With the Premier League season drawing to a close later this month, football is once again dominating playground conversations. But for many schools, the moment is about more than just match results – it’s an opportunity to address some deeper challenges around inclusion, confidence and participation in sport.
Despite significant progress in recent years, barriers to girls’ involvement in football remain. Research from the Football Association (FA) shows that while access to football in PE has reached 90% of UK schools, participation is still uneven. In a recent teacher survey, 71% of primary teachers said girls feel excluded by boys during sport, while 63% of secondary teachers identified body image as the biggest barrier for teenage girls. More than half of teachers also reported lacking confidence in leading conversations on these topics.
To support schools, the FA and Barclays have launched a suite of free teaching resources through their national programme, Made for This Game: Breaking Barriers. Designed for both primary and secondary settings, the materials aim to help teachers address the attitudes that can prevent girls from taking part – including gender stereotyping, misogyny and body confidence.
- For younger pupils, the primary resources use short films featuring performer Molly Rainford to open up discussions around inclusion and fairness in sport.
- At secondary level, the content explores peer pressure and self‑image through real conversations with teenage girls.
- A supporting visual podcast for teachers, hosted by comedian Maisie Adam alongside Lioness Rachel Brown‑Finnis and educator Matthew Burton, offers practical guidance on navigating sensitive classroom discussions.
The focus is not only on participation in sport, but on creating an environment where pupils feel confident and included. The resources are mapped to PSHE, making them easy to integrate into existing curricula.
Alongside this, many schools are also drawing on resources from Premier League Primary Stars, which use football as a vehicle to support wider learning and development. One example is Playground Champions, a resource pack designed to bring structure and purpose to breaktimes.
Rather than treating playtime as a pause in learning, the approach encourages pupils to develop leadership skills and take shared responsibility for inclusive play. Through short, football‑inspired activities – influenced by both real‑world match scenarios and EA SPORTS FC gaming moments – pupils explore what makes a good leader, how to include others in games and how to resolve disagreements fairly.
The flexibility of the activities is part of their appeal. Sessions can be delivered during breaktimes or PE lessons, require minimal equipment and do not rely on specialist training. Schools using the approach report improvements in behaviour and confidence, particularly among pupils who might otherwise remain on the sidelines during play.
Taken together, these initiatives reflect a broader shift in how schools are thinking about sport and play. Football provides a powerful hook to engage pupils, but the outcomes extend far beyond physical activity – into confidence, communication and social development.
With the Premier League finale capturing attention across year groups, this moment offers a timely opportunity. By connecting that excitement to structured classroom and playground activities, schools are not only engaging pupils in the present – but helping to shape a more inclusive sporting culture for the future.
