Routledge Handbook of Primary Physical Education

Gerald Griggs, Kirsten Petrie, Gerald Griggs, Kirsten Petrie

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781134819300
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Elementary Education

The Routledge Handbook of Primary Physical Education goes further than any other book in exploring the specific theoretical and practical components of teaching PE at the primary or elementary school level. As the most comprehensive review of theory, research and practice in primary PE yet published, it represents an essential evidence-based guide for all students, researchers and practitioners working in this area.

Written by a team of leading international primary PE specialists from academic and practitioner backgrounds, this handbook examines the three discourses that dominate contemporary PE: health, education and sport. With case studies from twelve countries, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, Spain and South Korea, it provides a truly international perspective on key themes and issues such as:

• primary PE pedagogy, policy and curriculum development
• assessment and standards
• child development
• diversity and inclusion
• teacher training and professional development.

Offering an unprecedented wealth of material, this handbook is an invaluable reference for any undergraduate or postgraduate degree programme in primary physical education or any primary teacher training course with a physical education element.

1
Introduction

Gerald Griggs and Kirsten Petrie

Introduction

Given the time constraints for many professionals engaged within physical education and perhaps more broadly still, primary education (also known as elementary education), there is little wonder that many seek quick and practical solutions in their day-to-day lives. Unfortunately, many practitioners and, sadly, student practitioners fail to understand issues far beyond the immediate world in which they find themselves. This can be due to a range of reasons such as time, effort, interest or complexity. However, with the increased expectations placed on trainees moving towards a post-graduate-level profession and renewed research interests across the globe into elementary or primary-level physical education, it is of increased importance that a book such as the Routledge Handbook of Primary Physical Education provides a secure theoretical underpinning to those studying the subject area.

Many involved in professional practice concern themselves with current policy documents such as a national curriculum for physical education, but their engagements remain at an operational level rather than at a critical one. By routing the everyday documents and the everyday issues such as teaching to a broader, connected landscape, this book will offer a deeper understanding for practitioners working at all levels. Importantly as an edited global text, it will also seek to add further context by bringing together a congregation of all the talents of those consistently writing, speaking and specialising in the delivery of primary physical education with trainees, teachers and outside agencies.

Part I: The nature and purpose of the primary physical education discourse

This book is written in cascading chapters as issues that emerge in earlier sections become increasingly situated as the book develops. Following this introduction, the first section of the book concerns itself with ‘The nature and purpose of the primary physical education discourse’.

Across the world, most, if not all, of the major discourses surrounding and affecting primary physical education are located within the fields of health, sport and education. However, from country to country and from era to era the dominance of one field compared to another can vary. The key explanation for this variation is that at any one time a culture becomes seduced by different texts and narratives, and thus the power balance shifts, resulting in what sociologists may call a hegemonic relationship. This section is deconstructed into separate chapters of health, sport and education to examine in detail the complex factors at play upon primary physical education.

Concerning the impact of health, in Chapter 2, Darren Powell provides a critical examination of some of the key tensions, arguments and problems that arise when primary physical education and contemporary notions of health become bedfellows. Here crucial ideologies and discourses of health that frame primary physical education are outlined, with a particular focus on the role of ‘new public health’, ‘healthism’ and the attempt to make individuals responsible for their own health. This is followed by a closer interrogation of the childhood obesity ‘crisis’ and the ways in which physical education is positioned as both a cause of and solution to obesity.

In Chapter 3, Gavin Ward explains that the language and actions of sport are enduring historical features of primary physical education. Discourses concerning national sporting success and promoting long-term adult participation though competence in sport has become an increasing preoccupation within the subject. For primary-aged pupils, this involves very distant, long-term goals and overlooks immediate and ongoing understandings of different sports and physical activities. These experiences and concerns are not limited to physical education lessons and continue well beyond the school gates. Increasingly, research is drawing attention to the limitations of practices which attempt to reproduce those associated with sport and competing discourses within primary physical education. Despite claims of equality of opportunity and supporting those willing to make an effort, these practices have been argued to reproduce divisions between those who enjoy and benefit from their physical education experiences and those who lose out.

