AISNSW PDHPE Literature reviews: Reports and Recommendations

What is the current purpose of and approaches to quality and effective physical education (Kindergarten to Year 10)?

Physical education was found to have many purposes. The literature review has shown that a great deal of attention has been paid to the purpose of education and how this relates to what should be taught under the name of physical education in schools. Historically, it is seen that while emphasis has changed with social and government expectations, central to all purposes is “getting people moving”. We therefore propose, that historically as it is now, the purpose of physical education is to educate to move.

The literature review highlighted that Arnold’s (1979, 1988a) three-piece emphasis of physical education as education in movement, through movement, and about movement continues to influence the construction of the idea of physical education in Australian curriculum frameworks. Arnold (1991) highlighted the pre-eminence of movement skill as an educational value in physical education. Figure 2, we highlight this emphasis as educate to move, centralising its importance in the purpose of physical education. Therefore, we adapt Arnold (1988a) his threedimensional model to highlight the purpose of physical education remains the development of this “knowing how”, the ability to be physically active with an intentionality that encompasses being performative in the sense of being sufficiently movement proficient, and capable of identifying and providing an account of how that physical activity proficiency was done (Arnold, 1988b). In our adaptation of the Arnoldian construction of the purpose of physical education, we propose that achieving the purpose of education to move requires...