Health And Physical Education Curriculum Research Articles

Making a HIIT: co-design of high-intensity interval training workouts with students & teachers within the curriculum

BackgroundHigh-intensity interval training (HIIT) interventions are becoming more common in schools. However, limited input has been sought from end-users, which can help design interventions that are more engaging and context appropriate, therefore increasing their potential for successful implementation. One method of engaging end-users is co-design, which involves an active collaboration to design solutions to pre-specified problems. This paper aimed to: (1) describe the methodology and results of the co-design process in Making a HIIT to develop HIIT workouts for a school-based intervention; and (2) evaluate the feasibility and impact of co-designing HIIT workouts with students and teachers within the health and physical education (HPE) curriculum.MethodsThe development of the HIIT workouts occurred during obligatory HPE lessons with year seven and eight students. The co-design process included: (1) identifying barriers and facilitators to exercise to create evaluation criteria for creating the HIIT workouts; (2) exploring HIIT; (3) defining HIIT parameters (intensity and interval length); (4) creating HIIT workouts using the parameters and evaluation criteria; (5) trialling and modifying the HIIT workouts based on class feedback and intensity data. To evaluate the feasibility and impact of the co-design process, a thematic analysis was completed using teacher interviews, student discussions, and student surveys.ResultsFive classes comprised of 121 students (12–14 years; 49% female) and five teachers were involved in the co-design process across three schools in Queensland, Australia. A total of 33 HIIT workouts were created aimed at satisfying the HIIT parameters and variations of the following evaluation criteria: (1) fun; (2) social; (3) achievable skill level; (4) feeling accomplished; and (5) beneficial for health. From the thematic analysis, three themes (acceptability; implementation; integration) and 12 codes contributed to the overarching understanding of the feasibility of the lessons within the curriculum and a further three themes (perceived changes to lessons; educative outcomes; personal and social capabilities) and three codes contributed towards understanding their impact.ConclusionOverall, co-designing HIIT workouts was feasible within the HPE curriculum and may have contributed to positive educative outcomes. Using this methodology could improve the implementation of HIIT interventions within HPE while supporting educative benefits.

On the periphery of pedagogical practice in health and physical education (HPE): the importance of self-management skills for physical activity

ABSTRACT The purpose of the article is to discuss, explore and advocate for the importance of self-management skills (cognitive and behavioural) for physical activity in health and physical education (HPE) in relation to the newly revised Australian Curriculum. This conceptual paper is presented as two halves. The first half presents an examination of the contemporary literature around learning about physical activity and fitness knowledge (PAFK). In doing so, I present the importance of physical activity and the role of school physical education in the development of cognitive and behavioural skills and the contribution these can make to HPE curriculum and pedagogy. The second half explores and interrogates the proposed sub-strand Making Active Choices of version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (AC: HPE). Here, I explore the literature as well as the proposed aims, rationale, content descriptions/elaborations and focus areas to ask questions of the legitimacy and value of PAFK and the role of self-management skills in contemporary curriculum policy. The contribution is timely, given the imminent development of the revised AC: HPE and its implications on curriculum and pedagogical enactment in primary and secondary schools here in Australia.

Reading curriculum as cultural practice: interrogating colonialism and whiteness in Ontario’s Health and Physical Education curriculum

