Testing,training and tensions: the expression of health within physical education curricula in secondary schools in England and Wales

This paper utilises critical discourse analysis to explore and discuss the expression of health within physical education (PE) curricula in secondary schools in England and Wales. The study adopted a case study approach, involving three state secondary schools in England and two in Wales. Data were drawn from interviews with PE teachers and health-related school documentation in the five schools plus observation of a health-related unit of work in one of the schools. The expression of health in PE broadly reflected ideologies associated with promoting ‘fitness for life’ and ‘fitness for performance’. The extent to which teachers could express their favoured discourses in policy and practice was partly determined by their position of power, relative to others within the department, although they could find ways of privileging their favoured discourse in their own lessons. Curiously, rhetorical ‘fitness for life’ discourses were commonly expressed through ‘fitness for performance’ practices in the form of testing and training activities. These were found to be the most common contexts for the delivery of health-related learning. In terms of Bernstein's location of discourses within contexts of educational systems, the findings suggest that recontextualisation of statutory PE curricula occurred at the site of the relocation of discourse (in this case, within PE departments in secondary state schools), resulting in the privileging of discourses heavily influenced by sport- and fitness-related ideologies. Improved awareness of the expression of health in secondary school PE curricula should help to better understand and address the complex tensions between health-related policies and practices in schools.     

高校大学体育课程改革之学生体质健康干预的研究

针对高等学校学生体质健康的状况,建立科学的大学体育课程体系,实施学生体质健康干预机制,以遏制学生体质下滑。结果显示：＂三自主、一干预＂的＂俱乐部＂模式教学形式,＂月月有大赛,周周有小赛,天天有安排＂的课外体育活动,＂课内外一体化＂教学干预模式,针对性强,激发了＂体弱＂学生锻炼的兴趣和动机,保证了其体质健康水平呈上升趋势。     

Activating the curriculum: a socio-ecological action research frame for health and physical education

The health and physical education (HPE) profession needs to find alternatives to its individualistic and performative focus if it is to remain relevant and meaningful for all learners. This paper presents a way of framing HPE that helps to shift the focus from the individual as autonomous decision-maker, and goes beyond sport and fitness testing as the main contexts for learning. To do this we present the socio-ecological action research (SEAR) frame for unit development that was co-created and enacted over a six-month period involving dialogue between teachers, students, parents, researchers and community. This paper presents findings from semi-structured interviews, student artefacts and field notes collected as one component of a broader three-phase study which spanned three years. The data describe how generalist primary teachers (n=4) from a small Victorian community and their students (aged 8–10 years) tackled a unit of work that positioned centrally the everyday physical experiences of active school travel (AST). Teachers supported students in exploring barriers to their AST, and developing strategies that would counteract some of the negative perceptions that had limited their AST in the past. The findings suggest that the unit of work evolved from an exploration of AST into a much broader exploration of the whole community. This paper does not provide evidence for an alternative way to view HPE, rather it represents an embryonic exploration of how a SEAR frame might support teachers in applying inquiry-based pedagogies that extend beyond the individual as autonomous decision-maker, and promote opportunities for exploration and understanding of environmental, social and personal factors that influence our health and everyday physically active lives. Despite students being positioned as central actors within the SEAR frame, obtaining genuine student voice throughout the process proved challenging.     

江苏省青少年体质健康现状与学校体育教育改革的理性思考

采用文献资料珐、访谈法等研究方法,基于江苏省教育厅公布“2011年江苏省学生体质健康监测数据培训,进行分析研究,并与体育健康课程新的理念和实施要求进行对照思考分析,试图从学校体育教育改革的角度提出一些提高我省青少年体质健康的可行性的建议,从而为我们全面提高青少年体质,全面推进素质教育,提高学校体育工作,深化学校体育改革,尽早实现《江苏省学生体质健康促进行动计划》的总体目标,改善青少年体质健康状况计划献计献策。     

谈中小学体育教师的继续教育

通过文献资料法、专家咨询法、逻辑分析法等,针对新一轮课程改革对中小学体育教育人才素质要求不断变化 的现状,首先分析了体育与健康课程的内涵,进而阐明了体育与健康课程的实施给教师培训部门带来的挑战;最后着重 从新课程体系的培养目标、培养模式、课程设置、质量保障体系等方面展开研讨,提出对策思路。     

