The things we think and do not say - the future of physical education and sport

All children have been impacted by the lack of opportuni es to accessible community sport and a rschool clubs due to the continued restrictions, however children with intellectucal disability (ID) currently find the changes in the ‘new world’ complex and difficult to comprehend and access

Early years symposium: physical readiness and physical curiosity

This symposium will focus on the early years (0 – 8 years) with a particular focus on developing physical readiness for moving throughout life and physical curiosity. It will examine the confidence and competence of early years’ practitioners and teachers and how these adults provide movement opportunities every day for children, in line with physical activity guidelines as well as early child development policies and procedures. Physical curiosity often is seen in play especially purposeful play (Almond and Lambden, 2016) as is the first and most frequent occurring activity for young children as they make sense of their world (Howells, 2017). Children within all cultures play, Bruner, (1983) described movement and action as representation of the culture of childhood. One of the four key areas of the symposium will focus on play and the role of pedagogy within the early years’ settings. It will consider how theses settings differ internationally, yet how the role of play is similar worldwide in development movement skills for young children. The second key area will consider the curriculum of the early years and how the curriculum is considered worldwide in terms of developing the child physically and the movements that are key with the curriculum. The third key area will examine consider how teachers and practitioners can be supported in developing children physically through the use of physical activity resources such as cards and how resources could be implemented will be examined. The fourth area will be focusing on movement competencies and how purposeful play can help develop early movement with children. Links will be made within the symposium to the common international language of movement, it will consider the joy of movement; problem solving, mastery; child initiated movement and how collaboration can help develop the child to be physically active for lifelong movement

‘Elite athlete to disabled athlete to adaptive athlete. ’how coaches and teachers can help support the road to recovery

This paper will examine how an athlete’s identity changed after a life changing accident, and how she moved from being an elite athlete, to being classified as a disabled athlete and her journey to be an adaptive athlete. The paper is a case study over 7 years through an autobiographical lens using techniques suggested by Abrahão (2012) of reflections, narratives, visual methodologies of photographs and videos. These are all used to help understand the impact of the change of athletic identity (Brewer, 1993). Photography in particular was used as it can capture feelings, emotions and moments throughout the years, as Anthamatten et al. (2013) proposed photography can inform research on behaviour from different perspectives. Symes (2010) made us think about the question “Who am I?” within her discussion on athletic identity and this paper shows the conflict and the change in understanding the ‘who am I’ post-accident. The results from this paper suggests that changes in athletic identity are similar to the 5 stages of grief and loss, (denial, anger, depression, bargaining and acceptance) identified by Kubler-Ross and Kessler(2014). As a teacher and coach, changes in behaviour linked to identity due to disability, injury, or long term illness are relatively under researched, but are important to know how to help support the road to recovery and understand their role. Therefore, it is proposed that this paper will inform learning and teaching in physical education and sports pedagogy in the ways that an athlete needs to be supported. It will analyse each of the stages experienced over the 7 years and offers a unique narrative of an athlete’s learner identity and how physical activity, and sport and the teachers and coaches within the physical activity and sport, can be used to help rebuild and redefine the athlete in a positive way

Continuing to provide the education in physical education - experiences of the Physical Education Teacher Education Network

The Physical Education Teacher Education Network (PETEN) is a network of universities that provide primary and secondary initial teacher education degree programmes, led by Dr Victoria Randall from the University of Winchester. The aim of this collaborative article is to build upon the last edition of Physical Education Matters (summer 2020) to continue to provide the education in PE with experiences from PETEN. We also wanted to share the tools, ideas and resources that we have developed across all age phases (Early Years to secondary) during the pandemic. These creations have been devised by university tutors, student teachers and alumni alongside school colleagues. They have been used throughout the pandemic in schools and home school environments, with a specific positive focus on an educative approach. The contributions shared within this article include: lessons learned during lockdown; virtual CPD events to support colleagues; the use of a pedagogical case as a learning tool for PE professionals; the use of augmented reality; home-based Padlets to stay connected; the use of Flipgrid to support remote and practical performances; resource cards to support PE in small spaces; and videos designed by trainees and alumni to aid children’s learning in PE

Are you ready? physical readiness is there a mismatch in understanding and knowledge?

The Family and Childcare Trust (2017) have highlighted concerns from policymakers and head teachers about the perceived lack of ‘school readiness’ among large numbers of young children when they enter the first year of primary (elementary) school. The majority of previous research has focused on young children’s cognitive, social-emotional and behavioural readiness for school (Whitebread and Bingham, 2011). In contrast, there has been a paucity of research, which asks what it means to be physically ready for the demands of formal schooling. This paper seeks to address this gap in knowledge and understanding. It will explore primary teachers’ and practitioners' beliefs about ‘physical readiness’ at the beginning of school life, which in England can be as early as just after the child’s 4th birthday. Ofsted (2014) identified that in over one in eight young children settings from disadvantaged areas, children were arriving with low levels of physical development on entry. Some children were up to 12 months behind in their development and could not manage activities such as; riding a trike / scooter / throwing / catching / kicking. School readiness in the physical development sense has been defined by NAHT and Family and Childcare Trust (2017) identify physical development readiness as issues with coordination, control and movement. The paper will questions if there is a mismatch within practice between early years’ practitioners expectations of what children can physically do and how they move, as they exit their care and then what primary education teachers expect the children in terms of physical development and ‘readiness’ to enter their care and school setting. It is believed that there is a potential mismatch of understanding and knowledge. The paper will offer novel perspectives of practice and support potential developments that are needed to support both our workforce and our children’s physical development

OECD future of education 2030: making physical education dynamic and inclusive for 2030 international curriculum analysis

This thematic report is the culmination of the OECD’s first comparative education policy focus on physical and health education in school systems around the world. Conducted under the auspices of the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 project as part of the International Curriculum Analysis, this report presents new insights into the physical education curriculum in 18 countries and jurisdictions. Schools the world over are under pressure to improve student learning outcomes in traditional academic subjects. But schools are not just places where students go to pursue academic achievement: schools should be nurturing environments that develop the whole child, including their social, emotional, physical and mental well-being. If children and young people are to become responsible, productive and happy members of society, they need a holistic education that prepares them not just for cognitive tasks, but for the broad gamut of personal, social and professional opportunities, challenges and duties in life. In this context, physical and health education curriculum reform has become a policy focus in many OECD and partner countries and jurisdictions looking to promote student health and well-being. However, while student health and well-being are a priority, robust research evidence and policy knowledge on which policies and practices in physical and health education support student health and well-being are lacking. The evidence base on comparative policy in physical and health education curriculum is comparatively under-developed relative to core academic learning areas such as literacy and numeracy. The OECD therefore launched a comparative stock-taking exercise as part of its international curriculum analysis to shed light on this important curriculum area. The resulting collaborative study covering 18 countries and jurisdictions included desktop research, international working groups, an international comparative survey on physical education, and national/jurisdictional case studies with input from experts, academics, policymakers, teachers and school leaders

UK Perspectives: physical education teacher education

This paper focuses on the UK perspective of Physical Education Teacher Education, yet what is the UK? The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the official title of the state that consists of 4 ‘Home Countries’ (or 4 Home nations) these are: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. All of these named places are referred to as countries or nations, yet currently none of them are officially independent states, although Scotland have currently called for a new vote of independence. This differentiation of 4 nations / countries and 1 nation / country, may appear confusing to those outside of the UK, especially with world wise tournaments such as the World Cup for Rugby or for Football, where the nations compete as independent countries, yet for the Olympics and Paralympics the team is the team of GB and Northern Ireland! In the UK there is a devolved country models for each of the 4 home countries, in that there are different curriculum within the schools and within teacher education, there are also different statuary powers for decision making powers, these are given to the ‘Assemblies’ which are the devolved Parliament for each nation. Also, to add to the complexity of the UK perspectives, at time of writing the UK, has just completed a general election and a new government has been implemented with new Ministers, who may make future changes. A general election is normally undertaken in May time, and every 5 years, yet after chaotic Brexit negotiations, and the call for a People’s Vote on the terms of the negotiations, with the possibility and hope of remaining in the EU, Parliament was dissolved in November and therefore any changes in curriculum both for school settings or for teacher education have been paused in terms of time until the election process, new Minister positions have been appointed and the Christmas break has been completed. Randall et al. (2016) described Physical Education as a contested concept that struggles “to find its identity within the crowded political spaces of sport, health and education” (p.7). However, this paper offers the current context and the UK perspectives of Physical Education within Teacher Education and seeks to explain Physical Education and the influence of Teacher Education within the UK context

The contribution of the primary school setting and physical education lessons to children's physical activity levels

The thesis research explored children’s physical activity levels that occurred within the primary school setting. It examined the contribution that Physical Education lessons make to children’s overall measured physical activity levels within the school day. It investigated children’s perceived level of physical activity and compared this with children’s physical activity measured by accelerometers. For the purpose of the thesis research, physical activity was regarded as, “any bodily movement resulting in energy expenditure” (Sirad and Pate, 2001, p.440). The majority of previous physical activity research has focused on secondary aged children and adults, with little on physical activity levels achieved by primary aged children within school time, or on the comparison between infants (6 – 7 year olds) and juniors (9 – 10 year olds). Data were collected within a case study setting in one school, over one school year. 20 children, 5 infant boys (mean age at start of data collection, 6 years 4 months), 5 infant girls (mean age at start of data collection, 6 years 6 months), 5 junior boys (mean age at start of data collection, 9 years 4 months) and 5 junior girls (mean age at start of data collection, 9 years 4 months) wore Actigraph accelerometers to record physical activity intensity levels throughout the school day from 9am until 3.10pm. A repeated measures 3 factor ANOVA was used to analyse the effects of factors including the following: type of day (days including a Physical Education lesson (PE days) and those that did not (Non PE days); year group (infants / juniors); parts of the day (curriculum time / morning break / lunchtime / afternoon break) and gender (male / female). P values of <0.05 were taken as the value for statistical significance ± one standard deviation. Statistical analysis was completed using SPSS 17.0. An interactive tool, (Qwizdom) was incorporated with a questionnaire that was adapted from Kowalski et al. (2004) in terms of language and vocabulary to suit the age of the children which assessed the children's perceived levels of physical activity. The perceived activity was compared with the accelerometer physical activity data. The findings revealed that children were more physically active on school days that included Physical Education lessons. Boys were more physically active at a moderate to vigorous level than girls. Junior boys were able to accumulate 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity within the school day on a day that included Physical Education lessons and in doing so reached the Department of Health's (DH, 2005) and the World Health Organisation's (WHO, 2010) recommendations for children’s physical activity within the school day, even though these are for the full day not just the school day. Children’s perceived physical activity levels matched their accelerometer recordings, in particular for junior boys during break time and for girls during Physical Education lessons. The results present the potential for broader claims to be made, relating to: the contribution primary schools make to children’s physical activity levels, the contribution Physical Education lessons make to children’s overall physical activity levels and the potential provision of opportunities for children to be physically active outside of Physical Education lessons during the school day