ABSTRACT Background This paper highlights the cultural construction of health in Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum. Using Kanu’s approach to reading the curriculum as cultural practice, I interrogate how the construction of ‘healthy lifestyle’ in particular is positioned within government policy. In this way, diverse cultural understandings of health are foregrounded to consider how race, ethnicity and culture are central to health and lifestyle, regardless of their visibility in state-sanctioned policy in the area of HPE. Theoretical Framework and Methods Using a postcolonial lens I identify and follow how non-dominant cultural practices are referenced within HPE curriculum to expose how diverse cultural meanings of health remain on the periphery and when included in policy perpetuate stereotypical notions of race and ethnicity. The HPE curriculum from Ontario, Canada, serves as a site to identify and interrogate the textual and discursive representations of culture, ethnicity and race. Text within the secondary school curriculum (grades 9–12) was submitted to a detailed text and discourse analysis. Identifying how, when and where cultural references to health arise within the text is followed by an analysis interrogating the power relations used in constituting Eurocentric views and practices of healthy lifestyles. Findings The paper identifies two key areas within the HPE curriculum where references to culture, ethnicity and race present themselves in the document: first, in relation to English Language Learners and their embodied responses to cultural environments; and second, in pedagogical examples, called Teaching Prompts and Student Reply. In both areas, reading the curriculum as cultural practice brought into view how efforts to recognize difference are recuperated into dominant, normative Eurocentric approaches to wellbeing, sport and physical activity. Conclusion Reading the curriculum as cultural practice illustrates how colonial knowledge systems are the foundation for what becomes recognizable in HPE curriculum. What some might see as seemingly benign ideas, practices, activities, games and sport are indeed educative practices that mark bodies and prioritize knowledge systems, and in some cases, perpetuate ethnic and racial stereotypes.

Making a HIIT: study protocol for assessing the feasibility and effects of co-designing high-intensity interval training workouts with students and teachers

BackgroundHigh-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an effective strategy for improving a variety of health outcomes within the school setting. However, there is limited research on the implementation of school-based HIIT interventions and the integration of HIIT within the Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum. The aims of the Making a HIIT study are to: 1) describe the methodology and evaluate the feasibility of co-designing HIIT workouts with students and teachers in HPE; 2) determine the effect of co-designed HIIT workouts on cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, and executive function; 3) understand the effect of co-design on students’ motivation, enjoyment, and self-efficacy towards the workouts; and 4) evaluate the implementation of the intervention.MethodsThree schools will participate. Within each school, three different groups will be formed from Year 7 and 8 classes: 1) Co-Designers; 2) HIIT Only; and 3) Control. The study will include two phases. In phase one, Group 1 will co-design HIIT workouts as part of the HPE curriculum using an iterative process with the researcher, teacher, and students as collaborators. This process will be evaluated using student discussions, student surveys, and teacher interviews. In phase two, Groups 1 and 2 will use the co-designed 10-minute HIIT workouts in HPE for 8-weeks. Group 3 (control) will continue their regular HPE lessons. All students will participate in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular fitness, and executive function assessments before and after the HIIT program or control period. Students will complete questionnaires on their motivation, enjoyment, and self-efficacy of the workouts. Differences between groups will be assessed using linear regressions to account for covariates. Heart rate and rating of perceived exertion will be collected during each HIIT session. The implementation will be evaluated using the Framework for Effective Implementation. Ethical approval was granted by the University of Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee and other relevant bodies.DiscussionThis study will be the first to co-design HIIT workouts with teachers and students within the HPE curriculum. As this study relies on co-design, each HIIT workout will differ, which will add variability between HIIT workouts but increase the ecological validity of the study.Trial registrationACTRN, ACTRN12622000534785, Registered 5 April 2022 – Retrospectively registered, https://www.anzctr.org.au/ACTRN12622000534785.aspx

