Osian George, a 15-year-old skateboarder from Cross Hands, Carmarthenshire, has campaigned for skateboarding to be included in school qualifications and Wales has now added it to the list of approved GCSE sports. Skateboarding is one of 13 new sports added to the approved list for GCSE level physical education in Wales. Other newly permitted activities include BMX, shooting, kickboxing, and wakeboarding. Northern Ireland is the only other UK nation to currently include skateboarding as part of its GCSE sports list.
Osian stated that he is “very happy” that young skateboarders will now benefit from the extra time and resources that come with choosing skateboarding at GCSE level. As a young athlete who started skateboarding at five years old and competes regularly, Osian missed out on the chance for extra training opportunities. However, he is content that the other young skateboarders will now have this opportunity. He added that considering sports such as football and tennis had already been included in the list, people involved in those sports already had those opportunities, but people who enjoyed skateboarding missed out.
Sam Horler, Welsh hub and operations lead for Skateboard GB, said that the inclusion of skateboarding was “long overdue” and that he was “really excited for this news because it’s a great recognition of the fact that there is a need for alternative sports, not only skateboarding but some of the other ones that came in as well”. Horler praised the decision as being an opportunity that will help boost health, wellbeing, and communities.
Kerry Jones, senior qualifications manager at Qualifications Wales, stated that it is important for the organisation to make the updated list as “engaging and inclusive as it can be”. In June 2023, the independent qualification regulator published the approval criteria for a new Made-for-Wales GCSE in Physical Education and Health, which will be available for first teaching from September 2026. Since then, it has worked with a range of different stakeholders including teachers, coaches, and the WJEC exam board to co-create the approved list of sports that learners will choose from when completing the non-examination assessment
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