Practitioner initial thoughts on the role of the five propositions in the new Australian Curriculum Health and Physical Education

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper engages with some of the opportunities and challenges presented by curriculum policy reform around the world in order to explore the enactment possibilities for educators engaging with the new Australian Curriculum Health and Physical Education (ACHPE). Tensions amidst curriculum policy reform are not unique to Australia, however, the ACHPE stands out for boldy attempting to guide pedagogy through the identification of five interrelated propositions made central to the curriculum. By focussing on the educative purpose of the learning area alongside a strength-based approach, critical inquiry, health literacy and valuing movement the five propositions signal a shift towards guiding how to enact curriculum reform. The enactment of these propositions is therefore of interest in the Australian context and to global curriculum policy observers. This paper reports upon practitioner (n = 9) initial interpretations of the five propositions and what they feel and think they might look like in their everyday work. Using an inductive approach to data analysis the paper privileges practitioner interpretations in order to build a theory that can make an account of their perceptions within the complex and contested terrain of curriculum policy reform; future possibilities for health and physical education in Australia and Internationally are teased out.