Monitoring health,activity and fitness in physical education: its current and future state of health

Various government policies, strategies and responses in England over the years have highlighted schools and physical education to be instrumental in addressing health and the focus on health has been strengthened within subsequent revisions of the National Curriculum. Whilst this might seem encouraging, concerns have been expressed that such policies and governmental regulation increasingly bear features of a ‘performative culture’ and that these have led to increasingly widespread health surveillance in schools. Linked to this are long-standing concerns over the way in which health is addressed in schools and physical education, as well as over some of the monitoring measures and practices employed within the curriculum. Despite this, little is known about monitoring practices in physical education. This article, therefore, presents findings of a study which aimed to (1) determine the nature, prevalence and purpose of monitoring health, physical activity and physical fitness within the physical education curriculum and (2) establish physical education teachers' views of and approaches to monitoring. The study comprised two phases. The first phase involved a survey completed by Heads of Physical Education in 110 secondary schools from across England, and the second semi-structured interviews with 18 of those from the original sample. The findings revealed monitoring, and in particular fitness monitoring, to be a common feature within the physical education curriculum in many schools. However, a number of issues and limitations associated with monitoring and some of the schools' monitoring practices were identified, and the individualistic nature and performative culture reflected in and reinforced through monitoring were acknowledged as potentially problematic. It was thus suggested that if the findings are typical, then monitoring practice is currently not in a good state of health. The article concludes proposing a way forward for monitoring within physical education in the form of some recommendations for practice.     

Using discursive strategies,playing policy games and shaping the future of physical education

This paper presents a critical analysis of the representation of physical education (PE) in the 1992 Senate inquiry into ‘Physical and Sport Education’ in Australia. Analysis focuses specifically upon how and why a new professional discourse, fundamental motor skills (FMS), gained a privileged position in the inquiry, the inquiry report and in subsequent PE policy and practice across Australia. This paper examines the complex policy processes and power-relations underpinning the progressive legitimisation of the FMS discourse, and identifies subtleties and variations in the expression of the discourse. Attention is drawn to the strategic appropriation of established professional discourses and utilisation of crisis discourses in establishing and gaining support for the FMS discourse. The analysis reaffirms policy arenas as sites of contestation but highlights that they are simultaneously sites of possibility for PE professionals who are prepared and able to use discursive resources in strategic ways. The contemporary relevance of the discourses privileged in 1992 and lessons to be learned from events surrounding the Senate inquiry are discussed.     

Get moving! A comparison of ideas about body,health and physical activity in materials produced for health education in the Danish Primary School

In the debate over health, one political message has become more and more dominant in western societies over the past decade: Get moving! The logic seems to be that physical activity per se equals better health and that the more physical activity, the better one's health. This logic has, among other things, induced an increased political focus on educational settings and physical education (PE) as a central place for promoting health by increasing physical activity. Today PE is often explicitly identified with health in contemporary school curricula, and this means that PE teachers unavoidably encounter contemporary perceptions of health and physical activity in their professional practice. Taking as its starting point four different teaching resources produced for health education in the Danish Primary School, this article presents four different health cultures and their recommendations for physical activity as a health-promoting practice. The aim is to challenge current perceptions of health and the related recommendations for physical activity in providing a springboard for health communicators and PE teachers to reflect on the health cultures they encounter and maybe to consider how these aligns their own preferred health culture.     

"新课程标准"下高师体育教育专业课程设置的特征及原则

《体育与健康课程标准》的实施，对体育教师提出了更高的要求。作为以中小学体育教师为主要培养对象的普通高等院校体育教育本科专业，应依据课程设置的基本特征及原则进行人才培养。     

Health literacy in schools: prioritising health and well-being issues through the curriculum

Health literacy (HL) is a relatively new concept in health promotion and is concerned with empowering people through enhancing their knowledge of health issues and improving their ability to make choices about their health and well-being. Schools are seen increasingly as key settings for the dissemination of health messages through curricula and other on-site provision. However, such opportunities are amongst many demands being placed on educational providers and finding space in the school day to support the health agenda is a challenge. This practice-based, qualitative study examines the current practices in three schools in the UK. In total 34 pupils (n=16 from Year 9 and n = 18 from Year 11) were interviewed in six focus groups (3 in each school), with up to 6 pupils in each focus group. School staff (n = 8) were also interviewed individually. Findings suggest that pupils and staff have an understanding of health and a capacity for HL, though health education (via taught subjects) is not statutory across the four Key Stages of the National Curriculum. In order to engender health literate young people, with a view to reducing health inequalities, it is recommended that key health messages are delivered through an agenda that integrates current provision for health via the curriculum and other school-based practices, such as the Healthy Schools Programme.     

