Exploring the Hidden Curriculum in Physical Education

Background: In the physical education (PE) domain, teachers are given the freedom to make important educational decisions. Because of the common assumption that the decisions teachers make are based on a set of educational perspectives, a considerable number of studies have addressed the importance of studying the thinking and beliefs of PE teachers on teaching. However, it is revealed that only a limited amount of works on the perspective or teaching beliefs of pre-service PE teachers has been conducted.Chinese context: In 2002, comprehensive PE curriculum reform was conducted in China. The reform focused on the evolution of PE from sport skill-related objectives to fitness, health, cognitive, and affective outcomes. Many local Chinese studies suggest that the teaching perspectives of PE teachers should be aligned with these new objectives to implement the new PE curriculum effectively. However, evidence-based studies on the teaching perspectives of Chinese PE teachers are lacking.Purpose: This study focuses on PE teacher education (PETE) students in Shanghai, China and has the following aims: (i) to examine the teaching perspectives of PETE students, (ii) to explore the differences in teaching perspectives based on demographic differences (i.e. gender, year in school, participation in a teaching practicum), and (iii) to examine the correlations among five teaching perspectives of PETE students.Method: A survey-based study design was employed. The participants were 349 PETE students (185 males, 164 females) from two universities in Shanghai China. The Teaching Perspective Inventory was adopted to assess five teaching perspectives of PETE students. Surveys were distributed by PE faculty in each of their classes in the two universities. Descriptive statistics were used to describe five teaching perspectives and teaching beliefs of PETE students (what they believe about instructing or teaching), intentions (what they try to accomplish), and their action (what they do within their classrooms). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was performed to examine the main effects of PETE student demographics on their teaching perspectives. A bivariate correlational procedure was used to test the relationships among five teaching perspectives.Findings: PETE students clearly exhibited a common pattern of a single dominant teaching perspective. They highlighted the importance of the subject matter, but focused less on changes in society and learner's thinking. These findings are incongruent with recent trends and innovation in the Chinese PE curriculum. Furthermore, the findings indicate significant differences in some perspectives by gender and years in school. However, no significant effects on field-based practicum experience were observed. Finally, significant positive correlations were observed among most of the five teaching perspectives, which indicate that a comprehensive consideration of the five perspectives in the teacher education program is necessary.

The physical education curriculum reform has been fruitful since the founding of New China, however, the physical education curriculum reform has long neglected the combination with the latest technology and has not broken through the education approach based on physical education and health curriculum. Since the birth of artificial intelligence education, it has provided a solution to break through the limitation of distance and teachers’ resources, and the combination of artificial intelligence education and the physical education curriculum is an important direction to deepen the physical education curriculum reform. The simplified application of "human-computer learning symbiosis" breaks through the current dilemma of insufficient technological power and AI education theory, and helps the application of AI education in the physical education curriculum. It has the application advantages of human-oriented and personalized teaching; promoting the formation of lifelong sports concepts; cultivating higher-order thinking ability; and promoting the development of the sports industry.

Introduction There is a body of research that describes the importance of the Activist Aproach (AA) as a way to improve students' motivation, engagement and learning in physical education (PE) (Shilcutt, J. B., K. Oliver, and C. Luguetti. 2024. An Activist Approach to Physical Education and Physical Activity: Imagining What Might Be. Taylor & Francis). However, most studies focus on secondary schools, pointing to a need to explore AA in primary schools. Purpose This study explores the enactment of the AA in a primary PE class in Brazil. Theoretically, we draw from bell hooks (2014. Teaching To Transgress. Routledge) and her concept of teaching to transgress. Methods This was participatory action research (PAR) carried out in 4th grade PE class in a state primary school in Brazil. Twenty students aged nine to eleven participated, including seven boys and thirteen girls, as well as a researcher, a PE teacher and two critical friends. Data collection took place during 70 lessons and included field notes, student work sessions, artifacts, focus group with students and debriefing session recordings. Reflective thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Findings Two key themes were generated. The first highlighted the importance of creating a learning community to confront violence in PE classes. Violence and exclusion discouraged participation, especially for girls and less skilled students. The second theme described how a day-by-day curriculum was created to critique and negotiate social injustices. This co-construction involved experimentation, critique, redesign and the creation of inclusive games. Conclusion This study highlights the transformative potential of AA in primary school physical education, showing that breaking with traditional practices becomes possible when children's experiences are placed at the centre of pedagogical decision-making. By creating learning communities to address violence and co-constructing the curriculum on a daily basis through dialogue, experimentation, and negotiation of injustices, AA promoted more inclusive and democratic forms of participation. The results demonstrate that it is possible to build a pedagogy committed to social justice, capable of generating significant changes in the way children relate, participate and give meaning to their experiences in physical education. Impact statement This study contributes to the field by demonstrating how the AA can be meaningfully enacted in primary PE to confront violence, address participation inequalities and promote social justice. By showing how children's lived experiences can guide curriculum co-construction, it offers practical insights for educators seeking to create more democratic and inclusive learning environments. The study expands the understanding of the AA beyond secondary schooling and provides concrete pedagogical strategies that can inform both future research and everyday teaching practice.

