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Primary school Physical Education (PE) specialist teachers’ experiences of teaching Health Education and Physical Education

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posted on 2023-08-22, 05:35 authored by Vaughan CruickshankVaughan Cruickshank, Shane Pill, John Williams, Casey MainsbridgeCasey Mainsbridge, Rose NashRose Nash

The purpose of this paper was to extend understanding of the studied phenomenon: primary school Physical Education (PE) specialist teachers’ experiences of teaching Health Education and Physical Education within the Learning Area Health and Physical Education (HPE) in their schools. Figurational sociology guided the research, which employed an explanatory sequential mixed methodology consisting of an online survey with 94 participants, followed by semi-structured interviews with 11 purposively sampled participants. Survey data indicated participants perceived their students undertook approximately one hour of HPE each week, except for Kindergarten students, who completed just over 40 minutes. This is less than the notional 80 hours a year recommended for delivering the subjects Health Education (HE) and Physical Education (PE) within the Australian Curriculum. Participants perceived HPE delivery in their primary schools was predominantly PE focused, and therefore, HE was ‘falling between the cracks’. Thematic analysis of the interview data led to the identification of themes reflecting specialist teachers’ perceptions of HE being the remit of class teachers, marginalised due to a crowded curriculum and lack of collaboration between PE specialists and classroom teachers. There is significant scope for HE not to be taught or not be taught well in the primary schools represented in the data provided by participants in this study. Improved collaboration between class teachers and PE teachers, increased support and prioritisation from senior staff (e.g. principals) and increased HE professional learning opportunities for class teachers are required.

History

Publication title

Curriculum Perspectives

Volume

44

Issue

1

Pagination

1-11

eISSN

2367-1793

ISSN

0159-7868

Department/School

Education, Medicine

Publisher

Springer Nature

Publication status

  • Published

Rights statement

Copyright 2023 The Authors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.

UN Sustainable Development Goals

4 Quality Education, 4 Quality Education, 3 Good Health and Well Being, 4 Quality Education

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