PHYSICAL EDUCATION

National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE)

National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE)

Basic overview

Physical education plays a critical role in educating the whole student. Like many other academic courses physical education is based upon what children should know and do as a result of participation. The benefits of physical education incorporates the concepts realm. While the debate over curriculum rages on world-wide, one nation has stopped debating and has taken action. Following a lengthy national debate in the early 1980s and a general cry for reform in British educational standards, then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher introduced into law the 1988 Education Reform Act. The act mandated a statutory national curriculum for Britain and Wales to be taught to all students aged 5 to 16 in state (public) schools (Barnes 1989, 23 ).

Discussion

The Physical Education Working Group provided, upon request, a frameworks, rather than a prescription. The request was honored by developing program which, by design, became decreasingly restrictive from one key stage to the next. The Working Group stipulated that “during key stage 1, students must be taught content from five areas of activity: athletic activities, dance, games, gymnastic activities, outdoor and adventurous activities, and, if the school chooses a sixth area, swimming”.

For key stage 2, students were required to receive instruction in all five areas of activity plus swimming if it was not taught during key stage I. Key stage 3 required content instructions in at least four of the five areas of activity with games being a required element each of the school years during this key stage. During key stage 4, students were required to study at least two activities which could be selected from one or two different areas of activity (Braun 1985, 58).

Educational and/Or Political Factors

Prior to the 1988 Act, there was fear among physical education professionals in Britain that physical education might be forced out of the curriculum. Even with the inclusion of physical education in the National Curriculum, there was still some concern and frustration that art, music, and physical education had been given secondary standing in the curriculum due to the fact that these subjects were among the last foundation subjects to be considered (Brumbaugh 1987, 89). The impact of NCPE on physical education in Britain and Wales is not yet filly known. Because implementation of NCPE is so recent, there has not, to date, been much published research. There has, however, been one extensive, 3-year qualitative research project monitoring the development and implementation of NCPE within the schools of one local education authority. This research team was led by John Evans at Loughborough University. It produced a number of interesting and valuable reports.

The results of the investigation indicated that there appeared to be many problems associated with NCPE, and, not surprising to the research team, teaching practices and student experiences were not consistent with the official aims and policy of NCPE. In an effort to manage the curriculum within their given settings, teachers were modifying and adapting ...