INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND ITS IMPACT TO MONITORING OF QUALITY PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN THE WORLD

Abstract

Introduction. Physical activity is already well established in all Member States of the EU in the form of physical education as well as various programmes to enable young people to be physically active before, during and after the school day. Nevertheless, active school breaks and inclusion of physical activity into school lessons could be extended at national level. The number of hours of physical education is often defined subnationally and in some instances by schools. Increasing the number of mandatory hours and setting standards to ensure quality could further help students to reach the WHO recommendations and ensure the potential of schools for promoting physical activity among young people. The study aimed to find out the best practices of the International Federation of Physical Education to monitoring of quality physical education. Material and methods: theoretical analysis and generalization of literary sources. Results. Physical activity of youth can be increased in several ways. The most broadly used practice is physical education, which is part of the school curriculum in all EU Member States; however, the number of hours of physical education provided, whether compulsory or optional, and the quality vary widely among countries. In order to provide good quality, regular physical education and promote safe physical activity to all young people in schools, physical education teachers must be adequately trained in promoting health-enhancing physical activity, in addition to traditional sports. Conclusions. It needs to be viewed in the context of inter-related strategies to embrace the formulation and development of inclusive and equitable curricula, which provide personally meaningful and socially and culturally relevant experiences and which attract young people to the joy and pleasure of physical activity so as to foster an active healthy lifestyle over the full life-span. Quality physical education curricula need to be based on the vision that the knowledge, skills and understanding acquired facilitate attainment of physical literacy and be part of a well-structured physical education programme spanning from early childhood education to the upper secondary level.