Physical Education: A Comprehensive Overview
Physical education (PE), often abbreviated as "phys ed" or PE, is a crucial academic subject taught in schools around the world, encompassing primary, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. In the United States, it's often informally called "gym class" or simply "gym." PE focuses on developing physical fitness, motor skills, health awareness, and social interaction through various activities, including sports, exercise, and movement education. While specific curricula might differ from country to country, the overarching goal of PE is to promote lifelong physical activity and overall well-being.
A Historical Perspective
Physical education has roots stretching back to ancient times. However, the term "physical education" itself emerged much later. Its earliest known usage can be traced to a 1748 book titled Critical Reflections on Poetry, Painting, and Music, which posed the question: “Cannot some years prove more favorable than others to the physical education of children…?”
In the decades that followed, gymnasiums began to appear across Europe, particularly in Germany. These gymnastics associations, known as turnvereins, emphasized not only physical health but also civic engagement and cultural enrichment. During the 19th century, American educators adopted European methods of teaching physical training, leading to the widespread establishment of both the term "physical education" and the practices it represents in the United States.
Domains of Learning in Physical Education
Historically, physical education has focused on three key learning domains:
- Affective: This encompasses emotional and social development.
- Cognitive: This refers to intellectual skills and knowledge.
- Psychomotor: This involves physical skills and movement.
However, more recent scholarship in physical education has acknowledged two additional domains: social and cultural.
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Researchers from Australia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have reformulated these domains into Five Learning Bodies:
- Moving Body: This dimension emphasizes developing physical competencies and motor skills.
- Thinking Body: This aspect focuses on cognitive engagement beyond physical movement.
- Emotional Body: This dimension addresses feelings such as joy, frustration, confidence, and anxiety, recognizing the emotional experiences associated with physical activity.
- Social Body: This facet highlights the importance of social interactions and relationships in PE settings.
- Cultural Body: This component acknowledges the cultural contexts and identities that students bring into PE.
By integrating these five learning bodies, teachers can provide a comprehensive approach to PE that goes beyond the traditional focus on physical activity alone.
Curricular Approaches in Physical Education
Different models influence how physical education is approached and taught. Some common models include:
Factory Model: This model treats education like an assembly line, where students are expected to master specific skills through standardized instruction and assessment. In physical education, this might involve a unit on basketball where all students learn the same set of drills (e.g., dribbling, shooting, passing) and are assessed with performance rubrics or timed tasks. The teacher leads the class with a focus on efficiency, discipline, and outcome-based results.
Garden Model: This model views students as individuals with unique potential that needs nurturing. Physical education under this model emphasizes emotional wellbeing, inclusivity, and student choice. A teacher may design activities that allow for various levels of participation and success, such as yoga, dance, or cooperative games, ensuring every student feels safe and supported.
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Journey Model: This model frames PE as a process of exploration, where learning unfolds over time and is guided by curiosity and reflection. The teacher and students co-create experiences that are meaningful and relevant. In this model, a teacher might facilitate a project where students design their own games, explore cultural sports, or investigate how physical activity affects mental health.
It's important to note that schools rarely adopt these curricular approaches fully. Instead, they often use a combination of these approaches to address students' learning needs. Furthermore, each approach may be more appropriate at different times.
- Critical Approach: This approach to curriculum aims to transform physical education from a site of physical performance and reproduction of norms into a space for critical thinking and social change. For example, students might reflect on gameplay and discuss how current rules of a game limit participation, teamwork, and fairness.
Goals and Standards
Physical education aims to expose children and teens to a wide variety of exercises and healthy activities. These goals can be achieved in a variety of ways. National, state, and local guidelines often dictate which standards must be taught regarding physical education. These standards determine what content is covered, the qualifications educators must meet, and the textbooks and materials that must be used. These approaches and curricula are based on pioneers in PE, namely, Francois Delsarte, Liselott Diem, and Rudolf von Laban, who, in the 1800s focused on using a child's ability to use their body for self-expression.
The Role of Technology
Many physical education classes utilize technology to assist their pupils in effective exercise. One of the most affordable and popular tools is a simple video recorder. Other technologies that can be used in a physical education setting include video projectors and GPS systems. Gaming systems and their associated games, such as the Kinect, Wii, and Wii Fit can also be used. Projectors are used to show students proper form or how to play certain games. Beyond traditional tools, recent AI advancements are introducing new methods for personalizing physical education, especially for adolescents.
Physical Education as a Fundamental Human Right
The International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport establishes that access to physical education, physical activity, and sports is a fundamental human right for all people without discrimination. The charter highlights their benefits for well-being, social inclusion, respect for human dignity, and emphasizes the need for inclusive access and training for all involved in physical education.
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Physical Education Around the World
The implementation and requirements for physical education vary significantly across different countries:
- Philippines: Physical education is mandatory for all years in school, unless the school gives the option for a student to do the Leaving Certificate Vocational Programme instead for their fifth and sixth year.
- Singapore: A Biennial compulsory fitness exam, NAPFA, is conducted in every school to assess pupils' physical fitness. This includes a series of fitness tests. Students are graded by a system of gold, silver, bronze, or as a fail.
- Some countries include martial arts training in school as part of physical education class.
- Ireland: One is expected to do two semesters worth of 80-minute PE classes. This also includes showering and changing times.
- Sweden: The time school students spend in physical education lessons per week varies between municipalities, but generally, years 0 to 2 have 55 minutes of PE a week; years 3 to 6 have 110 minutes a week, and years 7 to 9 have 220 minutes. In upper secondary school, all national programs have an obligatory course, containing 100 points of PE, which corresponds to 90-100 hours of PE during the course (one point per hour). Schools can regulate these hours as they like during the three years of school students attend.
- England: Pupils in years 7, 8, and 9 are expected to do two hours of exercise per week.
- Northern Ireland: Pupils are expected to participate in at least two hours of physical education (PE) per week during years 8 and 9.
- British Columbia: The government has mandated in the grade one curriculum that students must participate in physical activity daily five times a week. The educator is also responsible for planning Daily Physical Activity (DPA), which is thirty minutes of mild to moderate physical activity a day (not including curriculum physical education classes). The curriculum also requires students in grade one to be knowledgeable about healthy living.
- Ontario, Canada: Has a similar procedure in place. On October 6, 2005, the Ontario Ministry of Education (OME) implemented a DPA policy in elementary schools, for those in grades 1 through 8.
- United States: The 2012 "Shape Of The Nation Report" by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (part of SHAPE America) and the American Heart Association found that while nearly 75% of states require physical education in elementary through high school, over half of the states permit students to substitute other activities for their required physical education credit, or otherwise fail to mandate a specific amount of instructional time. According to the report, only six states (Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Vermont) require physical education at every grade level. A majority of states in 2016 did not require a specific amount of instructional time, and more than half allow exemptions or substitution. Zero Hour is a before-school physical education class first implemented by Naperville Central High School. In the state of Illinois, this program is known as Learning Readiness Physical Education. The program was based on research indicating that students who are physically fit are more academically alert, experience growth in brain cells, and enhancement in brain development.
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