Contemporary Physical Education

When we think about Physical Education, many of us automatically assume that is the
education of the Physical. However Underwood (1983) found that in a survey of 16 teachers
the top five aims mentioned were: Skill acquisition, education for leisure, health and fitness,
socialisation and enjoyment. Only two of these are physical, the others are affective, social
or cognitive.
This shows us that we can benefit from Sport and activity in more ways than just getting
better at physical activity. It can affect our social life. I for one have met the majority of my
uni friends through Swimming, half of my friends at home were also from sport that I did.

Jewett (1978) lists 22 purposes for physical education, categorised under 3 concepts:
1) Man, Master of Himself – includes what is necessary for man to fulfil his “human
development potential”.
2) Man in Space – the space here refers to the physical environment. It involves man’s
movements in the environment and his physical and spatial relationships to objects, other

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people and himself.

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3) Man in a social world – concerned with cooperation, motivation, group goals and

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strengthening of cultural heritage, all leading to adequate socialisation.

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This again highlights that physical education is needed in many more ways than one. Doing

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physical activity can also affect our development, people that grow up doing a lot of physical
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activity, compared to those that don’t will have better spatial awareness, reactions,
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peripheral vision, etc. Simply because these have been “trained”.

The Physically Educated Person

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To further stress the fact that physical education’s purposes are partially non-physical the
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Nation Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) in the USA, describes a
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physically active person in its outcomes project (1992). They state that such a person will
have skills necessary to perform a variety of physical activities, be physically fit, participate
regularly in physical activity, know the implications and benefits of involvement in physical
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activities and value physical activity and its contributions to a healthy lifestyle.
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Within these 5 headings are 20 specific outcomes, 9 of which are physical and 11 of which
are non-physical.
So it’s clear that the emphasis on physical education in the past has been to encourage and
develop social behaviour and responsibility. It has been seen as a vehicle for achieving
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socially desirable traits in young adults.

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National Curriculum Physical Education

Physical education is one of the core subjects of the National Curriculum (Department for
Education, 1995) and is compulsory in every year of schooling. The content of the subject
changes at each age group or key stage, but there is a set of general requirements for the
subject that remain the same.

The 1992 curriculum suggested that PE could even contribute to the development of
problem solving skills, the establishment of self-esteem, and the development of
interpersonal skills.
This shows that our job as a PE teacher is wide spread and we have to think about the
sociocultural aspect when teaching. We have to get our pupils thinking and interacting with

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 each other and not just use the direct method of teaching where its “I say, you do”. Doing
this will allow the pupils to take a back seat in learning, as they don’t really need to engage
cognitively to repeat what they have just been told to do.

The 1995 Curriculum also talks about developing non physical skills (as well as promoting
physical activity that is).
It states that physical education is needed to develop positive attitudes (this included the
likes of fair play and competition; sporting behaviour as individuals, team members and
spectators; coping with success and failure; trying hard; and being mindful of others and the
environment) and safe practice (responding to instructions; following rules, etiquettes and
codes for different activities; knowing about safety and clothing, footwear and jewellery;
knowing how to lift and carry; and knowing how to warm up and recover from exercise).

Is this always happening in schools though? Or do teachers still focus on teaching the
physical?

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Physical Education Curriculum Domains

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Each of the aims, objectives and purposes that are expected for physical education can be

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categorised into groups that share similar properties. These are called the domains of

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physical education. These are psychomotor, cognitive, social and affective (otherwise known

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as emotional). rs e
The aims, objectives and purposes of physical education can be assigned to the domains of
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the subject, thus validating them as a viable framework for critically analysing the subject.
Three parts of the framework are not based on the physical part of physical education. As
part of the framework you do need to cover other aspects in whichever way you feel
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appropriate.
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What characteristics would you presume a physically educated person should have? Would
the characteristics you are looking for fall into all four categories? If not does this mean you
need to re-evaluate your teaching process and what you are aiming to do?
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Personally I would consider a physically educated person to be physically competent,

engaging regularly in physical activity, healthy, fit, supple, skilful in a variety of activities
(psychomotor). They would be able to manage their time wisely, know how to become and
stay fit and recognise the benefits of exercise. They would also know about the rules and
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codes of conducts associated with various sports, how to be safe when playing those sports
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and be fairly good at problem solving/team tactics (cognitive). They should have good social
skills, be able to work in teams and have good social behaviour/sportsmanship (social). They
would be motivated, cooperative towards group goals, value physical activity, be ethical, able
to cope with success and failure, be sporting and competitive, care about others and the
environment (emotional).