Aligning Critical Physical Education Teacher Education and Models-Based Practice

In 1999, the New Zealand government released a Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum that reflected a fundamental shift from the traditional and dominant skill mastery approach. The new HPE curriculum was based on humanistic principles and supported by constructivist notions of teaching and learning within a critical pedagogy. Since this time, and a subsequent curriculum revision in 2007, the HPE curriculum writers have suggested that physical education (PE) teachers and physical education teacher education (PETE) students in New Zealand have struggled to understand the epistemological complexities and pedagogical implications of critical pedagogy in their practice. Therefore, this paper highlights the findings of a study that explored a New Zealand PETE program, in light of HPE within the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). Additionally, and in light of the findings, the authors consider an examination of Kirk's (2013) concept of models-based practice as it could apply to the preparation and professional development of physical education teachers in New Zealand. The case study included nine volunteer participants, from a cohort of 32 students, who were nearing graduation from a critically oriented PETE program in New Zealand. Semistructured interviews were deployed and analyzed and reoccurring themes central to the purpose of the study identified and explored. The participants viewed movement contexts as being pivotal for learning in physical education and that the NZC had multiple educational aims and purposes. Participants also believed that PE teachers were required to move beyond direct instruction and implement a variety of teaching styles to achieve these multiple aims. However, the participants also shared misunderstandings and paradigmatic uncertainty around the critical and humanistic underpinnings of the NZC and failed to demonstrate an understanding of how this is enacted through critical pedagogy. The implications of this theory to practice nexus are further discussed in light of recent research debate around models-based practice.

Race and culture in the secondary school health and physical education curriculum in Ontario, Canada

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore issues of race and culture in health education in the secondary school health and physical education (HPE) curriculum in Ontario, Canada.Design/methodology/approachUsing Ontario’s secondary school curriculum as a point of analysis, this paper draws from critical race theory and a whiteness lens to identify how cultural and race identities are positioned in contemporary health education documents. The curriculum document and its newest strategies for teaching are the focus of analysis in this conceptual paper.FindingsWithin the curriculum new teaching strategies offer entry points for engaging students in learning more about culture and race. In particular, First Nation, Métis and Inuit identities are noted in the curriculum. Specifically, three areas of the curriculum point to topics of race and culture in health: eating; substance use, abuse and additions; and, movement activities. Within these three educational areas, the curriculum offers information about cultural practices to teach about what it means to understand health from a cultural lens.Social implicationsThe HPE curriculum offers examples of how Ontario, Canada, is expanding its cultural approaches to knowing about and understanding health practices. The acknowledgment of First Nations, Métis and Inuit health and cultural ways of approaching health is significant when compared to other recently revised HPE curriculum from around the globe. The teaching strategies offered in the curriculum document provide one avenue to think about how identity, culture and race are being taught in health education classrooms.Originality/valueFirst, with limited analysis of health education policy within schools, the use of critical theory provides opportunities for thinking about what comes next when broadening definitions of health to be more inclusive of cultural and race identity. Second, curriculum structures how teachers respond to the topics they are delivering, thus how HPE as a subject area promotes healthy practices is highly relevant to the field of health education. This paper provides an important acknowledgment of the educative work being undertaken in the revision of HPE curriculum.

Graduating physical education student teachers perceptions of a critically oriented HPE curriculum: (re)constructing constructivist frameworks in PETE

ABSTRACTThis study investigated the beliefs of a cohort of graduating Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers regarding their understanding of the critically oriented HPE Curriculum in Aotearoa New Zealand. In this case study research, data were gathered through a survey questionnaire and a series of semi-structured interviews as the students neared completion of their Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) program. Data analysis revealed that the PETE program may have had some impact on the students philosophical and pedagogical beliefs around HPE, however, further analysis revealed that an understanding of the critical–humanistic nature of HPE within the New Zealand Curriculum may still elude many of them. Students who enter critically oriented PETE programs often do so with deeply held and difficult-to-change beliefs of teaching and learning. These belief structures may act as knowledge filters, and unless these are deliberately and coherently challenged, students may be prevented from viewing differing perspectives of HPE. Drawing on psychological (cognitive and social) and sociological (critical) notions of constructivism, the author argues for a more direct and abrupt confrontation of these beliefs through critically oriented PETE program content and pedagogy.