Previous research shows that enacting a new curriculum is a complex process. Teachers can be enthusiastic and committed to new curricular objectives, but they can also experience frustration and disappointment. Scholars have suggested that teachers who perceive lack of support, or tensions between their personal philosophies and the educational principles underpinning a new curriculum, struggle to enact new curricula in line with their intent. Our purpose in this article is to illustrate how two Physical Education (PE) teachers experienced the enactment of a new official curriculum. An action research approach was used as design of the study. Researchers cooperated with two PE teachers for 18 months. The empirical material consisted of 50 sets of field notes from the two teachers’ teaching lessons, transcripts from one semi-structured qualitative interview with both teachers following the completion of the school year. The material also consisted of reflection logs produced by the teachers containing written notes about their experiences of the curriculum enactment. We used literature on educational change (Fullan, M., & Hargreaves, A. (1991). What's worth fighting fore? Working together for your school. Ontario Public School Teachers’ Federation) as our theoretical framework. Our findings show that the teachers experienced the curriculum enactment in contradictory ways. Shifting from previous PE practices that focused on sports activities and emphasized teacher instruction, to pedagogical practices informed by the new PE curriculum (including sociocultural perspectives of learning and assessment), led to uncertainty, surprise, satisfaction, as well as distrust. Our findings also showed that the teachers’ experiences of the enactment were influenced by perceived gender biases. We argue that teachers’ beliefs and the teaching culture were particularly influential dimensions regarding the two PE teachers’ experiences of the curriculum enactment. Practitioners and researchers attempting curriculum enactment in the future should pay careful attention to such dimensions, especially given that tensions and uncertainty often occur during any educational change.

The purpose of this paper was to extend understanding of the studied phenomenon: primary school Physical Education (PE) specialist teachers’ experiences of teaching Health Education and Physical Education within the Learning Area Health and Physical Education (HPE) in their schools. Figurational sociology guided the research, which employed an explanatory sequential mixed methodology consisting of an online survey with 94 participants, followed by semi-structured interviews with 11 purposively sampled participants. Survey data indicated participants perceived their students undertook approximately one hour of HPE each week, except for Kindergarten students, who completed just over 40 minutes. This is less than the notional 80 hours a year recommended for delivering the subjects Health Education (HE) and Physical Education (PE) within the Australian Curriculum. Participants perceived HPE delivery in their primary schools was predominantly PE focused, and therefore, HE was ‘falling between the cracks’. Thematic analysis of the interview data led to the identification of themes reflecting specialist teachers’ perceptions of HE being the remit of class teachers, marginalised due to a crowded curriculum and lack of collaboration between PE specialists and classroom teachers. There is significant scope for HE not to be taught or not be taught well in the primary schools represented in the data provided by participants in this study. Improved collaboration between class teachers and PE teachers, increased support and prioritisation from senior staff (e.g. principals) and increased HE professional learning opportunities for class teachers are required.

