Health and Physical Education and the Online Tertiary Environment at Two Universities: Pre-service Teachers’ Perceived ‘Readiness’ to Teach HPE

In recent years in tertiary institutions in Australia, there has been a large increase of enrolments in Education courses delivered via an online/external mode. This has raised a number of concerns around the nexus of theory and practice and whether pre-service teachers feel ready to teach after completing Education study online. The purpose of this study is to examine pre-service teachers’ perceived readiness to teach Health and Physical Education (HPE) after engaging with the subject fully in an online tertiary environment. 26 pre-service teachers studying education online from two separate were involved in this study. Upon completion of the University semester and also after a practicum placement, qualitative data was collected detailing the pre-service teachers’ perceptions in regard to their readiness to teach HPE. Pre-service teachers’ perceptions are used as the primary data highlighting the varying levels of readiness to teach HPE

A kickstart to life: Australian football league as a medium for promoting life skills in Cape York Indigenous communities

This paper presents evidence collected from an evaluatory study of the Kickstart program conducted by Australian Football League (AFL) Cape York in far North Queensland. The aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of the Kickstart program in meeting its overall objective of enhancing lifeskills of Indigenous Australians through participation in AFL. Evidence collected via interviews with Indigenous youth, parents, teachers and Kickstart stakeholders (including community representatives) suggest mixed meanings surrounding the interpretation of “lifeskills”, and yet improvement in the education, attitudes and lifestyle choices of Indigenous youth in the selected Cape York communities

Curriculum Alignment After Reforms: A Systematic Review with Considerations for Queensland Pre- and In-service Teachers

This systematic review synthesises research on curriculum alignment to suggest considerations for the implementation of the Senior secondary curriculum reform in Queensland, Australia. It focuses on the coherence of cognitive skills in the prescribed and enacted curriculum as these are typically the least aligned curriculum components. Search methods, which followed the PRISMA model, resulted in 108 relevant articles for qualitative synthesis. Results show that alignment after curriculum reforms is typically low. The use of educational taxonomies can support curriculum alignment. Marzano and Kendall’s (2007) New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives underpins the new Queensland Senior secondary syllabi which, in line with other Australian policy, encourage the explicit teaching of cognitive skills. Research is needed on the enacted cognitive skills curriculum in Queensland and its alignment with the reformed prescribed curriculum. To promote the successful implementation of the new Queensland Senior system, pre- and in-service teachers could engage with the New Taxonomy and best practice for teaching cognitive skills

Curriculum alignment after reforms: a systematic review with considerations for Queensland pre- and in-service teachers

This systematic review synthesises research on curriculum alignment to suggest considerations for the implementation of the Senior secondary curriculum reform in Queensland, Australia. It focuses on the coherence of cognitive skills in the prescribed and enacted curriculum as these are typically the least aligned curriculum components. Search methods, which followed the PRISMA model, resulted in 108 relevant articles for qualitative synthesis. Results show that alignment after curriculum reforms is typically low. The use of educational taxonomies can support curriculum alignment. Marzano and Kendall’s (2007) New Taxonomy of Educational Objectives underpins the new Queensland Senior secondary syllabi which, in line with other Australian policy, encourage the explicit teaching of cognitive skills. Research is needed on the enacted cognitive skills curriculum in Queensland and its alignment with the reformed prescribed curriculum. To promote the successful implementation of the new Queensland Senior system, pre- and in-service teachers could engage with the New Taxonomy and best practice for teaching cognitive skills

Teachers facing Health and Physical Education curriculum changes: a kaleidoscope of beliefs, values, emotions and interactions

In a world of rapid and constant change, teachers are faced with organisational and educational reform, and more specifically curriculum change. In recent times all states in Australia have transformed the Health and Physical Education curriculum. The realisation of effective curriculum shifts necessitates challenging teachers' current beliefs and practices in Health and Physical Education. Sparkes proposes that teachers move through three levels of change, from 'surface change' to 'real change', with real change being the ultimate achievement. This paper argues that Sparkes' level of 'real change' overlooks the important elements of emotion and the role of interactions in teacher change. In addition, it challenges the appellation of 'real change' and proposes that ' authentic change' is perhaps a more appropriate terminology

Voices in health and physical education policy and practice in Australian States and Territories

Chapter Intention:\ud To examine the role of various [but not all) voices in the\ud health and physical education curriculum through the lens of\ud curriculum snapshots;\ud to probe what voices work 'with, around and against' health\ud and physical education curriculum at policy and practice levels;\ud to query the visibility of (un)represented voices;\ud to be able to transfer these understandings to your own\ud curriculum study-as-critique

The mother hen, chickens or roosters: who has control over curriculum change in the chookyard

The exploration of enabling and constraining issues and characteristics embedded in the social, cultural and physical contexts of Sunstate College – a pseudonym – forms the framework for this paper. The construction and implementation of the Health and Physical Education key learning area during 1995 to 1998 explicated micropolitical factors that made the curriculum change process complicated and problematic. The metaphor of ‘chookyard’, with its distinct hierarchies and boundaries, was used as a topical approach to understanding curriculum control, and in particular, the enabling and constraining factors

A Teacher Educator's attempt to encourage general preservice teachers studying Health and Physical Education curriculum to explore embodied subjectivities

Teacher education aims to prepare preservice teachers for their professional lives inclusive of all that teaching involves. For experienced teachers, reflection on teacher education might bring thoughts of cognitive preparation, ie. the understanding of developmental theories, teaching and learning frameworks, curriculum development and implementation, and of course. eighty days of procticum. Rarely is the role of the 'body' in teaching questioned. critiqued and/or celebratea. This paper outlines a teacher educato(s atlempt to encourage generalist preservice\ud teachers to challenge their own lived experiences. and their impact in, through and about teaching Health and Physical Education

Cycl(scept)ical circuits of power and control in Australian HPE curriculum

Chapter Intention:\ud To undertake curriculum study-as-critique of the Australian\ud health and physical education curriculum issues at macro and\ud meso levels;\ud to develop an understanding of a genealogical tour of the\ud health and physical education curriculum, including the\ud discourses of crisis and fragmentation;\ud to consider curriculum dilemmas of meeting student needs

Why the KLA? And why now?

This chapter explores the development of the key learning area of Health and Physical Education in Australian States and Territories