Outsourcing Physical Education in primary schools: Evaluating the impact of externally provided programmes on generalist teachers

Author(s):  
Peter R. Whipp ◽  
Heidi Hutton ◽  
J. Robert Grove ◽  
Ben Jackson
1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-126 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy J. Shephard

Advocates of quality daily physical education for prepubescent children frequently encounter the argument that such initiatives will harm academic progress. The impact of daily physical education upon the academic performance of primary school students is thus reviewed with particular reference to studies conducted in Vanves (France), Australia, and Trois Rivières (Québec). When a substantial proportion of curricular time (14–26%) is allocated to physical activity, learning seems to proceed more rapidly per unit of classroom time, so that academic performance matches, and may even exceed, that of control students. Children receiving additional physical education show an acceleration of their psychomotor development, and this could provide a mechanism for accelerated learning of academic skills. Other potential mechanisms include increased cerebral blood flow, greater arousal, changes in hormone levels, enhanced nutrient intake, changes in body build, and increased self esteem. Academic teachers may also favor the enhanced physical education program, creating “halo” effects, and the resulting release time may enhance their academic teaching. Irrespective of mechanisms, the implication for public policy is that daily required physical education can be introduced when a child enters primary school without compromising academic development. Given the importance of establishing positive health habits from an early age, school boards should be encouraged to follow a policy of required daily physical activity in primary schools. Evidence of specific benefit in students with learning disabilities remains less convincing.


2016 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-102
Author(s):  
Zsolt Szakály ◽  
Ferenc Ihász ◽  
Csaba Konczos ◽  
Balázs Fügedi ◽  
József Bognár

SummaryStudy aim: Over the last two decades, the body fat mass has been increasing and the level of physical fitness has been decreasing in school-aged children. Due to the health-related concerns that have arisen regarding school-aged children, the Hungarian government introduced everyday physical education in 2012. Since girls are more disposed to higher body fat and low fitness levels, the aim of our study was to characterise the physique, body composition and aerobic capacity of 10 to 14-year-old girls three years after the introduction of the new curriculum with daily PE lessons. Material and methods: All of the primary schools that were selected to participate in this study serve as partnership schools in the University of West Hungary’s teacher training programme (N = 8). The sample included only those upper primary school girls (10 to 14 years of age) who participated in the everyday physical education lesson (N = 543). Standard anthropometric techniques and a 20m shuttle run test were selected for the analysis. Results: An important result of this study was the finding that differences in the body composition features were consistently significant among the age groups. However, there were no differences among the age groups in the results of the 20 m multi-stage fitness test, nor in the girls’ relative aerobic capacity. Conclusions: It can be presumed that an unfavourable body composition and poor fitness occur primarily in the prepuberty years. Everyday physical education serves as a good opportunity for shaping the girls’ fitness level and body composition, and also for encouraging healthy active living.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 571-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Clohessy ◽  
Richard Bowles ◽  
Déirdre Ní Chróinín

Class swapping is the process whereby a generalist primary school teacher with a particular subject expertise and interest swaps classes with a teacher colleague and they teach each other’s class a specific area of the curriculum. Instances of class swapping for physical education (PE) have been noted in many countries, but there is currently no explicit research into this practice. Consequently, this research investigated the experiences of two generalist teachers with additional PE expertise teaching PE to classes other than their own in two Irish primary schools over two separate intervention periods totalling 18 weeks. The participants’ experiences of class swapping for PE were analysed using qualitative data generated by individual interviews, pupil focus groups, researcher observations and teacher reflections. Hargreaves and Fullan’s theory of professional capital was used as a theoretical framework. The lead teachers’ expertise and enthusiasm for PE provided the pupils involved with rich PE experiences. The opportunity to teach additional PE also increased the lead teachers’ ability and motivation to provide further PE leadership within their schools. Furthermore, class swapping contributed to increased teacher interactions focused on teaching and learning. These findings make a worthwhile contribution to our understanding of class swapping and its potential to enrich pupil experiences in primary PE settings where generalist teachers operate.


2013 ◽  
Vol 22 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 387-404
Author(s):  
Guerchi Maher ◽  
Makram Zghibi

Abstract Our research focuses on describing what is really happening when a teacher wants to transmit to pupils - girls and boys - knowledge socially marked as masculine. To describe the processes involved in effective didactic interactions between a teacher a pupil and knowledge, we opted for qualitative methodology, consisting on a close observation of the didactic interactions of a teacher with his pupils (girls and boys). Analysis of the interviews focused especially on the nature of knowledge actually transmitted for girls and boys. The studied video sequences permitted to study the didactic interactions more precisely as are actually happening on the pitch. Both tools allowed us to identify the educational intentions of teachers (specialist or not); women or men in the teaching of football. The results show that teachers’ conceptions influence implicitly or explicitly the modalities of their interventions and the nature of football knowledge transmitted to pupils. This makes us think that the impact of social facts (backgrounds) on Tunisian teachers is great. This phenomenon may lock the physical education teacher in some representations modeling masculine and feminine stereotypes and affect his didactic and teaching contribution. Therefore, the teacher must be aware of the impact of the connotation that may have certain “masculine” practices on his interventions and consequently over the pupils learning (either boys or girls).


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Ho Jin Chung ◽  
Muhammad Sufri ◽  
Chee Keng John Wang

This study explored the underlying processes associated with the policy of increasing qualified physical education teachers (QPETs) in Singapore primary schools. Data were collected from the National Archives of Singapore, Newslink, NewpaperSG and documents. An ‘archaeological analysis’ by Foucault (1972) was used to trace the discursive conditions which enabled and facilitated the policy. Three distinct elements were borrowed from ‘The Archaeology of Knowledge and the Discourse on Language’, namely: the status – as reflected in the positions of individuals influencing the PE policies and initiatives; the institutional sites – as in the locations of the decisions being exercised, and; the situation – identified by the key events leading to the decision to increase QPETs in primary schools. The conclusions based on the analysis of these elements offer a clearer understanding of the various contributions to the adoption of the policy and serve to provide an insightful lens to policymakers who might seek to redesign the future shape of Physical Education.


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