Mixed messages: pre-service Health and Physical Education teachers’ understandings of health and the body and the expectations of the Australian curriculum

ABSTRACTThis paper explores how a cohort of pre-service Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers from an Australian university describe and construct their understandings of health and the body. Given that the courses that these undergraduates take in their degree programme present different perspectives on health and the body, a relevant question is to what extent these perspectives adequately equip these future HPE teachers to successfully teach the recently released Australian HPE curriculum. The participants in this study were 14 pre-service teachers, 11 females and 3 males, aged between 18 and 26 at the time of the first interview. The data used for this paper were taken from a larger study and were generated through interviews, the analysis of two undergraduate course profiles and an analysis of the new National HPE curriculum. Results reveal that there are some dominant discourses in health-related courses that may have a significant impact on these students. The purpose of HPE, the role of the HPE teacher and the idea of the HPE teacher as role model are also discussed. The results suggest that pre-service teachers face several challenges and dissonances between what they learn during their undergraduate programme and what the Australian HPE curriculum expects them to teach. How pre-service HPE teachers think about and relate to health and the body is important in terms of how they think about their professional practice and the influence they may have on their future pupils.

Complementing the Australian primary school Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum: exploring children's HPE learning experiences within varying school ground equipment contexts

ABSTRACTThis paper unearths how primary school children experience and can complement the Australian HPE curriculum within three unique school ground equipment scenarios that include an ‘empty’, ‘loose parts’ and a ‘traditional’ school ground context. Using direct observation, 490 scans were undertaken of the school grounds over five days. Field note observations recorded children's HPE learning experiences according to the curriculum, and predominant physical activity types and intensities were recorded. Implementing a variety of school ground equipment provisions was revealed to be important compared to the ‘empty’ school ground context for primary school children to meet HPE curriculum objectives.

Using a wider lens to shift the discourse on food in Canadian curriculum policies

Healthy eating is important to overall health, but Canadian health agencies disagree on the degree to which lifestyle or society determines healthy eating. The authors review the literature and design a policy analysis framework that captures discursive elements of both arguments. They apply this framework to education policy, analysing the mandated health and physical education (HPE) curriculum policies of Canada’s provinces and territories. Findings indicate that, while there are regional differences, Canadian HPE curriculum policies generally position healthy eating simplistically as an individual choice, leaving gaps with respect to societal factors and nuanced individual factors. The authors conclude that Canadian HPE policies should be reviewed in light of the health risks associated with both a narrow, neoliberal emphasis on individual responsibility and an emphasis on food and activity surveillance. They recommend more critical health literacy approaches to help students understand natural body variability and the impact of social determinants on food choice.

Australian Aquatic Curriculum Reform: Treading Water Carefully?

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the status of aquatics within the national Australian Health and Physical Education curriculum with a particular focus on the past decade. Swimming and water safety always has held a prominent place within Australia’s Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning area throughout modern history. The first national school HPE curriculum framework has recently been released, representing a growing number of stakeholders and focus areas. This raises questions surrounding the content traditionally delivered in schools under the HPE umbrella and how the new curriculum may be enacted. Early signs, such as the release of the Draft Shape of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (ACARA, 2012), and the response from the Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (ACHPER), indicated a diminished value and place for aquatics. This concern was reinforced and intensified by the final version of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (HPE) framework (F-10). The continued difficulties facing swimming instruction include the costs and time faced by families and school communities. This paper further explores the potential impact this curricular change may have on children’s swimming and water safety within Australian schools.

How does a physical education teacher become a health and physical education teacher?

