Does Inclusion in PE Start With Psychological Safety?

Neil @ Future Action
9 hours ago
3 min read

Inclusion has become the new buzzword in PE. Government announcements and new inspection frameworks have put it front and centre for every PE leader.

But beneath the policy talk sits a deeper question:

How do we actually make PE inclusive — not just on paper, but in lived experience?

And where does Trauma-Informed PE fit into that?

Look closely, and a clearer picture emerges — one that leaves many teachers thinking:

“Yes… Trauma-Informed PE is the ultimate inclusion strategy.”

Inclusion can’t happen without psychological safety

Schools often approach inclusion through curriculum tweaks, activity choice, or adaptions.

All useful.

But none of it creates true inclusion unless a child feels safe enough to participate.

If a student arrives in PE braced for judgement, unpredictability or embarrassment, even the most inclusive curriculum will struggle to land.

Inclusion cannot exist where the nervous system does not feel safe.

This is where Trauma-Informed PE stops being a side conversation —

and becomes the root system of inclusion.

1. Trauma-Informed PE asks the question inclusion often misses

Most inclusion plans begin with what students will do.

Trauma-Informed PE begins with:

“What does this young person’s nervous system need in order to trust this space?”

When a child feels:

Seen
Safe
Soothed
Supported

…they try more, stay longer, and take the kinds of safe risks that lead to meaningful progress.

Inclusion isn’t a timetable.

It’s a felt experience.

And Trauma-Informed PE is designed to create that experience.

2. Safety allows relationships to take root

When a child feels psychologically safe, trust begins to grow.

Not because of the perfect explanation —

but because their nervous system decides:

“I am safe with this adult.”

And when trust rises, everything shifts.

A child who hangs back steps forward.

A learner who avoids challenge begins trying.

A student who normally checks out stays with the task longer.

One simple example?

A positive meet and greet at the start of every lesson.

A warm smile.

Predictable language.

A moment of connection.

For a child braced for judgement, this five-second cue of safety can widen their window of tolerance and help them enter the lesson with a regulated nervous system.

These intentional moments, used consistently, can transform a department’s culture.

Our 30+ case studies show this pattern again and again:

when psychological safety increases, inclusion grows — naturally.

This isn’t guesswork or personality.

These strategies are teachable — and Trauma-Informed PE gives educators the tools to use them consistently.

3. Trauma-Informed PE turns inclusion from aspiration into experience

Trauma-Informed PE places inclusion where it truly lives: in the moment-to-moment interaction between a child, their emotions, their body, and the environment.

It supports inclusion by:

Creating predictable routines
Using movement to widen the window of tolerance
Removing unnecessary rules that trigger anxiety
Prioritising connection over correction
Supporting co-regulation and self-regulation
Building belonging before performance

When PE feels emotionally safe, students don’t avoid it —

they enter because they no longer need to protect themselves.

Inclusion becomes visible.

4. Trauma-Informed PE helps us understand why some young people “don’t like PE”

Many students find PE too exposing, too evaluative, too unpredictable, or too overwhelming.

Their nervous system remembers.

Trauma-Informed PE explains those responses — freeze, avoid, mask, withdraw — and gives teachers the tools to transform them.

It doesn’t label behaviour.

It understands it.

Then it helps rewrite the experience.

So… is Trauma-Informed PE the ultimate inclusion strategy?

If inclusion means that every child:

Feels they belong
Feels safe enough to participate
Has their nervous system supported
Experiences movement in a way that feels meaningful
Is protected from judgement and shame
Can regulate, relate and then reason

…then Trauma-Informed PE doesn’t sit beside inclusion.

It is inclusion.