Elsie Tysen, head of Bankhead primary in Glasgow, highlighted by inspectors for its good practice, told a workshop that PE would have higher priority if it was part of the health agenda.

“People would see it as learning for life and if we make the clear and obvious link between health education and PE programmes, the cross-curricular links could be more clearly developed,” Mrs Tysen said.

The conference at Edinburgh University was a follow-up to HMI’s report on PE in primaries last year. It also built on the recommendations of the physical activity task force.

Douglas Osler, senior chief inspector, making his final public appearance before he retires, said: “PE is central to the development of young people and can have an effect on the ethos of the whole school. Children have an entitlement to quality PE but there is too much variation at present between areas and within areas.

“Children do well what they are asked to do - the challenge to primaries is to ask the children to do more.”

Mrs Tysen said the key to success was to give a senior member of staff responsibility for PE, physical activity and sport. “It is vital that somebody has an overview of what is happening and is able to acquire expertise and gain the confidence of the rest of the staff. It is also important because PE involves many aspects of general management.

“If you have pupils who are going out of school to specific events and if you have to timetable a specific resource like a gym, these things take time and somebody has to do it,” she said.

Mrs Tysen also believes it is essential for teachers to working with specialists to build their confidence and competence.

Specialists in secondary PE may not be suited to work with very young children, Kay Dewar, an Edinburgh University lecturer, said. She wants teachers trained to deliver basic movement competence programmes and says local authorities should focus on the early years in primary.

“It is important that we help children become proficient in the basic movement skills and object control to enable them to cross the proficiency barrier and be able to combine skills and apply them in more complicated contexts such as games.”