In Chapter 4, Gerald Griggs explains that there have been significant influences upon primary education and upon physical education that have served to shape the inclusion and delivery of physical education within educational settings. It is evident that wider socio-cultural factors can come to influence a subject area, and thus explanations are offered as to how physical education has become positioned within wider ideas of education and against neighbouring sectors, leading to highly contested terrains of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Part II: Educational policy and curriculum

The second section of this book concerns ‘Educational policy and curriculum’, focusing on issues at the fore of contemporary developments and debates in education globally which have a significant impact upon the learning and learners within primary school physical education.

In Chapter 5, Dawn Penney and Maree Dinan Thompson critically explore historical and contemporary ‘drivers’ of curriculum in primary physical education. Drawing on theoretical perspectives developed in curriculum studies literature in education, education policy studies and physical education, the chapter explores developments in official curriculum policy, in the enacted curriculum and in the spaces and networks that connect political and professional arenas. In doing so, the chapter aims to bring to the fore the complexity of curriculum processes ‘in’ and affecting primary physical education. At the same time, the intention is to provide concepts and frameworks that can help extend understanding of why and how official policy and curriculum practices are driven in particular directions.

In recent years research has shown that physical education in primary schools is increasingly being taught by people other than the class teacher, typically non-professionals who have coaching qualifications from national governing bodies and specialise in aspects of youth sport. In Chapter 6, Richard Blair considers the opportunities, issues and challenges faced by primary schools and the range of different adults who take responsibility for the delivery of primary school physical education curriculums and programmes of extra-curricular school sport or physical activity. The discussion is located within the broader concept of the alignment and strategic fit of three groups of adults, qualified teachers who are not necessarily specialists in physical education, but in child development and pedagogy; adults who are not qualified teachers, but specialists in youth sport or children’s physical activity; and other adults who have a link to physical activity, movement or youth sport either professionally or as a volunteer.

Chapter 7 reflects that although assessment and standards are issues at the fore of contemporary developments and debates in education globally, they have received relatively little attention across research and professional communities associated with primary physical education. In this chapter, Maree Dinan Thompson and Dawn Penney draw on research from mainstream education and physical education to address developments in primary physical education that are linked to assessment and standards, as well as broader developments that are affecting policy and practice and thus, present opportunities and challenges for teachers, teacher educators and other professionals working in primary physical education.

Part III: Learning and learners

The third section of this book concerns ‘Learning and learners’, focusing on pupils, teachers as learners and the broader pedagogical approaches and issues that support teaching and learning in primary school physical education.

In contemporary times, too, few would question the idea that physical education can and does contribute to the development of the ‘whole’ child, and this is the focus of Chapter 8 written by Lisette Burrows. There is no question that physical education, at least at the level of rhetoric, is about much more than ‘physical’ development. It is geared towards producing whole, balanced and well-rounded citizens. There is also little question that physical education’s claims to develop the ‘whole’ of a ‘child’ have been helpful in terms of justifying the subject’s existence in schools, boosting its status and arguments for greater curriculum time. What is questioned in this chapter is what developmental thinking and practice do. That is, when we think in developmental terms and commit ourselves to developing the ‘whole’ of the pupils we teach, what kinds of consequences, both positive and negative, emerge for children, for teachers and for teaching/learning in primary physical education?

In Chapter 9, Niki Tsangaridou and Ermis Kyriakides remind us that research over the last several decades has confirmed the critical role of the teacher in student learning and acknowledges that one of the most significant ways to improve student learning is the quality of teaching. Many scholars have suggested that a key issue to achieve this is to enhance teacher education programs so as to educate high-quality teachers for schools, but the global picture here is somewhat mixed. Major historical discourses within teacher education are presented here, along with the major characteristics of quality teacher education programs. Key considerations provide insightful recommendations for further research.

Global concerns are regularly voiced about the quality of the physical education experiences received by primary school-aged children when delivered by generalist teachers. However, given that generalist class teachers are responsible for the delivery of primary physical education in many countries, significant progress is unlikely to be made until issues around the motivation, confidence and competence of those who teach primary physical education are addressed. Therefore, although it is acknowledged that significant quality improvement in primary physical education will involve an integrated process across the cultural, material-economic and socio-political arenas, the focus here in Chapter 10 by Mike Jess, Nicola Carse and Jeanne Keay is on the need to find effective ways that support the professional development of generalist class teachers in their teaching of primary physical education.