Does physical education conform to this? Are we really producing individuals that are
physically educated in all aspects of the word?

Does Physical Education Really Do It All?

Psychomotor
It seems that the physical aspects of the national curriculum subject is being fairly well done.

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 Teachers are required to concentrate on the physical aspects because they need to asses
and report on these; the evidence suggests that this is in fact what happens.

Cognitive
The cognitive learning outcomes that have been in place in the past have been easily
achieved. However this isn’t because the teachers have put in effort to get success, it is
because the cognitive aims have been so simple. For example recognising the changes in
your body during exercise and knowing what is happening. Not even why!
The traditional method of assessing knowledge i.e. written and oral tests are not particularly
appropriate for curriculum physical education. Nevertheless, teachers have to assess and
report on their pupils progress in this field. This is usually done by deciding how pupils apply
their knowledge in practical situations.
In more recent years there has been an introduction of examinations with a cognitive
component (theory tests). This has given some form of academic legitimitation to school
physical education, often a marginal subject in the past.
It has been well embraced by teachers, and they seem to value it highly.

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Emotional

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Despite the fact there is a lot of evidence showing that pupils benefit emotionally from certain

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types of activities there is still a lack of emotional outcomes in the national curriculum, with it

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not being seen as something compulsory. The only outcomes seen are ones like you must
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be able to work with a partner.
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This may mean that it is disregarded by many teachers. Or simply put in the back seat.
Evidence showing that the curriculum and what they are taught can affect their behaviour
(kindergarten pupils):
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When comparing groups that were taught cooperative games (british bulldogs, once caught
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you also become a bulldog, everyone gets a turn eventually, not one on one) and
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competitive games, the group taught cooperative games showed a much higher incidence of
cooperative behaviour. This shows that the type of games children are encouraged to play
can have a positive effect on their affective and social behaviour. The children in the
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cooperative group also appeared to be happy and enjoying themselves. Conversely, children
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in the competitive games group sometimes appeared quiet and anxious, and were more
prone to cheating, pushing and name calling (Grineski, 1989, on kindergarten pupils).
So why is it being ignored?
It is believed that competitive games better promote the social aspect with teams having to
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work out tactics, game plans, etc.

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Can they learn social skills through cooperative games too? I think so? British Bulldogs the
pupils caught still need to communicate and come up with a plan to catch the rest of them.

Social
The National Curriculum end-of-key-stage makes no mention of any social outcomes that
might be expected of pupils during their experiences of physical education in school.
The fact that being in class is a social activity has long been recognised. For teachers and
pupils alike, education is a social experience. However some subjects allow social
interaction more than others. For example sitting at desks in a classroom limits opportunities
for socialising. Moving around a gym or sports hall however presents more opportunities for
interaction. Physical education then is perhaps the most social of the school subjects.
Why is it not more widely recognised? Does this mean teachers are disregarding the

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 importance of it completely when teaching their lessons?
It may just be that it is because these characteristics are seen as unmeasurable?
This may be why it isn’t highlighted in the curriculum, it is seen that pupils will just
automatically be sociable and pick up these traits, it isn’t necessarily something the teacher
needs to aim to achieve.

The traits in these four domains can and should be taught in PE. Many of the characteristics
you can learn through sport and physical activity will become part of your character and can
actually benefit you later on in life (motivation, determination, commitment, compromise,
sportsmanship, etc). By teaching more than just the physical the skills learned can be
transferred into other subjects and walks of life.

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