ABSTRACT
The teaching of athletics activities has traditionally focused on the teaching of recognised Olympic-style events. As O’Neill (1992: 13) pointed out, ‘no other key activity area within physical education has modelled itself so rigidly and so uncompromisingly on the adult sporting format in the way athletics has’. Perhaps this explains why pupils’ learning in athletics often focuses on one event each lesson: for example long jump in lesson one followed by javelin in lesson two, high jump in lesson three, etc., until all events have been covered. Ofsted (2002) has pointed out that pupils’ learning is inhibited when there are long gaps between activities which are learned over short periods of time, such as those which generally occur in the teaching of athletics activities. The approach to teaching athletics outlined in this chapter offers a different approach; it is one that builds on the development of fundamental skills of running, throwing and jumping at Key Stage 2, before moving on to the teaching of modified athletic activities in Years 7 and 8 of Key Stage 3. These activities might include running over plastic mini hurdles, or using modified equipment, such as foam javelins. This approach will provide pupils with the knowledge, skills and understanding necessary to move on to learning fully recognised events towards the final year of Key Stage 3 and into Key Stage 4.