This study examines practicing primary school teacher’s perceptions of the teaching of physical education in their schools. There has been some criticism of primary school physical education but until now this criticism has been largely based on a number of small studies involving limited numbers of teachers and schools. This study involved surveys of 487 teachers and in-depth individual interviews with 33 teachers located across six major regions of Aotearoa/New Zealand. The findings are presented in four themes: what does physical education look like; who teaches physical education; planning, assessment and reflection; and influences on the teaching of physical education. The study identified that what occurs in the physical education space in primary schools is often inconsistent and variable. The findings are discussed in relation to the requirements of the New Zealand Curriculum, the 2014 National Monitoring Study of Student Achievement report and previous research on primary school physical education. The article concludes by discussing future directions for the teaching physical education in light of these findings.

This research was intended to grasp the problems in physical education curriculum in order to develop a pre-service/in-service teacher training in physical education curriculum. To accomplish these goals, I researched the 7th physical education curriculum, interviewed 10 specialist of physical education, and reached the following conclusion. First, the teaching contents need to be composed of smaller scaled changed sports and lifelong sports in various levels developing on student interests and motivation, and physical education environment. Especially, the teaching and learning method needs to focus on making students comfortable in and eager to attend coeducation of classes. Second, the evaluation methods should include a standard of evaluation and a credible and proper evaluation scale measure by finding good evaluation examples on the spot. Such methods should be available to test whether the set goals have been accomplished. These evaluation materials must be available to the physical education teachers. Third, the developments in physical education should be advertised continuously via physical education curriculum meeting and training, mass media, and the internet so that interests in and practices of the new curriculum are increased. Forth, flexible management of the curriculum based on students` ability to finish the required course per semester according to the student situation and the physical education teacher needs and preparation of the system of monitoring per school and exchanging programs, teaching materials, teaching tips and evaluation policies, it is required for sharing method of regional citizen after building sports complex through inducing private capital in school and using the utilities around public places and expanding the expected supply and need of sports equipment based on the research for sports utilities. Fifth, it is necessary to prepare a systematic apparatus to support sports education curriculum meetings, through which sport education curriculum and various physical education curriculum training activities are developed and applied. These developments should be clearly outlined in a written form to aid teachers understand the background for the evolution of the curriculum and the difference between past and present curricula.

Children’s physical education in early childhood settings has always been underpinned by an emphasis on play. This is viewed as foundational for child development (movement education, cognitive growth, socialising functions, emotional development). However, where priorities about childhood obesity prevail, increased ‘prevention’ efforts have become targeted at primary and pre-school-aged children. It could be argued that early childhood education has become another site for the ‘civilising’ of children’s bodies. Drawing on data from a questionnaire completed by 65 early childhood education centres in Aotearoa New Zealand, we examine the play and physical education ‘curriculum’ and what this may mean for pre-school children’s views of physical activity and health. In light of the evidence that suggests pre-school physical education programmes reinforce achievement of a certain restrictive and narrow model of physical health and activity, we explore the implications for primary school physical education. In doing so we consider how teachers of physical education in primary schools may need to reconsider the curriculum to support young children to regain enthusiasm for pleasurable movement forms that are not centred on narrowly perceived notions of the healthy or sporting body.

The purpose of this study was to survey the current evidence of teachers’ asthma awareness, PE provision for children with asthma and policy application in PE and additional support in Devon schools. One hundred and twenty‐eight teachers of physical education (PE) from three local education authorities (LEAs) in Devon responded to a survey focused on PE teacher asthma awareness, PE provision for children with asthma, and PE application of school policy and additional support The findings revealed that PE teachers were aware of the children with asthma in their classes, but awareness of information and resources about asthma was low. PE provision for children with asthma effectively included the use of warm‐up, warm‐down, reminders to take medication before exercise and indirect preventative activities within the PE curriculum. Additionally, the monitoring of occurrences of Exercise Induced Asthma (EIA) by PE teachers was poor. The results for application of school policy revealed that PE teachers reported low levels of liaison with the school nurse, some inappropriate practices towards inhaler usage in PE and heavy reliance on pupil responsibility for self‐administration of inhalers. Significant differences for preventative activities helpful to asthmatics, frequency of communication between school‐nurses and PE teachers, and differences in responsibility for asthma medication were reported between PE teachers in a school‐nurse consortium and those in non‐consortium LEAs. These results are discussed in relation to existing literature, future PE provision, school policy and awareness through in‐service training opportunities.

