EDHP290 - Health and Physical Education Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment (F-6)

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Incompatible

EDPH366 Personal Development, Health and Physical Education

Unit rationale, description and aim

In an increasingly complex, sedentary and rapidly changing world it is critical that pre–service teachers learn how to teach children to not only be able to cope with life’s challenges but also to flourish as healthy, safe and active citizens in the 21st century. To effectively teach health and physical education, pre–service teachers must have an understanding of development and movement, as well as knowledge of factors that influence health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity.

In this unit, pre–service teachers will acquire knowledge, skills and understanding of national and relevant state curricula which is specific to Catholic, State and Independent schools necessary to teach health and physical education. Pre–service teachers will develop communication, planning and problem–solving skills relevant to this curriculum area as they learn about the importance of Health and Physical Education in primary school settings. Pre–service teachers will engage in both practical and theoretical workshops to learn both about and through movement, along with participating in face–to–face lectures, independent reading and engagement with online materials.

This is an introductory level unit that provides the relevant knowledge, skills and understanding needed for pre–service teachers to be able to teach health and physical education in the primary school context.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS - GRADUATE LEVEL

On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should be able to:

ACECQA CURRICULUM SPECIFICATIONS

On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following specific knowledge:

Content

Topics will include:

• Health and Physical Education curriculum development, implementation and assessment including risk management and safety policies and procedures; health promotion and child protection and the involvement of parents/carers in the educative process
• Exploration of the Health and Physical Education curriculum including content strands and sub-strands and relevant national and state-based curricula documents
• Exploration of child development (specifically motor skill development)
• Health and Physical Education curriculum development, implementation and assessment including risk management and safety policies and procedures; health promotion and child protection and the involvement of parents/carers in the educative process
• Health focus areas will include alcohol and other drugs; food and nutrition; health benefits of physical activity; mental health and wellbeing; relationships and sexuality; healthy choices; and child safety, including sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence and bullying (including cyberbullying)
• Physical Education focus areas will include active play and minor games; challenge and adventure skills; fundamental movement skills; ball handling skills; games and sports education; lifelong physical activities; and rhythmic and expressive movement such as dance and gymnastics
• Strategies to manage Health and Physical Education activities in varying learning contexts, with a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement
• Consideration of a range of curriculum perspectives, including literacy, numeracy, ICT, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, students with special education needs, and behaviour management in outdoor settings, will be applied to the Health and Physical Education components of the curriculum
• Exploration of the context of prevention and the implementation of teaching and management practices to reduce risk and enhance protective factors
• Development and understanding of strategies to engage with parents/carers in order to work effectively, sensitively and confidentially to build strong partnerships
• Legislation and policy in the area of child protection and duty of care is addressed within the context of prevention and the pre-service teachers are prepared as mandatory reporters of students at risk or harm

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

The learning and teaching strategy for this unit is based on a Constructivist approach that recognises that learning builds on pre-existing understandings and is shaped by a learner’s sociocultural context. In line with the chosen learning and teaching strategy, this unit includes content delivery designed to encourage active learning and engagement, and teaching methods designed to consolidate the learning of content, apply knowledge to problem-solving tasks and develop analytical and evaluating skills. The learning and teaching strategy is achieved through a range of learning activities. Practical activities will be a feature of this unit, whereby you will be able to put into practice health and physical education theory you have learnt. Other learning activities will include reading, reflection, discussion, and engagement with webinars, podcasts and video resources. Pre-service teachers should expect to participate in a range of presentations, discussions, self-directed study activities and assessment tasks. Some participation in appropriate educational settings may be required. The learning activities are designed to provide reflective learning experiences for students to construct their own understandings of effective pedagogy meeting students’ needs, underpinning the learning required to complete the assessment tasks and meet the learning outcomes of the unit.

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours.

The unit is hosted on a Learning Management System (LMS) site with resources and online links, announcements, and a discussion board to post questions and reflections that promote connection between content and educational experiences.

Mode of delivery: This unit may be offered in different modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants.

On Campus

Most learning activities or classes are delivered at a scheduled time, on campus, to enable in-person interactions. Activities will appear in a student’s timetable.

