ABSTRACT
Throughout the book you have been challenged to consider a range of issues relating to physical education. The questions at the end of each chapter have been designed to facilitate debate on the issues highlighted in that particular chapter. There have, however, been a number of recurring themes throughout the book and it is useful to conclude with the identification of some key areas of debate that warrant serious consideration. We highlight these below and post more questions designed to support you in considering the need to address issues together rather than in isolation in order to support your development and enhance pupils’ learning in physical education. These questions should be considered alongside those in the individual chapters. For us, it is important that you are clear about what you are trying to achieve as we believe this should inform all decisions in relation to teaching and learning. Discussion and proposals concerning the aims of physical education and therefore what should be learnt in physical education were addressed in a variety of ways in Part I ‘The nature of physical education’ and Part II ‘Learning in physical education’. A key issue to consider here is what your views are concerning the aims, objectives and intended learning outcomes of physical education in schools in the twenty-first century. For example how important is a focus on developing lifelong commitment to participation in physical activity? To what degree should the subject be designed to promote health-related fitness? Is it the responsibility of the profession to develop world-class athletes? This leads to consideration of how these views manifest themselves in teachers’ thinking about, and practice of, physical education. It is useful to consider, too, how you have come to hold these views and how far your own experiences and the views of significant others, for example, parents, teachers and peers, have influenced your thinking. These deliberations relate closely to identifying what physical education is for you, in other words articulating your own values, beliefs, attitudes and philosophies concerning physical education. Significant here is how far you feel you can justify physical education as an end in itself rather than a means to other ends. Do you support the notion of nurturing physical literacy as the prime goal for
the subject? How do you interpret the ‘education’ in physical education and what approach would you take to argue for the place of physical education in the curriculum? In a good many chapters you have been challenged to reflect on the strengths and weaknesses of current practice of physical education in school and the ways in which perceived weaknesses might be remedied (see, for example, Chapters 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 14). In respect of this area you have been asked to consider issues concerned with what, how and who, in relation to learning and teaching in physical education. Where do you stand in relation to the content covered in curriculum time? What are your views on the number of activities taught, and whether they are taught for too short a time for learners to make real progress? Do you agree that it is not in the interests of many learners to spend a high proportion of the time playing competitive team games? What are your views on the best ways to use extra-curricular time? In relation to your views on the overall aims of the subject and on what should be taught, there is the issue of how success is measured and, hence, how the issue of assessment is to be resolved. How far do you feel that normreferenced assessment is appropriate and how far would you support much more ipsative assessment with individual profiles to chart the progress of each learner? With reference to how the subject is taught, you might consider whether the prevailing pedagogy of the subject is appropriate to learners in the twenty-first century? Is the subject delivered in an overly didactic way? Should there be a difference in how the teaching is conducted in curriculum time and extracurricular time? Should learners be given far more responsibility for their own learning, thus developing independence? How far does your philosophy of physical education match the teaching approaches you employ? Significant in these deliberations is who should teach physical education in the curriculum and in extra-curricular time. Who is best placed to initiate learners into a lifelong commitment to participation in physical activity? Is there a place for coaches to make a contribution? If coaches are involved in what ways can you ensure that their expertise is used appropriately and to best advantage? Throughout the book there has been a recurring theme relating to the way that our history stalks the subject – not necessarily to our advantage (see, for example, Chapters 1, 7, 12, 14). This view is seen alongside the apparent problem of resistance to change exhibited throughout the profession (see, for example, Chapters 6, 7, 10, 11). It is valuable to consider if you agree that the subject, in respect of both content and method, has changed very little over the last 30 years, despite the advent in England of the National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE) and the rapidly changing culture in this country. Do you agree that the physical education curriculum could be described as sports-technique focused, with competitive team games having the lion’s share of curricular and extra-curricular time? Would it be
true to say that we are more concerned with the most able learners? Are either of these situations in the long-term interests of the subject as taught in schools? You might think carefully about why change has been so difficult to effect; whether physical education teachers are resistant to change, and if so why might this be. Are there peculiar and particular barriers to change encountered by the profession? Has our history so firmly embedded expectations of the subject in education and beyond that we feel change will not be accepted? Have we missed significant opportunities to remodel our work, in relation perhaps to the unique contribution of our subject to the holistic education of pupils and the use of ICT, new physical activities or new learner interests? You might consider if change is, in fact, in our hands and whether others are, in part, responsible for our inertia. Who are the key stakeholders who we need to work with to make change more readily achievable and/or to make radical changes in our practices? Have the media and public opinion generally been influential in our inability to change? Does the profession need to ‘educate’ the public and change their perceptions of and attitudes towards the subject? If so, how might we go about doing that? It would be salutary to consider if you have, yourself, been involved in and/ or party to significant changes in physical education as a school learner, a student teacher or a teacher. Have you, personally, realigned your philosophy of physical education and modified your practices in line with these new perspectives? In many of the chapters, and particularly in Part V, you have been confronted with challenges about how the profession and the subject might develop to ensure the long-term high status and effectiveness of physical education (see Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14). In other words you have been confronted with questions about ways to effect change. What knowledge do physical education teachers need to teach physical education in the twenty-first century? Significant here is to create a profession of reflective, learning physical education teachers to take the subject forward into the next 20 years and beyond. It is suggested that physical education teachers must be reflective practitioners, readily reassessing their views and practice, and willing to make changes in all aspects of their work. Is this type of open-minded and flexible attitude essential for the continued acceptability of the subject? While there is agreement that we need to look hard at ourselves in the interests of the long-term future of the subject, you might consider what knowledge and understanding both physical education initial teacher education (PE ITE) and continuing professional development (CPD) currently cover, and how content, design and delivery could be modified to support physical education for the twenty-first-century context and other long-term outcomes. In addition, what are your views on ways that PE ITE and CPD can assist teachers in becoming reflective practitioners? Do the particular philosophies and characteristics with which student teachers enter PE ITE significantly affect the process of becoming reflective practitioners?
