Understanding Primary Physical Education

Gerald Griggs

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781134471966
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Elementary Education

In order to become a more effective practitioner everyteacher needs to have a sound understanding of the theoretical, social and historical context in which their work takes place. Understanding Primary Physical Education goes further than any other textbook in exploring the development of physical education teaching at the primary and elementary level, drawing together important research from across the educational and sociological literature.

The book goes beyond everyday teaching practice at an operational level to encourage students, trainee teachers and researchers to develop a critical understanding of policy, process and practice in primary physical education. By rooting everyday documents and everyday issues in a broader, connected educational and developmental landscape, this book challenges casual assumptions and encourages a better, more thoughtful teaching practice. It is an essential companion for any degree level course in primary physical education.

1 INTRODUCTION

DOI: 10.4324/9780203794913-1

With time constraints placed upon busy professionals engaged within primary education, and more specifically still within Physical Education, there is little wonder why many seek quick and practical solutions in their day-to-day teaching lives. Capitalising on this state of affairs, many texts for primary Physical Education are still pitched as ‘How to …’ guides or as ‘one size fits all’ lesson plans. In reality of course pupils and teachers are not the same and consequently when ‘How to …’ guides do not work and lesson plans do not fit all, teachers can flounder. It was from this starting point that my previous publication for Routledge, An Introduction to Primary Physical Education, was developed. Comprising a congregation of the talents of those consistently writing, speaking and specialising in the delivery of primary Physical Education, the edited text set out to be at the forefront of providing direction and high quality guidance for the delivery of a primary Physical Education curriculum.

However, while writing that text it became apparent that at the same time that training for subjects such as Physical Education within primary courses was being reduced, further expectations were to be placed on trainees’ levels of knowledge and understanding. Furthermore, with increasing numbers moving towards postgraduate study, and the renewed research interests across the globe into elementary or primary level Physical Education, it seemed of increased importance that a further book could provide a secure theoretical underpinning to those needing to further their understanding of primary Physical Education. In order to offer this level of understanding, further sources needed to be sought to delve deeper into the underpinning bedrock of each area. For this text, sources are located primarily within educational policy, educational theory and sociological theory.

Following this introduction, Chapter 2 concerns itself with locating Physical Education which is not as straight forward as it might first appear. Although many might be clear as to what they mean by ‘Physical Education’, a little reading reveals the term is something of a contested concept. In such circumstances understanding the broader landscape becomes essential rather than adopting a narrow focus. Furthermore, if we are therefore to comprehend where we and others currently stand and perhaps more importantly why, it is important to understand the key texts and narratives that impact upon such stances. Across the world, most, if not all of these are located within the fields of sport, education and health. Attention in this chapter turns to look at this complex and changing relationship that sport, education and health have with Physical Education in order to effectively locate it, and furthermore how this relationship has impacted at primary school level particularly within the UK. A further consideration of Physical Education's positioning within the wider movement culture also serves to highlight useful areas for critical discussion.

In Chapter 3, attention turns to examining Physical Education in the primary curriculum. Historically, the story of primary education within the United Kingdom has been comparatively short yet despite this, polarising viewpoints upon a highly contested terrain have wrestled for philosophical control of the primary curriculum. The key related documents underpinning these viewpoints are explained here which helps to further understand the first incarnation of the National Curriculum in England and Wales in 1991 of which Physical Education was named as a discrete subject. The further revisions of the primary curriculum which occurred in 1995, 1999 and most recently in 2014 are then explained with a commentary explaining the impact of first the Conservative government, the following Labour government and then latterly the coalition government (Conservative and Liberal Democrats) upon the curriculum content. What becomes evident here is the impact and influence that events or policies have had during the creation of the primary Physical Education curriculum, without understanding the appropriateness or impact that has resulted.

Chapter 4 reveals the disquiet about the value of teacher preparation that has been voiced for the past twenty years, particularly the training offered to primary level teachers to teach Physical Education. At a time of erratic and incoherent change in teacher education in the UK, in recent years the preparation of teachers has moved away from developing a critical insight into the role of pedagogy and retreated to a set of reductionist and functional competencies. Barriers to further the development of primary professionals here have been concerned with deficiency in time, attitude, a lack of subject knowledge and the resulting low levels of competence and confidence. The chapter explores how further the attainment for pupils in primary Physical Education might be raised.

Chapter 5 considers the often neglected underpinning of the day-to-day practice of those delivering primary Physical Education. Aspects within the broader pedagogical cycle of planning, teaching and assessment will form the focus for the content. Within this detail the text will consider elements such as teaching styles, models of delivery and the variety of assessments on offer within primary Physical Education.

Physical Education, as with other subject areas, needs to be led and directed within a school environment. However finding a clear direction has proved problematic against a backdrop of changing standards for teachers, the reduction in the advisory service, the making and breaking of school partnerships and the competitive market of outsourcing Physical Education. Chapter 6 charts how this role has changed considerably over the last two decades and considers how effective subject leadership might be provided.

Chapter 7 explores the concept of creativity within Physical Education, which has become something of a buzzword in contemporary education. Policy documentation shows an overt commitment to the development of creativity, yet the realities within primary schools appear somewhat different. This chapter looks at the environment and practice within schools and suggests that teachers can do much to encourage what is described as ‘small c’ creativity. Specifically this chapter makes recommendations for how this could manifest itself within everyday primary Physical Education.

