27
Curriculum for Physical Education (Government of Ireland, 1999b), physical education
is ‘the process which provides the children with learning opportunities through the
medium of movement and contributes to their overall development by helping them to
lead full, active and healthy lives’ (p. 2). Individuals should establish
the habit of being
physically active from a young age, as participation in exercise is associated with a
reduced risk of many chronic diseases and improved psychological health (McGuinness
& Shelly, 1995; Woods, Nelson, O’ Gorman & Moyna, 2007; Woods et al., 2010). By
the time a child reaches the end of primary school a significant proportion of his or her
mental and physical potential has already been realised and a child who has not
mastered a physical skill may well be disadvantaged for the rest of his or her life (Balyi,
Cardinal, Higgs, Norris and Way, 2006).
The focus on the body and on physical experience makes physical education a
unique subject in the curriculum. It provides opportunities for acquiring skills such as
the development of initiative, tolerance, patience, safety,
communicating with and
understanding of others, ability to get on with others, thinking before acting, enjoyment
of participation and satisfaction from success (Government of Ireland, 1999b). Among
the many social skills that can be promoted are; the ability to work in groups,
coping
with success and failure, responsibility, organisation, leadership and coping with
competition and co-operative play. The Primary Physical Education Curriculum
(Government of Ireland, 1999b) aims that, ‘through a diverse range of experiences
providing regular, challenging physical activity,
the balanced and harmonious
development and general well-being on the child is fostered’ (p. 2). It is designed to
meet the physical needs of the child and the need for movement experiences, challenges
and play. It aims to develop a desire for daily physical activity and encourage
constructive use of free time and participation in physical activities in adult life. The
system claims to be built on the principles of variety and diversity and not of
specialisation.
The programme for the subject is outlined in the Physical Education Curriculum
(Government of Ireland, 1999b). The subject content is divided into six ‘strands’,
which
are Athletics, Aquatics, Dance, Games, Gymnastics and Outdoor and Adventure
Activities. This document is supported by the Physical Education Curriculum,
Guidelines for Teachers (Government of Ireland, 1999c). The publication provides
suggested teaching approaches and methodologies, guidelines on organisation and
assessment as well as school and classroom planning. The approach
teachers should
28
take to issues such as gender, competition, extra-curricular activities; children with
special needs and sport are also outlined. In Ireland, the majority of children are taught
physical education by their class teacher. The curriculum has been designed with class
teachers in mind and states that ‘in order to implement the
programme the teacher does
not need to be a specialist in the teaching of physical education’
(Government of
Ireland, 1999c, p. 24). According to Hardman and Marshall (2009), recent educational
reforms in some countries and in response to the perceived obesity epidemic and
concepts of active lifestyles some physical education curricula are undergoing, or have
undergone, change. Terms used most frequently are physical education (e.g. Ireland,
United Kingdom and some states in America) or health and physical education (e.g.
Australia, New Zealand and Finland). In Scotland physical education is within Health
and Wellbeing and ‘in South Korea it is with music and art to form ‘
a pleasant life
course
’ (Keay, 2011, p. 30). However, similar to practice reported in Ireland (Broderick
& Shiel, 2000; Deenihan, 2005; Woods et al., 2010), it is reported
worldwide that there
is a ‘sustained orientation towards sports-dominated competitive performance related
activity programmes … which collectively account for over 70% of PE curriculum
content in both primary and secondary schools’ (Hardman & Marshall, 2009, p. 53).
Dostları ilə paylaş: