Teaching outdoor and adventure activities: an investigation of a primary school physical education professional development p

Time allocation.
Time for planning and reflection is also crucial to effective 
teaching and teachers need to ensure that they make the best use of time they have 
available to them. McGuinness and Shelley (1995) noted suggestions that the NCCA 
Committee for Physical Education and Health Education recommend that not less than 
10% of formal teaching time be allocated to the subject, which should make an 
important contribution towards promoting the physical well-being of the pupils in 
primary schools. The 1971 curriculum had no guidelines on the recommended amount 
of time that should be allocated to the teaching of physical education. Current 
guidelines for primary school physical education recommend, but do not require, 60 
minutes of physical education per week (Government of Ireland, 1999b). Although 
only recommended it is important to note ‘minimum’ in the policy statement. There is 
concern that the reality of the delivery of physical education in schools is less 
impressive and falls widely short of recommended standards (Fahey et al., 2005).
Recent research (Woods et al., 2010) shows that on average primary school children 
receive 46 minutes of physical education weekly. Average weekly time allocation for 
physical education across the European Union (EU) is 109 minutes (range of 30-240 
minutes) with clusters around 60 and 90 minutes in primary schools (Hardman & 
Marshall, 2009). It can be seen from these recent studies that even with the 
implementation and recommendations of the curriculum as well as national in-service 
children are not receiving recommended levels of physical education and fall far short 
of EU minutes at primary level. 
The decline in time allocation throughout the years has been blamed on an ever- 
expanding curriculum. Teachers in Ireland have to teach twelve subjects highlighting 
Hardman’s (2008) findings; ‘physical education is being squeezed out of the education 
system by more and more compulsory academic courses…..which hold little benefit 

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compared to PE’ (p. 7). Despite national policy concerning required, prescribed, 
recommended or aspirational guidelines, local levels of actual control of curriculum 
time allocation give rise to variations between schools and therefore, difficulties in 
specifying definitive figures. Physical education is reported to have a marginal status in 
many countries internationally and this can have an effect on its time allocation in 
schools (Hardman & Marshall, 2009). Although physical education may be legislated 
for and be on the curriculum, in some countries students are allowed to substitute other 
activities for required physical education, or are granted exemptions (Keay, 2011) and 
in Australia, similar to Ireland and the UK, a crowded curriculum and a focus on 
literacy and numeracy create barriers to including physical education (Morgan & 
Hansen, 2008).