Teaching Primary Physical Education

Julia Lawrence

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781526423047
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Physical Education

Physical education is an important part of the primary curriculum and one that provides unique challenges for those involved with its teaching. This book offers a balanced and comprehensive overview of the subject, covering issues such as safe practice in PE, inclusion, subject leadership and cross-curricular approaches supported by an accessible theory-informed approach.

This second edition includes:

· Links to the new National Curriculum in England

· Each chapter mapped against the Teachers' Standards

· A new chapter on physical literacy and development in the early years and primary ages

· A new chapter on health-focused education and the contribution of PE

· Added case studies in every chapter

· Enhanced coverage of assessment in PE

This book includes a companion website with additional resources!

1 Why Physical Education?

Chapter aims

• To define physical education
• To develop an understanding of the role and benefits of physical education
• To provide opportunities for you to reflect upon your personal experiences of physical education
• To develop an understanding of changes in physical education over the last century

Links to Teachers’ Standards

In working through this chapter, you should develop your knowledge associated with the Teachers’ Standards (Department for Education, 2011) detailed in Table 1.1.

Introduction

For many of us, our experiences of physical education have shaped the way we feel towards the subject. At times during your schooling, you probably questioned why you had to do the subject at all, especially when it was too cold, raining or too hot! For some of you, it was more about the relevance of the activity. Why was physical education on the curriculum? Why did you have to run the 1500m? These are questions that were asked but possibly never really answered.

If we as practitioners do not understand why we are teaching a subject, there is potential for our attitudes, beliefs and values to impact on the experiences of those whom we teach. It may become difficult for us to motivate not only ourselves, but also our pupils. Therefore, before we start to look at the teaching of physical education within the primary school, we must define and explore the concepts associated with the subject, and understand how physical education has evolved over time. In doing so we can start to reflect upon our own perception of the subject, and how this might influence our teaching of it.

The aim of this chapter is therefore to provide the opportunity for you to develop a clearer understanding of physical education as a curriculum subject. It will allow you to reflect upon your own and others’ experiences of physical education. By the end of the chapter you should be able to provide a clear rationale for the inclusion of physical education within a school curriculum.

Defining physical education

So, what is physical education and what does it mean to me? Research (Capel, 2015) suggests that our own values and beliefs about physical education coupled with our socialisation within the school environment (how we experienced physical education), impacts significantly on our content and modes of delivery. She stresses that teachers of physical education should be ‘not only aware of and recognise their beliefs and values, but also that these are challenged’ (Capel, 2015: 169).

Thus, a starting point for defining physical education should be to look at our own experiences of physical education and the extent to which this may influence our own definition of the subject. Task 1.1 will help you do this.

Task 1.1

1. Using your own experiences to provide examples, reflect on what physical education was like for you in the following contexts:
   1. primary school
   2. secondary school
   3. outside of school.
2. From these experiences identify the following:
   1. what activities did you experience?
   2. what did you most enjoy about physical education?
   3. what did you dislike about physical education?
3. What impact did these have on your participation?
4. What physical activities do you now participate in?
5. How might you use these experiences when teaching physical education?

Your experiences of physical education will have varied across phases of education (between primary and secondary school), as well as between contexts (what you did in school compared with what you did outside of the school day). Some of these experiences may have been positive while others may have been negative. You will have experienced a range of activities; some you enjoyed, some less so. If you have had the opportunity to discuss these experiences, you may well have found that they differed between males and females. Many of your experiences will have been based on the staff who taught you and their own beliefs about physical education. Understanding how our previous experiences have shaped our attitudes, beliefs and values towards physical education, provides us with the opportunity to reflect on what we might therefore teach and how we might teach it. However, we still need to look at how the profession and those who prescribe our curriculum define physical education.

Curriculum development in physical education

The Department for Education (2013) identifies the purpose of physical education as follows:

A high-quality physical education curriculum inspires all pupils to succeed and excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities. It should provide opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports their health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect. (DfE, 2013: 247)

Detailing that:

The national curriculum for physical education aims to ensure that all pupils

• develop competence to excel in a broad range of physical activities
• are physically active for sustained periods of time
• engage in competitive sports and activities
• lead healthy, active lives. (DfE, 2013: 247)

However, this overview provides us with some detail as to what physical education looks like in the mind of policy makers. It does not detail specifically what it is. Therefore in working to construct a definition of physical education, it is important to review current literature in the field both nationally and internationally. This will allow us to establish how different people and organisations define physical education, allowing for personal reflection as to what it means to ourselves.

Physical education has and will probably continue to be defined not only as a single subject in its own right but also in relation to other aspects of physicality and how this manifests itself. Therefore alongside physical education you may also see references made to Physical Activity (PA), Physical Literacy (PL), Physical Education and School Sport (PESS), Physical Education School Sport and Community Links (PESSCL), Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People (PESSYP) and Health and Wellbeing or Healthy Active Lifestyle. Such terms are used by many interchangeably in the context of the physical education environment, or in relation to national policy. Therefore definitions for these will be provided within this chapter. A starting point in understanding what physical education is, is to review how the physical education curriculum has evolved over time, to establish current thinking from those responsible for the design and delivery of the subject.

The Board of Education identified that ‘the object of Physical Education and Training is to help in the production and maintenance of health in body and mind’ (1933: 9), identifying the effects of engagement with the subject as physical and educational. Whilst physical effects may seem obvious, it is also the educational aspects associated with mental and moral development; specifically, they argued that ‘exercises, if rightly conducted, also have the effect, not less important, of developing in the children a cheerful and joyous spirit, together with the qualities of alertness, decision, concentration, and perfect control of the brain over body’ (1933: 10).

Physical education at the turn of the twentieth century focused on physical training. Curriculum content encouraged the development of motor competences through gymnastic-based and drill-style activities. Such practice was reflective of the Swedish Gymnastics movement. A lesson would typically be composed of a series of drills, for example arm rotations or trunk rotations, with activities being taught outside. A focus on gymnastic and dance-based activities coincided with the development of movement frameworks with the emphasis not only on the physical skill being developed but also on concepts such as space, effort and relationships. In many ways, there was a continuation of the ideas surrounding physical education as more than just the physical, but also the emotional and social aspects of growth and development (see Chapter 2 for domains of learning).

The 1970s and 1980s saw a movement towards a much more games-focused approach, a tradition that is still evident in many school curricula. The development and introduction of the first national curriculum in 1991 (Department of Education and Science, 1991) saw a focus on planning, evaluation and participation in physical education. Pupils within the primary school were expected to participate in the six defined areas of activity, to include athletic activities, dance, games, gymnastic activities, outdoor and adventurous activites (OAA) and swimming. A review published in 1995 (DfE, 1995) saw a reduction in the range of activities taught at Key Stage 1 to dance, games and gymnastic activities, with the expectation that pupils would experience all six at Key Stage 2. The only exception here was swimming which could be taught during either key stage. Further revisions occurred in 1999 (Department for Education and Employment and QCA, 1999) with an emphasis on the development of knowledge, skills and understanding associated with the subject, focusing specifically on the acquisition and development of skills, the selection and application of skills and the development of tactical awareness as well as the ability to compose sequences of movements. The ability to evaluate and improve performance remained, and a new focus on the development of knowledge and understanding associated with fitness and health was introduced.

The Rose review (Rose, 2009) considered the integration of physical education into a thematic curriculum within primary schools. The aim of this curriculum was to develop:

• successful learners who enjoy learning, make progress and achieve
• confident individuals who are able to live safe, healthy and fulfilled lives
• responsible citizens who make a positive contribution to society. (Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, 2010a: 4 and b: 12)

Such an approach reflected the emerging focus on the wider contributions physical education can make to the development of pupils (we look at this concept in more depth in Chapter 2). However, a change of government in 2010 led to the recommendations of the Rose review being dropped, and consequently another curriculum review.

The most recent iteration of the curriculum (DfE, 2013) whilst much briefer in its detail still emphasised the need to develop pupils’ ability to perform and more importantly ‘excel in competitive sport and other physically-demanding activities’ (DfE, 2013: 247). Aspects such as co-operation and competition are also evident with reference made to the curriculum providing ‘opportunities for pupils to become physically confident in a way which supports health and fitness. Opportunities to compete in sport and other activities build character and help to embed values such as fairness and respect’ (DfE, 2013: 247).

What becomes apparent is that curriculum design and consequently how physical education is viewed by policy makers (albeit with some consultation with experts within the field of physical education) remains changeable. However, throughout the development of physical education across the curriculum a focus on the physical, mental (emotional and cognitive) and the moral (to include social) aspects is highlighted, suggesting that physical education is more than just developing physical skills. It is more focused on the development of the individual as a whole. It allows the child to make progress across a number of areas of development and we will now look at the literature to draw out more explicitly the meaning of physical education.

Aims and benefits of physical education

Research and personal reflections have allowed individuals to review and revise the processes involved in the subject, looking again at the potential benefits of physical education and most appropriate methods of delivery. Emerging from the previous section of this chapter is an acknowledgement that physical education is not just about the physical. What is clear is that in terms of the policy changes across time, physical education has been seen as a vehicle for addressing issues such as the physicality of individuals – which included not only their skill development, but also their knowledge of their body – and that physical education could address wider issues concerning the engagement of individuals with others and their society, particularly how they worked together, development of personal skills around chara...