阳光教育理论与中小学体育教学改革

阳光教育是教师用爱心关心、理解、激励学生,使其成为性格活泼、自立自强、合群合作的一代新人的教育。作为一种新的教育理念,阳光教育是基于对目前学校体育教育,尤其是中小学体育教学所存在的弊端而提出来的,在体育教育中应贯彻阳光教育理念。     

The global physical inactivity pandemic: an analysis of knowledge production

In July 2012, The Lancet announced a pandemic of physical inactivity and a global call to action to effect change. The worldwide pandemic is said to be claiming millions of lives every year. Asserting that physical inactivity is pandemic is an important moment. Given the purported scale and significance of physical inactivity around the world, this research examines how the pandemic is rhetorically constructed and how various solutions are proposed. We apply a governmentality perspective to examine the continuity, coherence and appropriateness of ideas about physical activity. The analysis demonstrates that within The Lancet, there is disunity about what is known about physical activity, problematic claims of ‘abnormality’ and contradictions in the proposed deployment of a systems approach to solve the problem. The article concludes by suggesting that as knowledge produced about physical activity grows, scholars need to beware of nostalgic conceptions of physical activity, account for the immense diversity of lived experiences which do not abide by idealistic recommendations and consider more rigorously contentious claims about physical activity programme effects.     

The position of dance in physical education

Dance has been a part of the physical education (PE) curriculum in several countries for a long time. In spite of this, studies demonstrate that the position of dance in the subject of PE is contested and that little time is devoted to dance. The overall aim of this article is to examine the position of dance as a pedagogical discourse in Swedish steering documents over time. The empirical material consists of five Swedish curricula for PE over a period of 50 years (1962–2011). Discourse analysis is used to identify organised systems of meaning, including privileged and prioritised values. Our theoretical frame of reference draws on Bernstein's concept of codes. Three different knowledge areas within dance are found in the text material: ‘dance as cultural preserver’, ‘dance as bodily exercise’ and ‘dance as expression’. Three pedagogical discourses emerge from these knowledge areas: an identity formation discourse, a public health discourse and an aesthetic discourse. The identity formation discourse in earlier curricula focuses on the perpetuation of Swedish and Nordic cultural traditions, while in later curricula, it emphasises the construction of a broader multicultural identity formation related to the understanding of different cultures. The public health discourse constitutes a prioritised understanding of dance as physical training related to a healthy lifestyle. The aesthetic discourse, which has the weakest position over time, represents the valuing of embodied experiences and feelings expressed through movements. This discourse is closely linked to the construction of gender. Over time, a new performance code came to surpass the former competence code in the steering documents. The performance code positions dance in PE as mainly a physical activity with little artistic or aesthetic value. The pedagogical discourse of dance remains within a highly disciplinary framework of social control.     

Neoliberal freedoms,privatisation and the future of physical education

Focussing on the ideological aspects of privatisation, this paper explores ways in which ‘freedom’ has been activated discursively to justify actions involving changes to both the structure and the content of formal education in the UK. Empirically, the paper will analyse examples in England of UK Government ‘new provider’ rhetoric relating to ‘Academies’ in order to address both the claims and the counterclaims made by governments, educational producers and others for the privatisation of education and physical education (PE) within it. The paper suggests that such changes may have significant implications not only for teachers of PE, but also the educational entitlements of pupils and specifically, their opportunities to enjoy a liberal, comprehensive, high-quality PE. Privatisation may also consolidate rather than help erode and eradicate existing social hierarchies and associated distributions of educational social and physical capital.     