This study examined the relationship between locus of control and happiness for male physical and non-physical education teachers in Yazd province. A total of 260 teachers (physical education 53 people, non-PE 207) by random sampling, and finally 258 questionnaires were examined. In this study, Pearson correlation method for carrying out the Questionnaire of resources Rotter (short form) and Oxford were used. The results showed a positive relationship between locus of control and happiness (001/0 P =). There is a significant. The findings showed Components of mental health, life satisfaction, self-efficacy and positive role in the happiness of the highest physical and non-physical education teachers have. In addition, the comparative study between the two groups in terms of locus of control, physical education teachers from internal locus of control than non-PE teachers, respectively. Keywords : Happiness, locus of control, physical education teachers, physical education Dbyrghr DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-12-13 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

The physical education (PE) in the Italian primary school and its teaching and organizational issues have long been a key topic of the political and scientific debate, however the various actions carried out so far have not been enough to recognize contents and methods of physical and sports education correctly oriented in an educational way, often reducing the time of curricular PE or the project experiences of physical literacy and sport to mere physical-technical exercises. The aim of this work is to develop the essential didactic-methodological contents and to define a model of core curriculum of Sport and Exercise Sciences degrees for teaching of PE in primary school and for sport education in sports associations for leisure and recreational activities. To this end will be conducted an analysis of ministerial documents for the identification of the main educational aspects of the contents and learning outcomes of PE in primary school. Then discussion with primary school teachers has been realized, through focus groups content-focused on PE at school as provided by National Guidelines and on specific projects carried out in collaboration between Italian Ministry of Education and Italian Olympic Committee.

ABSTRACTBackground: Assessment can have various functions, and is an important impetus for student learning. For assessment to be effective, it should be aligned with curriculum goals and of sufficient quality. Although it has been suggested that assessment quality in physical education (PE) is suboptimal, research into actual assessment practices has been relatively scarce.Purpose: The goals of the present study were to determine the quality of assessment, teachers’ views on the functions of assessment, the alignment of assessment with learning goals, and the actual assessment practices in secondary PE in the Netherlands.Participants and setting: A total of 260 PE teachers from different schools in the Netherlands filled out an online Physical Education Assessment Questionnaire (PEAQ) on behalf of their school.Data collection: The online questionnaire (PEAQ) contained the following sections: quality of assessment, intended functions of assessment, assessment practices, and intended goals of PE.Data analysis: Percentages of agreement were calculated for all items. In addition, assessment quality items were recoded into a numerical value between 1 and 5 (mean ± SD). Cronbach’s alpha was calculated for each predefined quality aspect of the PEAQ, and for assessment quality as a whole.Findings: Mean assessment quality (±SD) was 3.6 ± 0.6. With regard to the function of assessment, most PE teachers indicated that they intended using assessment as a means of supporting the students’ learning process (formative function). At the same time, the majority of schools take PE grades into account for determining whether a student may enter the next year (summative function). With regard to assessment practices, a large variety of factors are included when grading, and observation is by far the assessment technique most widely applied. A minority of PE teachers grade students without predetermined assessment criteria, and usually criteria are identical for all students. There is an apparent discrepancy between reported PE goals and assessment practices; although increasing students’ fitness levels is the least important goal of PE lessons according to the PE teachers, 81% reports that fitness is one of the factors being judged. Conversely, while 94% considers gaining knowledge about physical activity and sports as one of the goals of PE, only 34% actually assesses knowledge.Conclusions: Assessment in Dutch PE is of moderate quality. The findings further suggest that PE teachers consider assessment for learning important but that their assessment practices are not generally in line with this view. Furthermore, there seems to be a lack of alignment between intended learning outcomes and what is actually being valued and assessed. We believe that these results call for a concerted effort from PE departments, school boards, and the education inspectorate to scrutinise existing assessment practices, and work together to optimise PE assessment.

