Picture your PE class: twenty-odd kids, all with different levels of skill, confidence, fitness, coordination, motivation, and need. Some sprint past you, some hang back, some freeze when it’s their turn. How do you, as a teacher, aided by education support staff, ensure each student is engaged, challenged but not frustrated, and growing?
Enter the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, adapted into a physical education (PE) context.
Based on foundations from the Australian Education Research Organisation’s explainer on MTSS, this model gives us a way to scaffold instruction, spot who needs more support early, and monitor progress so that no one slips through the cracks.
What is MTSS (briefly)?
MTSS is an organisational way to layer supports across three levels (tiers), where:
- Tier 1 = high-quality, evidence-based instruction and supports for all students
- Tier 2 = additional, targeted supports for some students who aren’t progressing sufficiently under Tier 1
- Tier 3 = intensive, individualised interventions for those few students with the greatest need
Key features include early screening (to detect who might struggle), ongoing progress monitoring, data-driven decisions, and increasing intensity of support.
While the AERO explainer is focused on literacy and numeracy in secondary settings, the principles translate well into PE, “evidence-based instructional practices across all learning environments … identifying students requiring more targeted supports, while monitoring the impact of instruction and intervention.”.
MTSS in the wild: PE classroom application
Here’s how a PE teacher (with support staff) might operationalise MTSS in a term of sport, movement or game units.
Tier 1: The base for all
In your base PE program:
- You design lessons with clear progression, scaffolding from easier to more difficult skills (e.g. basic ball handling → dribbling → passing in motion).
- You deliver explicit instruction: show the skill, break it into steps, model good technique, then gradually reduce support.
- You apply differentiation upfront: for example, offer multiple entry points (e.g. beginner vs intermediate drills), scaffolded practice, visual and verbal cues, peer modelling.
- You monitor all students informally and via a simple checklist or rubric (e.g. tracking basic competency in throwing, catching, and positioning) to see who is working below the desired achievement standard in foundational movement skills.
If all students are making satisfactory progress, you stick with the Tier 1 plan. But if some begin to show signs of slower progress (or show signs of frustration, avoidance, disengagement), that’s your cue to move them into Tier 2 supports.
Tier 2: Targeted small-group interventions
For those students flagged in your data (or observation):
- Pull them into small group skill drills (3–5 students), focusing on the skills they struggle with (e.g. balance, coordination, spatial awareness, or confidence in movement).
- Increase frequency or duration of that extra support, e.g. add a short “movement skills warm-up” group 2 or 3 times per week, or extend that session. Reason being, most PE teachers will not have 2 or 3 classes a week.
- Use scaffolded progressions closely linked to the Tier 1 moves; you’re not teaching a “separate PE,” but supporting growth within the same skills pathway.
- Use progress monitoring (perhaps a simple movement-skill pre/post check or mini-assessment every 2 weeks) to see whether that support is helping. If yes, fade support; if no, escalate.
Tier 3: Intensive individualised support
For a small number of students who still struggle:
- Offer 1:1 or very small group coaching focused tightly on their specific skill gaps (e.g. balance, neuromotor coordination, spatial awareness, confidence with movement).
- Tailor interventions more flexibly (e.g. more breaks, adjusted movements, assistive modifications) while still connecting to the core PE curriculum.
- Monitor more frequently (weekly or biweekly) with clear entry and exit criteria (i.e. when can they return to Tier 2 or Tier 1).
- Include collaborators: education support staff (aides, therapists, physiotherapists, movement specialists) can co-design and co-deliver these sessions with you.
Why this helps everyone, teachers, support staff and students
- Early detection & prevention of disengagement
By screening and monitoring movement skill progress (or even simple baseline movement checklists), you spot when a student is behind before they disengage or fall further behind.
- Tailored yet aligned support
Tiered support allows you, as the teacher, to keep your main class moving while small groups or individuals get extra help, without teaching totally separate programs. All supports feed back into the same skill progression.
- Shared language and shared responsibility
With a tiered model, your education support staff (aides, therapists, assistants, school/home support) and you can align on which tier a student is in, what goals they’re working on, how progress is monitored. That shared structure helps coordination.
- Data-informed flexibility
You avoid circular “guessing” about who needs what. Progress monitoring tells you when to fade support, when to intensify, or when to shift strategies.
- Promoting equity and access
MTSS helps make sure that students with additional needs, lower confidence, or weaker motor foundations are not left behind, everyone has an opportunity to improve within the same framework.
Example narrative: “Ella’s journey in PE”
Let’s imagine a classroom…
Ella’s inclusive journey in PE
- Tier 1 (Universal): In Week 1, the teacher runs a baseline check, hopping, balancing on one foot, catching a beanbag, side stepping. Most students manage well, and Ella shows persistence and enthusiasm but needs extra practice with balance and throwing. She stays with the class as everyone works through the activities, using varied equipment and peer demonstrations to make success possible for all.
- Tier 2 (Targeted): During warm-ups and small-sided games, the teacher and support aide add simple adjustments for Ella, such as starting closer to a target, using a lighter ball, and having a peer buddy to model each step. Several students join in these modified activities, so Ella feels part of a group working together, not singled out.
- Tier 3 (Personalised): Over time, Ella continues to receive personalised scaffolds within class activities. The support aide quietly offers prompts, and the teacher celebrates Ella’s strengths, like her teamwork and strategic thinking, while helping refine her coordination. She plays the same games as her peers, but with modifications (e.g., extra attempts, simplified rules, or alternative roles) that ensure she experiences success.
- Outcome: After 8 weeks, Ella’s balance and throwing have improved significantly. She continues learning alongside her peers, with occasional scaffolds that match her needs. Importantly, Ella never leaves the class, her growth is celebrated in the same shared space as everyone else.
Tips and considerations for Australian PE educators
- Design simple baseline movement checks (e.g. balance, throwing, catching, agility) that can be done with minimal equipment early in the year.
- Embed differentiation in your lesson planning, anticipate varying levels of challenge from the get-go.
- Use frequent but light progress checks, short snapshots rather than long tests, so you can respond quickly.
- Collaborate with support staff early, include them in planning, goal setting, monitoring.
- Be flexible with “exit and entry” decisions, students can move between tiers based on data, not fixed labels.
- Maintain high expectations for all, the framework doesn’t lower the bar; it helps scaffold access so each student can reach high goals.
This MTSS-inspired approach in PE reframes your class not as a single delivery, but as a dynamic support system, a structure that helps you, alongside education support staff, ensure every student gets movement, confidence, challenge, and success.
Need support to deliver a quality HPE program that gets students moving with confidence? Get in touch!