The purpose of this study is to explore what the role of a health and physical education (HPE) specialist teacher in the primary school entails. The new Australian Curriculum: HPE Framework requires schools and teachers to implement the HPE key learning area. Many self-perceived physical education (PE) teachers have voiced concern about not knowing how they go about this. This research investigates ‘How PE teachers best become HPE teachers?’ We are reminded by Kirk that this is not the first time teachers have implemented this very change in Australia. Many similarities can be drawn between the recent national Australian Curriculum: HPE and the 1994 HPE National Statement and Profile, which provided a foundation for the construction of the 1999 Queensland HPE (P-10) Syllabus. As recommended by Kirk this study ‘look[s] to the past for lessons about the present and where we might be heading in the future’, by investigating school responses to the 1999 Queensland HPE (P-10) syllabus and curriculum documents. Within the constructionist paradigm, an interpretivist study was conducted. The methodology chosen to construct meanings through capturing the context of each school was ‘evaluative’ and ‘multiple’ case study. The sites for the three case studies involved: one small; one medium; and one large-sized Brisbane Catholic Education primary school. The three case studies were selected as representative of different demographics and the methods engaged so as to enable precision of details were semi-structured interviews, reflective journal, observations and document analysis. Data gathered suggest that enacting the HPE key learning area is very achievable. Implementation is enhanced by HPE leadership, underpinned by clear communication. More so, barriers can be overcome through professional development and support. This study is significant nationally, and the findings may be of wider international interest. It models how school leaders can optimise the health opportunities within their context and models how PE teachers can become HPE teachers.

Comparative Study Of Childrens Current Health Conditions And Health Education In New Zealand And Japan

In New Zealand (NZ) and Japan, despite comprehensive national health and physical education (HPE) curriculums which guide teachers in delivering health education to children in schools, there continue to be significant health issues for children. A qualitative interpretative descriptive research method was used to compare how primary school teachers (5 New Zealanders, 5 Japanese) in both countries delivered HPE and the influence they believed their teaching had on the childrens health. The major child health issue identified by teachers in NZ was obesity/overweightness, while in Japan teachers identified insufficient sleep, inadequate food intake and the polarization between unfit and fit. In New Zealand, there is some freedom in relation to how the school interprets and delivers HPE that enables the schools to address the specific health needs of their community. However, there is disparity in how the curriculum is delivered, particularly between schools in low and high socio-economic areas. In Japan, the government directs what, when, and how HPE is delivered using government-designated textbooks. Therefore, while there is no disparity in the delivery between schools, teachers cannot customize health education according to their students needs. The flexibility of HPE in NZ is both an advantage in that it enables a creative and innovative teaching approach customized to the community in which the school is situated and a disadvantage in that often health education is decided on not according to the needs of the children but according to the available financial resources and teachers enthusiasm. It appears that even low-quality educational lessons could meet the curriculum standards. In Japan, while children do receive education on health issues that may be useful for the future, the HPE curriculum does not address the current health issues the children face. Moreover, it is difficult to teach all the content within the government-designed HPE textbook because of Japans official time designations for health education. This studys results suggest that both countries need to review the delivery and resourcing of their HPE to ensure that children receive education that addresses their current and future health needs and those of their families.

Curriculum reform in 3D: a panel of experts discuss the new HPE curriculum in Australia

This paper was developed at the request of the Organising Committee for the 27th Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation International Conference, in Melbourne, 2013. Its genesis was as a feature forum, wherein a panel of curriculum experts were bought together to discuss the emergence of the Australian Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum. The title of the paper emerged as an alliteration of three panellist's first names beginning with the letter ‘D’. As well as this, the respective and collective expertise that Doune, David and Dawn brought to the forum covered the necessary depth, width and breadth to warrant the use of this multidimensional metaphor. While their collective experience with major curriculum reform is truly diverse and international, they had each worked together at various points of their esteemed careers. The presentation of this, somewhat unique, paper provides some rich insights into the opportunities and challenges that await the roll-out of the HPE curriculum across Australia.

Health and physical education in Aotearoa New Zealand: an open market and open doors?

Internationally, recent research has indicated that the health and physical education (HPE) curriculum has become at least to some extent ‘an open market’, with rapid growth in the number of external providers and diversity of resources targeted towards schools and teachers. This research acknowledges that the programmes and instruction offered by external organisations represents a significant change to the HPE landscape, albeit alongside an absence of research-based knowledge about the nature and extent of involvement of external organisations in the provision of HPE. The study examines and ‘maps’ the changing landscape of provision of HPE in Aotearoa New Zealand by exploring the number and type of HPE-associated programmes and resources ‘available’ to schools nationwide. It reveals an abundance of players in the ‘HPE market’. Analysis of data explores the composition of the providers, programmes and resources. Discussion considers the implications of the data in relation to HPE curriculum and pedagogy; who is deemed a legitimate teacher of HPE; and how policy and provision appear to be shaped by government and corporate voices.