ABSTRACTBackground: For years researchers have been engaged in revealing the impact of the hidden curriculum in physical education (PE) on students’ participation and non-participation. The hidden PE curriculum encompasses the knowledge, the relations, the assumptions, the norms and the beliefs that students unconsciously and unintentionally learn through the process of education. As the hidden curriculum reinforces particular values and attitudes among students in a very subtle and often unnoticed fashion, it limits students’ possibilities for becoming aware of, and thus reporting, how the tacit messages communicated through the hidden curriculum impact on their position of participation and non-participation. Thus, in this article, we argue that examining students’ silences, that is the things students do not voice, is significant for the understanding of the impact of the hidden curriculum on students’ participation and non-participation in PE.Purposes: In this article, we aim to develop insight into students’ silences in order to elucidate how aspects of the hidden curriculum serve to reinforce some students’ non-participation in PE. Much attention has been devoted to particular values and attitudes unintentionally transmitted by teachers in PE. However, in this article, we examine how the everyday exchanges between the students themselves may also convey a hidden set of meanings, that impact on students’ actual experiences of the PE curriculum, and thus mitigate the intended effects of students’ participation.Research design: The backdrop for this article is a single-case study carried out in a multi-ethnic and co-educational secondary school in Denmark from January to December 2014. The article draws on material collected through focus group interviews with 7th grade students (including participant-diagrams filled out by students) along with observations of their PE classes. The observations took place once a week throughout the whole calendar year.Findings: In the article, we point to students’ intentional silences that are highly reflective of the normative expectations negotiated within the peer group. In addition, we show that the pressures toward social conformity have a direct impact on the positions of non-participation intentionally taken up by some of the less socially respected students in PE. These students were highly aware that how they behaved in PE and what they voiced in the interviews might have consequences for their peer group connections within PE and for their social reputation among peers outside of PE. In addition, we add to the current literature on student silence by pointing to a category of non-privileged silences. These silences revealed that a minor group of students were not aware of or had not recognized their position as non-participants in PE. Moreover, they appeared unable to imagine that things could be different and to voice a desire for change.Conclusions: We argue that our findings reveal critical aspects of students’ non-participation that would be difficult to access if we did not listen to, hear and attempt to understand students’ silences. In order to extend the knowledge base on students’ participation and non-participation in PE, we hope that this article may also encourage other researchers to let students’ silences breathe and speak.

The purpose of this study is to find out the views of teachers of physical education about how they define character education, whether they think national education curriculum and the curriculum of private schools are suitable for character education and whether they think character education can be applied in physical education lessons. Case report design was used in this study which was prepared with qualitative research method. The sample group of the study consists of 6 physical education teachers working in 3 secondary schools and 2 high schools of Kutahya city center which were determined with easily accessible case sampling method, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. Individual interviews which lasted for an average of 15-20 minutes were conducted with physical education teachers within the context of semi-structured interview technique. The participants were informed that the interviews would be voice recorded and later their expressions would be written down to avoid data loss and after necessary permissions were taken, the interviews were recorded. Descriptive and content analysis methods were used to analyze the expressions which were converted into text. The results of the analyses showed that physical education teachers defined character education as changes that occurred in individuals’ behaviors first in the family, then at school and the education conducted to teach individuals socially accepted and correct behaviors. In addition, it was found that the teachers stated that the current curriculum of the country and also physical education curriculum were not suitable for character education; however, since it is a social lesson and since participants are continuously active and in communication, physical education lessons can be more effective than other lessons in terms of character development.

This study examined the professional practice competence (PPC) of primary school physical education (PE) teachers. Participants of the study were 382 availably selected primary school PE teachers in Amhara Region, in Ethiopia. Results revealed that, except for their lesson planning (LP), PE teachers’ instructional assessment (IA); their ability to create and maintain a safe and supportive learning environment (CMSSLE), and their overall PPC were low. However, female PE teachers performed their LP better than male teachers. Conversely, female PE teachers, degree holders, beginner and junior teachers, and rural PE teachers demonstrated lower proficiency in IA compared to others. The results also indicated that no significant differences were found in CMSSLE between male and female teachers, rural and urban teachers, and diploma and degree – holder teachers. Accordingly, the regional education bureaus, zonal education departments, and teacher education institutions have to pay due magnanimity and precaution while hiring, training, and deploying PE teachers in different areas of the nation. For the professional development and professional practice competence of PE teachers, need-based and continuous on-the-job capacity-building training should be designed by the concerned education policymakers.