Goal orientations,self-determination and pupils' discipline in physical education

In this study, we examined the patterns of goal orientations, perceived competence, reasons for behaving well and self-reported discipline in school physical education among 511 pupils from years 8 and 9 (mean age 14.2 years). Cluster analyses were conducted on two randomly split subsamples to identify homogeneous groups of pupils on these measures of achievement motivation and discipline. Three meaningful clusters emerged for the first subsample, which were then cross-validated for the second subsample. One group of pupils revealed low scores on task and ego orientations, perceived competence and feelings of self-determination about their behaviour in lessons. These perceptions were related to lower ratings of discipline in physical education than pupils who scored more highly on these variables. The highest discipline scores were reported by pupils with high task and ego orientations, perceived competence and feelings of autonomy. The results are useful for teachers and other physical activity leaders in enhancing motivation and disciplined behaviour in young people. Promoting more self-determined reasons for being disciplined, for example, could lead to more orderly classes.     

Grand designs! analysing the conceptual tensions associated with new physical education and health and well-being curriculum

The positioning of physical education in the school curriculum continues to reflect external discourses circulating in political and social milieu. As increasing austerity measures influence and restrict educational priorities, we consider that there is an urgent need for physical educationalists to articulate a rationale for an educational contribution which is worthy of investment and which avoids the pitfalls of conceptual ambiguity and/or reliance on narrowly drawn health evidence. We, therefore, write as teacher educators, working within a critical framework, who are concerned by the disconnection between competing visions of physical education, when examined from contemporary sociological and philosophical perspectives. With reference to the policy opportunities available in Scotland, we identify how cultivating salutogenic approaches, where a broad, but nevertheless coherent perspective on health and well-being is advanced could offer enhanced prospects for the centrality of physical education in education and schooling. However, apart from the contribution of Quennerstedt, quite how such approaches can be modelled in curriculum has received little critical attention. We see the potential in applying Tiberius's philosophical and social psychological ideas on developing reflective wisdom and of nurturing in education productive experiences which can help pupils deepen their understanding of the health and well-being decisions they make and of the lives they choose to live. After reviewing the contextual influences on policy, we have begun to consider in embryonic terms the methodological possibilities for teachers as insightful and active curriculum decision makers in years to come. We conclude by summarising the benefits of re-conceptualising experiences in physical education in order to help pupils' make informed decisions which are based on enhanced self-awareness and a perspective on the world that views physical education as an essentially optimistic and good endeavour which is worthy of sustained commitment.     

系统化体育教学设计

以心理学、教育学、系统设计等领域的知识原理为基础,结合体育教学的特点,对系统化体育教学要素进行了分析。其主要过程包括建立系统教学目的,分析教学任务,教学内容分类及学习条件的具体化,选择方法与媒体,系统综合与编写教案,评价与反馈。     

Influences of volitional and forced intentions on physical activity and effort within the theory of planned behaviour

Abstract

In the present study, we examined the utility of volitional and forced intentions in predicting participation in physical activities and effort within the theory of planned behaviour. Four hundred and forty-four participants (184 males, 260 females) aged 19.1 ± 3.3 years (mean ± s) completed self-report measures of intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, volitional intentions, forced intentions, and past behaviour in a physical activity context. Six weeks later, they completed self-report measures of physical activity behaviour and effort. Results indicated that volitional intentions and forced intentions contributed to the prediction of effort over and above intentions, attitudes, subjective norms, perceptions of control, past behaviour, and the product terms of attitudes×intentions and subjective norms×intentions. Volitional intentions and forced intentions did not predict participation in physical activities over and above effort. We concluded that volitional intentions and forced intentions assist in the explanation of effort in the context of physical activity behaviour.     

Commentary on research into learning in physical education: towards a mature field of knowledge

In this commentary, I consider each of the papers in this special issue in regard to their contribution to a debate on the nature of learning in physical education (PE). I also discuss how we might take this aspiration further by moving beyond a ‘mere’ debate over learning theories to a knowledge building process in which knowledge claims are ‘tested’ against their compatibility (or non-compatibility) with other ‘knowings’. In this regard, I introduce the idea of vertical integration or compatibility as a consideration for building a more mature field of study of learning in PE.     

21世纪普通高校体育教育前景展望

本文通过对 2 1世纪普通高校体育教育前景的研究分析 ,发现在新世纪高校体育教育面临着多种挑战 ,高校体育教育要发展就必须紧跟时代发展的步伐 ,高校体育健康教育改革必须是全方位的进行。