Physical Educators’ Efficacy in Utilising Paraprofessionals in an Inclusive Setting

Inclusion of students with disabilities (SwD) in Australian health and physical education (HPE) classes is on the rise. Reasonable adjustment to assist inclusive practice is often accomplished through the use of teaching assistants, or paraprofessionals. While this practice is commonly understood within the classroom, this approach remains obscure in the HPE setting. The purpose of this study was to explore how Australian HPE teachers utilise paraprofessionals when teaching SwD in inclusive environments. HPE teachers (N=14) completed an online questionnaire inquiring how paraprofessionals are being used and the strategies they are using to develop working relationships with paraprofessionals. The HPE teachers in our sample generally had a favourable attitudes towards the paraprofessionals they have worked with, however a lack of appropriate training and HPE curriculum knowledge were highlighted as deficient areas that may have an adverse effect on the overall HPE environment. While the paraprofessionals were recognised as providing a level of support that was generally to the satisfaction of the HPE teachers, the HPE teachers’ consistently provided areas in which the paraprofessional could improve. Strategies to foster this collaborative working relationship were also investigated, and the primary finding dealt with adequate reciprocal communication. With the move toward inclusive practice in Australian public schools this is an area that warrants further investigation so all students can benefit from a healthy and productive HPE.

Constructing health and physical education curriculum for indigenous girls in a remote Australian community

Background: Over the last 20 years, curriculum development in Health and Physical Education (HPE) (or Physical Education, Physical Education and Health, Sport Education as it is variously called) has repeatedly attempted to address issues of equity and social inclusion. Why then does systemic educational disadvantage persist, and why do the poorest members of society acquire less privileged and privileging forms of HPE knowledge, skills and bodily dispositions? What constitutes relevant and responsive HPE curriculum for which groups of students remains a site of considerable contestation.Purpose: At a time when significant changes are being suggested to HPE curricula with the development of the Australian (National) Curriculum (see http://consultation.australiancurriculum.edu.au/), this paper is an attempt to refocus the analysis of education for Indigenous students in Australia upon the power and control relations operating within schools, rather than external social relations, using principles of pedagogic discourse from the sociological theories of Basil. The paper contributes to the growing corpus of studies on the social relations within schooling which constitute HPE curriculum, and the possibilities for interrupting systemic social inequity through the redesign of school curriculum and pedagogy.Methods: Using critical ethnographic methodology, a single, intrinsic case study of a school in a Torres Strait Islander community in Australia was undertaken. Document collation, observation and researcher notes, and individual and focus group interviews with stakeholders, comprised the data collection methods. Stakeholders including female students (n = 13), teachers (n = 7), parents (n = 2), school administrators (n = 4), regional education staff (n = 2), community advisors in education and health (n = 2), and regional health professionals (n = 6) comprised the group of key informants and research participants.Discussion and Conclusion: Government policy initiatives have reinforced a dominant and persistently negative discourse about ‘educational disadvantage’ when representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) students and educational outcomes. This paper challenges these negative discourses and focuses attention on the social relations within schooling which constitute the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of HPE curriculum, contributing to the large corpus of Bernsteinian studies of HPE curriculum which ‘look beneath the surface appearances of progress and innovation, to how inequities endure, despite rhetorical claims to the contrary that they have been eroded or have disappeared'. It also reveals the important contribution that Indigenous communities and educators have made and continue to make to curriculum decision-making in HPE for Indigenous Australian students.