The phrase ‘health and well being’ has become a fashionable addition to our common vocabulary in the 21st century. Yet oddly, despite the unabated adoption of the phrase, there remains significant ambiguity around the definition, usage and function of ‘health and well being’ in the public policy realm and in the wider world. However at a policy level it is the widespread adoption of the term within education which means it cannot be ignored and makes it worthy of attention in Chapter 8.

Because the curriculum is not taught to pupils who live in a vacuum, a number of complex factors impact upon individuals which transcend many areas of society, and these are explored in Chapter 9. Arguably the most significant of these are ‘gender’, ‘social class’ and ‘race and ethnicity’. Sometimes described as the ‘trinity’ by those who study aspects of physical activity in society, they provide valuable lenses with which to examine and explain the decisions that we make.

Chapter 10 concerns itself with the transition between primary schools to secondary school which is a period of anxiety for many children. The significance of the transition from primary to secondary school in the UK and its global equivalent has been viewed as one of the most difficult in pupils’ educational careers. Subjects such as Physical Education are not immune from such a transition and are an area of the curriculum which require particular attention given that pupils are exposed to significantly different environments, equipment and pedagogical approaches. Failure to give adequate attention here can undo much of the good work that may have been done to continue the development of a child's lifelong physical activity. Transition literature consistently uses the term ‘bridges’ as crucial links that must be negotiated as children move between primary and secondary schools and the concept is used here as useful tool to explain significant areas that should be understood within Physical Education.

What becomes clear from reading this text is that understanding primary Physical Education is a complex world of interrelationships. While it might be argued that because of such complexity its future would be difficult to predict, it is precisely because of this complexity that reasonable speculations can be made. By the use of ethnographic fiction, Chapter 11 creates possible scenarios that might occur and explores how these events might have unfolded.

KEY READINGS

As indicated here in the introduction, to get a broad overview of relevant issues pertaining to Physical Education, one needs to look no further than my previous text, Griggs, G. (ed.) (2012) Physical Education in the Primary School: An Introduction (London: Routledge). For broader issues within Physical Education, a good start would be the similarly titled Green, K. (2008) Understanding Physical Education (London: Sage). Beyond the very well established Physical Education journals such as European Physical Education Review, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy and Sport, Education and Society, readers might wish to consider Physical Education related papers in wider spheres, in education or sociology journals such as Education 3–13 or Sociological Research Online.

2 LOCATING PRIMARY PHYSICAL EDUCATION

DOI: 10.4324/9780203794913-2

Introduction

Many books examining Physical Education begin with chapters seeking to distil the essence of what is meant by Physical Education. For each of these books yet another definition is added to the pile and we are not arguably any the wiser in our understanding. In lay terms Capel and Whitehead (2012: 4) indicate that Physical Education simply ‘means different things to different people’. This is perhaps unsurprising when one reads the work of Gallie (1968) and discovers that the nature of Physical Education meets the criteria for that of an essentially contested concept.

As Begley (1996: 403) explains:

Essentially contested concepts are those that have no governing laws that define them, nor do they have agreed upon definitions of what they are about. Rather they tend to present themselves in ‘schools of thought’, ‘ways of thinking’, and so on … thus with essentially contested concepts, we need to decide whose case is stronger, which side we believe in, and where we stand. We need, in fact, to be seduced by the texts and narratives.

If we are therefore to comprehend where we and others currently stand and perhaps more importantly why, it is important to understand the key texts and narratives that impact upon such stances. Across the world, most, if not all, of these are located within the fields of sport, education and health (Houlihan and Green, 2006; Penney, 2008). However from country to country and from era to era the dominance of one field compared to another can vary. The key explanation for this variation is that at any one time a culture becomes seduced by different texts and narratives and thus the power balance shifts resulting in what sociologists may call a hegemonic relationship (Gramsci, 1971). Attention will now turn to look at this complex and changing relationship that sport, education and health have with Physical Education in order to effectively locate it and furthermore how this relationship has impacted at primary school level particularly within the UK.

Physical Education and sport

Within UK movement culture as a whole, sport has occupied a dominant position for a large part of the twentieth century and beyond (Crum, 1993). Though McIntosh (1968) identifies a range of motives that sport has fulfilled over time such as aspects of playfulness, participation, enjoyment and catharsis, it has been the conception of sport as a highly competitive activity which has most characterised our notions of contemporary sport. In the UK, the main setting for the early development of contemporary sport was the boys’ public schools, which focused largely upon organised team games. ‘These games were infused with a Victorian version of masculinity, which celebrated competitiveness, toughness and physical dominance’ (Theberge, 2000: 32). Thus the earliest direct influence upon Physical Education from sport was most keenly felt through the addition of these imported team games to the ‘state’ school curriculum in 1906 (McIntosh, 1976). During the twentieth century as men began to enter the teaching profession in larger numbers they championed a skills-focused approach, typical of sports and particularly team games (Kirk, 1992).

As a consequence, pedagogically, a skills-focused approach has been pervasive for generations within both coaching and teaching structures (Whitehead and Hendry, 1976). This mode of pedagogical practice of Physical Education as sport techniques has been created and continually regenerated (Kirk, 2011) suggesting perhaps the existence of an implicit agreement among school practitioners, particularly within secondary education, which has served to construct a Physical Education landscape dominated by a ‘sporting model’ (Capel, 2007: 494). In practice this has resulted in Physical Education continuing to be delivered using a limited range of teaching approaches, the most prevalent of which are formal, didactic and teacher centred (Green, 1998; Metzler, 2000; Kirk and Kinchin, 2003; Kirk, 2010). Over time the dominant discou...