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

Strand
 
1-2 lessons
 
3-4 lessons
 
5-6 lessons
 
> 6 lessons
 
Athletics
 
5.2%
21%
36.8%
21%
Aquatics
 
10.5%
- 
- 
- 
Dance
 
5.2%
36.8%
26.3%
5.2%
Games
 
- 
5.2%
10.5%
78.9%
Gymnastics
 
10.5%
15.7%
36.8%
- 
Outdoor &
Adventure Activities
 
21%
15.7%
10.5%
- 
Teachers reported that the children expect fun, enjoyment and lots activity during 
physical education lessons. They also stated that children loved physical education and 
were enthusiastic about it. Children expect to be outside for physical education or 
anywhere that's not the class room according to many of the teachers. Doherty and 
Bailey (2003) outline the high degree of emphasis which children themselves place on 
games and the extent to which they enjoy this aspect of physical education. Many of the 
teachers, especially those from first to fifth class, indicated that all the class want is 
games, that all they're interested in is competition and winning, and if any other strand 
was taught during physical education time, the children would ask, 
‘When is the match 
happening?’
(FGT Alannah 6). The class teachers in the senior classes excuse this 
thinking by the children, explaining it away with, 
‘all they had experienced was the old 
[1971] curriculum and are not aware of the contents of the 1999 curriculum’
(FGT 

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121 
Sophie 6).
Although the new curriculum was being introduced throughout their time in 
primary school, the children had yet to experience its implementation. Teachers did 
have solutions as to how to explain to the children that physical education was more 
than games, one teacher said 
‘we could make them more aware of what PE is’
(FGT 
Eileen 3). However, the pressure of ‘keeping the children happy’ still came through;
'If 
you were going to say that this is your PE, it would really want to be that exciting, 
especially if they are going to consider this as the games and their PE’ 
(FGT Darragh 
6). This feeling did not emerge to the same extent in the junior classes or in sixth where 
the teachers felt that the children accepted what was done with them during physical 
education time, and that they were happy doing anything, once they were out of the 
classroom;
 ‘out of the class is what it is about for them, out of the class’ 
(FGT Moira 
SI).
From the evidence presented in the questionnaires and from the responses in 
interviews there are some discrepancies between what the teachers reported they were 
teaching and what they actually taught. For example, in the area of Outdoor and 
Adventure Activities (O&AA) almost 50% of teachers responded that they had taught 
between 1 and 6 lessons of O&AA during that year when according to interview only 
one teacher had taught this strand and only to a limited extent. The discrepancy could 
be due to the fact that teachers were unsure as to what O&AA was when completing the 
questionnaire. Responses during focus group discussions showed that some teachers 
thought any off site activity or station teaching in some cases was O&AA; 
‘sure golf, 
wouldn’t that be outdoor and adventure?’
(FGT Michael 6)
Seventy nine percent of teachers felt O&AA was either important or very 
important, yet only one teacher was very comfortable teaching it. Outdoor and 
adventure activities is a strand which was only formally recognised as an element of 
physical education in the 1999 Physical Education Curriculum in Ireland. Hopper, Grey 
and Maude (2000) point out the demanding nature of this strand from an organisational 
perspective. Interview data suggests that this is another reason why this strand is not 
being regularly taught. As one teacher puts it 
‘there’s an awful lot of organisation based 
around it and a lot of preparation in it’
(FGT Cathal 3). Safety challenges as outlined 
by Hopper and colleagues (2000) are also a concern for teachers as another teacher 
highlights 
‘the fear of losing children in school grounds’ 
(FGT Mary JI). 
The Physical Education Curriculum (Government of Ireland, 1999b), 

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122 
recognises that development of skills and the understanding of these skills ‘form a 
significant part of the curriculum in physical education’ (p. 3). In interviews teachers 
agreed with the importance of the development of basic skills in physical education and 
indicated that this and knowledge were the two areas they felt they were strongest in.
Yet questionnaire data revealed a lack of emphasis was placed on skill knowledge and 
development of pupil understanding of physical education. Teachers (73.6%) placed ‘a 
lot’ of emphasis on social development and during interviews it was the area most 
planned for in physical education at all age levels. Social development usually meant 
placing a stronger child with a weaker one, or trying to have children mix more in 
certain classes.