The growth in alternative routes into teacher education has resulted in an increase in the range of staff acting as teacher educators. In addition, teacher educators are no longer solely focused on initial teacher education and training. Their role extends to support the facilitation of training and development opportunities across teachers’ professional journeys. In Chapter 11 Julia Lawrence provides an overview of the role of the modern teacher educator within the context of primary physical education, offering advice on supporting beginner teachers and other colleagues through their early professional development. In addition, ideas concerning personal reflection and professional development are considered.

Alison Wrench and Robyne Garrett explain in Chapter 12 how physical education has an important part to play in improving educational outcomes, justice and inclusion in the primary sector. In attempting to understand the nature and meaning of physical education from the perspectives of marginalised students, socio-critical pedagogical orientations are addressed. To further develop key ideas, cultural, educational and pedagogical perspectives for students in relation to gender, disability, ethnicity and indigeneity are considered. A greater understanding of these perspectives reveals an intersectionality of categories of marginalisation which makes the case for inclusive pedagogical practices.

Frequent questions and interactions with primary teachers indicate recurring concerns about the lack of explicit learning embedded in primary school physical education and how many have become focused upon specific sports, games or fitness-based activities. Such activities appear to dominate planning for physical education in primary school, but also appear inadvertently to limit young people in their responses and limit their potential learning. In Chapter 13, Kirsten Petrie and Kate Kernaghan ask, ‘What do we need to do as teachers of physical education to remedy this situation and change the responses of students?’ Light is shone on how we might enhance learning by rethinking practice.

Often overlooked in educational texts, Paul Rainer examines the topic of transition, specifically the significance of the transition from primary to secondary schooling. Research has indicated that this transition is one of the most difficult in pupils’ educational careers and represents a ‘key rite of passage’ in young people’s lives. Such a period is complex and multi-dimensional, resulting in a number of social, personal and physical challenges. The focus of Chapter 14 recognises that physical education presents a unique landscape for young people which can affect them socially, physically, emotionally and psychologically and affect their long-term future physical activity experiences, both positively and negatively.

In Chapter 15 Angela Pickard argues that teaching physical education is itself a creative act, rather akin to a creative performance that is based on expertise, structure and facilitation. The notion of creativity has a long history related to educational provision and can relate to ideas of playfulness, exploration, problem-solving, purposefulness and artistic and imaginative invention. However, although global policies have continued to highlight the significance of the promotion of creativity and creative thinking in all education levels for the benefit of modern economies and societies, anxiety remains among educators that creativity is being stifled because of the expansion of performativity policies used by governments to raise standards in schools.

Part IV: Primary PE in the global context

In this section, Chapters 16–27 follow the same format. The focus of these chapters is to provide an overview of primary/elementary school physical education in twelve different countries. As discourses associated with physical education were explored in Part I and broader education concepts associated with learners and learning have been addressed in Part II, authors of the ‘country’ chapters will not be further explaining these concepts, but references to early chapters are signalled where relevant. In the global context each chapter includes the rationale for physical education, frequency of delivery, details of what actually gets delivered, nature of delivery, teacher preparation and on-going support and an outline of assessment practices and focus. Contributions from the different countries across the world and their authors are as follows: Helen Ives (England); Nicola Carse, Mike Jess and Jeanne Keay (Scotland); Dierdre Ni Chronin (Eire); Nalda Wainwright and Heddwen Davies (Wales); Okseon Lee (South Korea); Melissa Parker and Kevin Patton (United States); Maree Dinan Thompson (Australia); Kirsten Petrie and Denise Atkins (New Zealand); Luis Miguel Garcia-Lopez and David Gutiérrez (Spain); Ermis Kyriakides and Niki Tsangaridou (Cyprus); Laura Suominen, Gunn Engelsrud, Vegard Fusche Moe and Petter Erik Leirhaug (Norway); and Alberto Moreno-Doña (Chile).

The final chapter offers an opportunity to reflect upon this text as a whole, and we hope that you find many different and potentially new reference points within the Routledge Handbook of Primary Physical Education.

Part I
The nature and purpose of the primary physical education discourse

2
Primary Physical Education and Health

Darren Powell

Introduction

It is almost impossible to separate primary physical education from the notion of ‘health’. ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• List of contributors
• 1 Introduction
• PART I The nature and purpose of the primary physical education discourse
• PART II Educational policy and curriculum
• PART III Learning and learners
• PART IV Primary physical education in the global context
• Index