Multi-mode

Learning activities are delivered through a planned mix of online and in-person classes, which may include full-day sessions and/or placements, to enable interaction. Activities that require attendance will appear in a student’s timetable.

Online unscheduled

Learning activities are accessible anytime, anywhere. These units are normally delivered fully online and will not appear in a student’s timetable. 

Online scheduled

All learning activities are held online, at scheduled times, and will require some attendance to enable online interaction. Activities will appear in a student’s timetable.

ACU Online 

In ACU Online mode, this unit is delivered asynchronously, fully online using an active, guided learning approach. Pre-service teachers are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions and receive regular and timely feedback on their learning.  

Assessment strategy and rationale

A range of assessment procedures are used to meet the unit learning outcomes and develop graduate attributes and professional standards and criteria consistent with University assessment requirements. (http://www.acu.edu.au/policy/student_policies/assessment_policy_and_assessment_procedures).

Assessment in this unit is designed to allow pre-service teachers to demonstrate that they have the required knowledge, and understanding of the Health and Physical Education curriculum to plan effective teaching and learning sequences in health and physical education.

The assessment tasks and their weightings allow pre-service teachers to progressively demonstrate achievement against the course learning outcomes by demonstrating academic and professional standards. The Health and Physical Education unit will focus on developing understanding of, and skills across the professional knowledge, practice and engagement needed to meet expectations of the Graduate Attributes, the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST): Graduate level. Assessment Task 1 requires pre-service teachers to develop a map of developmentally appropriate activities for children aged 5-12 years of age. Assessment Task 2 requires pre-service teachers to teach thon e of the activities developed in Assessment Task 1 to peers. For Assessment Task 3, pre-service teachers will develop a unit of work based on an allocated Health component of the HPE curriculum.

The three assessment tasks are sequenced to allow feedback and progressive development of content knowledge and skills to prepare pre-service teachers to plan for and teach health and physical education units in the primary school context.

Minimum Achievement Standards

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome.

In addition, assessment in EDHP290 includes a Critical Task: Assessment Task 3 Lesson Plans/Unit of work. This task is core to the demonstration of a number of Australian Professional Teacher Standards. Pre-service teachers must demonstrate mastery of every summative standard listed in the learning outcomes and attain a score of at least 50% in Task 3 in order to pass this unit.

Overview of assessments

Assessment Task 3

Pre-service teachers will develop a unit of work based on an allocated Health component of the HPE curriculum. This unit will address sensitive issues, literacy, numeracy, ICT, assessment, behaviour management and inclusive education.

The unit should include the following:

• Overall rationale
• Individual lesson aims
• Lesson Title and Lesson Duration (minimum 30 minutes) 
• Stage and class you are teaching (assume 30 children per class)
• Outcomes linked directly to relevant assessment strategies
• Organisation of content into an effective learning and teaching sequence exhibiting curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge
• Range of effective teaching strategies and consideration of safety and sensitive issues in Health Education
• Class organisation
• Breakdown of time spent on each part of the lesson
• Inclusion of literacy, numeracy strategies to support learning
• Strategies to ensure safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT
• Knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities in Health Education and from diverse physical, intellectual, linguistic, cultural (explicitly including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander), religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
• Knowledge and understanding of teaching strategies that support students with a disability
• Strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in activities, across a full range of abilities and including students with disabilities
• Addressing of sensitive issues
• Planning for behaviour management, including a focus on prevention to reduce risk and enhance protective factors
• References and resources

Representative texts and references

Required text(s)

Australian Curriculum https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/.

Australian Curriculum – Health and Physical Education https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/health-and-physical-education/.

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) www.acara.edu.au.

Relevant State and Territory curriculum documents.

Recommended references

Dudley, D., Telford, A., Peralta, L., Stonehouse, C., & Winslade, M. (2018). Teaching quality health and physical education. Cengage Learning Australia.

McMaster, N. (2019). Teaching health and physical education in early childhood and the primary years. Oxford University Press.

Meldrum, K., & Peters, J. (2014). Learning to teach health and physical education: The student, the teacher and the curriculum. Pearson Australia.

Miller, J., Wilson-Gahan, S., & Garrett, R. (2018). Health and physical education (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.