). 
  • Split the boys and girls into separate groups. 
  • Have the boys play a small version of the game you’ve planned for the lesson and have them focus on passing and sharing as much as possible. 
  • Have the girls practise drills with each other that focus on the skills they’ll apply during the game and focus on getting them comfortable with making mistakes. 
  • Bring the class back into a seated circle. Explain the game in full detail making sure to set clear rules and clarify the rules may be changed during the game. Explain how the class can apply the concept of the sport you choose at the beginning of the game you’ll be playing. 
  • Modify the rules if needed (for example everyone in the team must touch the ball before scoring and all genders must touch the ball before scoring). 
  • Bring the class back into a seated circle and get them to reflect on their goal from the beginning of the class and get a reflection from them. 
  • Allow time for the students to change back into uniform. 
  • I also suggest: 
  • Implementing physical activity in primary schools that doesn’t relate to a specific sport, to expose them to a wider variety of physical activity. This could be taking the class on walks, practising yoga or doing Zumba. 
  • Having Year 12 and 13 girls who take senior PE join a junior class at least once a week – this might support female students to build confidence earlier. 
  • Create ‘give it a go’ days. This gives students the chance to learn more about a sport before they need to trial and increase the number of females participating in physical activity outside of school. 

If we can make positive changes in young females’ physical activity then it can carry through to adulthood. 


This article was originally published in the Education Gazette, 13 October 2025

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