ABSTRACT
The landscape of primary athletics is a patchy affair. To date it remains a neglected area of the National Curriculum for physical education (NCPE) at this level due to reasons such as lack of training and resources (Ofsted, 2005; Warburton, 2001) and the fact that the present curriculum only requires teaching athletics in Key Stage 2 and allows schools the opportunity to drop it all together if they so wish (DfEE/QCA, 1999). Where it is delivered, for the most part, the teaching of athletics involves engaging in basic running, jumping and throwing activities which will most likely have one or more of the following aims: to teach and practise basic techniques and skills, to measure and improve individual performance (often scheme-based) or to prepare for challenges and competitions such as ‘sports day’. Such aims are wholly appropriate of course and are drawn from programmes of study to be found in either the current of former curriculum documents for physical education. In addition, suggested activities to aid in delivery can be found in QCA Schemes of Work (QCA, 2000), which in many schools are embedded into their planning. However, it is evident upon close examination that the most important aim has been overlooked, namely the need to develop a fundamental understanding of how the body moves.