Principled pursuits of ‘the good citizen’ in health and physical education

Background: Over many years, Health and Physical Education curriculum initiatives have provided a notable site of contestation and debate regarding the optimum approach to educating students for ‘good citizenship’. While similarly motivated, the contributions of a range of stakeholders of varying degrees of proximity to the site of teaching and learning have been made from somewhat diverse positions, with subsequently diverse implications for the content and pedagogical imperatives of the subject. Hunter proposed that these contributions and contestations over the purpose and content of subjects are the inevitable consequence of principled positions cohering around the notion of an ideal formation of the person. Purpose: Drawing on an Australian genealogy of subjectification study and current debates in Australia regarding the constitution of a proposed national (health and) physical education (HPE) curriculum, this paper serves to demonstrate the principled bases for former and contemporary curriculum development contributions, contestations, and critique. Furthermore, the purpose of this paper is to highlight the influence of principled bases for the operations and interactional outcomes of curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy. Implementation: To demonstrate the pervasive presence and influence of two notable principled positions in HPE curriculum development – ‘healthy citizenship’ and ‘sports performer’ – we present findings from a genealogical analysis of curriculum reform in Queensland. The enduring influence of these principled positions is then demonstrated through contemporary advocacy initiatives for a national HPE curriculum in Australia. Conclusion: The concept of principled positions persuades curriculum stakeholders to remove themselves from arguments of right and wrong concerning schools, subjects, curricular principles, and innovations, to understand these elements as strategies which service different principled positions in relation to the same or similar educational projects. Moreover, it promotes a more circumspect and reflexive commentary on HPE and its constitution from the academic community, in the recognition that such contributions are no less shaped by certain principled views.

A salutogenic, strengths-based approach as a theory to guide HPE curriculum change

The draft Australian Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2012c) takes a strengths-based approach that emphasizes questions such as ‘What keeps me healthy and active?’ rather than ‘What risks, diseases and behaviours should I learn to avoid?’. This paper explores a salutogenic approach to the strengths-based orientation that has been identified as one of the five key propositions in the new Australian HPE curriculum. A salutogenic approach to a health literacy unit provides some initial insight into the possibilities and challenges posed by the implementation of a strengths-based orientation to HPE. Questions of relative emphases and potential weaknesses are subsequently raised as means of identifying the influence of curriculum interpretation, design and pedagogical practice in securing the implementation of a strengths-based oriented Australian HPE.

Exploring Religious Education and Health and Physical Education Key Learning Area Connections in Primary Schools

This study explored if connections were made by teachers and students in schools between education (RE) and health and physical education (HPE) key areas (KLA). The research was conducted within three Brisbane (Queensland, Australia) Catholic primary schools of varying enrolment size. It is argued that within Catholic education, the HPE curriculum documents are strongly connected to the RE curriculum material (Lynch 2004). The spiritual dimension of the HPE curriculum is defined in the syllabus as the of connection to phenomena and unusual events beyond self and usual sensory and rational existence; a sense of place within the universe (Queensland School Curriculum Council 1999, 26). The three strands of HPE: personal development; developing the concepts and skills for physical activities; and promoting the health of individuals and communities can all be affiliated closely with the RE curriculum. Furthermore, under the HPE umbrella, physical education sits alongside health education, outdoor education, home economics, and RE (Macdonald 2003; Macdonald and Glover 1997). In primary schools, physical and physical activities are valuable components of the students' and school culture. Christian spirituality is the essential link between faith and culture (Gallagher 1997). Hence, it is logical that the area for learning in, through and about movement, HPE, may offer opportunities for Catholic schools to develop Christian spirituality usually associated with the RE area. As Buchanan and Hyde (2008, 310) share, religious education is one field of study that can effectively address the complementarity between cognitive, affective and spiritual dimensions of learning. Qualitative research investigating RE development through HPE experiences was conducted. Participants included teachers and students from the three respective schools. The research concluded that well implemented quality inclusive physical activities within HPE lessons increased participant's connections between the two key areas.