Fit for girls

Programme overview

Between 2005 and 2007, 27 Scottish secondary schools took part in the Girls in Sport and Physical Activity initiative; a training programme for PE staff and Active Schools Coordinators designed to facilitate new ways of engaging girls and young women in sport.

The programme grew out of a desire to put in place ideas stemming from a wealth of research and experience of issues influencing girls’ participation in sport and physical activity. 

National research and pilot programme data show that

• by the age of 14, 65% of girls do not reach the recommended levels of physical activity;
• 54% of girls do not enjoy PE and 50% do not think PE is an important subject
• 37% of girls do not think they are good at sport and physical activity
• 44% of girls feel on display whilst taking part in sport and physical activity
• 31% of girls want more variety in PE and extra curricular activities
• 43% of women above 16 years old do not participate.

Initial results from the pilot programme showed an increase in girls’ participation in 72% of schools who took part, and an average increase of 9% in girls’ participation within the school. In six of the schools girls’ participation exceeded or levelled with boys’ participation, this was the first occurrence of this since the recording of participation figures in Scotland was initiated.

Further support for the pilot programme has been detailed within good practice examples published in the FFG Case Study Pack.

Following the success of the pilot programme, sportscotland and the Youth Sport Trust were successful in bidding for additional monies from the Scottish Government to roll out the programme across all Scottish secondary schools. The partnership of sportscotland and Youth Sport Trust are accountable for the embedding of the programme and will report back to a Scottish Government steering group comprised of representatives from health, sport and education. The programme, now known as FFG (FFG) will be implemented in approximately 380 Scottish secondary schools during the period September 2008 – March 2011.