Australian Curriculum
ACHPER has been closely involved in discussions and meetings with ACARA and contributed significant feedback from the States/Territories and National to inform the discussions on the HPE Curriculum.
On Friday September 18, 2015 the Education Council endorsed the Australian Curriculum in eight learning areas, including Health and Physical Education. The newly endorsed Foundation - Year 10 Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education will be made available from late October.
As noted by ACARA, schools and teachers have the flexibility as to how they teach the curriculum based on the needs of their students and the requirements of their school and local curriculum authorities.
ACARA Information and Resources
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is an independent authority providing a rigorous, national approach to education through the national curriculum, national assessment program and national data collection and reporting program.
ACHPER Actions & Responses
ACHPER has responded to the Review of the Australian Curriculum Final Report (2014), and strongly advocates for the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education learning area content in to be included in all years of schooling from Foundation to Year 10.
The Review of the Australian Curriculum Final Report has now been released, which has indicated strong support for the inclusion of Health and Physical Education (HPE) in the Australian Curriculum.
ACHPER will take the opportunity to read the report of the Review of the Australian Curriculum now that it has been released. A considered response to the report and the implications to the HPE learning area will be available shortly.
On January 10 2014, the Minister for Education, the Hon Christopher Pyne, announced a review of the Australian Curriculum led by Professor Ken Wiltshire AO and Dr Kevin Donnelly.
ACHPER has delivered a Students First review statement that strongly advocates for the HPE learning area as being concerned with the provision of learning experiences that are educationally worthwhile and seek to develop skills, knowledge and understandings that will enable young people to live healthy and active lives.
Summary of the Australian Curriculum HPE Forum (November 2013)
ACHPER held a one day forum titled, ‘Implementing the Curriculum: Intentions for Action’ prior to the 28th ACHPER International Conference in Melbourne on Wednesday 27 November 2013.
This critical forum brought together 100 invited delegates from across all states, education sectors, schools, universities and allied agencies to interrogate and provide considered feedback on four significant strategies proposed by ACHPER to support the successful implementation of the Australian HPE curriculum in schools across the country.
ACHPER responds to ACARA (April 2013)
The Board of ACHPER Inc have responded to ACARA regarding the draft Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education Foundation to Year 10.
ACHPER believes that the rationale and aims of the Australian Curriculum: HPE are well conceived and accurately described what teachers believe is the essence of Health and Physical Education. We have conveyed concerns however about the difficulty classroom generalist teachers might face in interpreting and delivering it. ACHPER believes there is still work to be done on the detailed content descriptors to ensure they are teachable and manageable given the constraints faced by many schools.
Summary of the Australian Curriculum HPE: Forum (June 2013)
Read a summary of the discussions from the 2 day forum "HPE National Curriculum Implementation – Provocations, Challenges and Responses” held at the University of Queensland by ACHPER Victoria's Professional Learning Manager, Bernie Holland.
The key take home question was how HPE educators and professionals across the many and varied contexts across Australia will successfully implement the Australian Curriculum?
ACHPER critical of Minister’s Australian Curriculum: HPE Media Release (December 2012)
ACHPER welcomes the announcement of the progress being made in the development of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education and the entitlement it brings. However the title of the media release issued from the Minister for School Education, The Hon Peter Garrett MP, with its focus on the publicly sensitive areas of water safety and first aid as the core of the curriculum is surely misleading. This is an ill-conceived first release and tells only part of the story of the breadth and importance of the learning area.
ACHPER responds to the Australian Curriculum: HPE Shape Paper (July 2012)
ACHPER has responded to the request by ACARA for feedback on the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education Shape Paper.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I access the Australian Curriculum: HPE?
The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has made the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education available for use.
You can access the curriculum for Health and Physical Education for Foundation - Year 10 on the Australian Curriculum website:
http://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/healthandphysicaleducation/Rationale.
The Education Council endorsed the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education on September 18 and is ready for implementation based on local (state) context.
How is the Australian Curriculum: HPE organised?
The structure of the curriculum is as follows:
- Rationale: outlines the importance and relevance of the learning area;
- Aims: identifies the major learning that students will be able to demonstrate;
- Organisation of the learning area: the HPE curriculum is organised under two interrelated strands:
- Personal, social and community health
- Movement and physical activity
There are 3 sub-strands under each strand:
Personal, social and community health (PSCH)
- Being healthy, safe and active
- Communicating and interacting for health and wellbeing
- Contributing to healthy and active communities
Movement and physical activity (MPA)
- Moving our body
- Understanding movement
- Learning through movement
The content in the sub-strands is taught through areas of learning. For both strands these areas of learning are:
- Alcohol and drugs
- Food and nutrition
- Health benefits of physical activity
- Mental Health and wellbeing
- Relationships and sexuality
- Safety
- Active play and minor games
- Challenge and adventure activities
- Fundamental movement skills
- Games and sports
- Health-related physical activities
- Rhythmic and expressive
How can teaching be planned using these areas of learning?
There are 2 elements to the organisation of the content: 1) the learner (student) and, 2) the knowledge, understanding and skills to be taught. The learner is represented in band descriptions. Band descriptions emphasise the interrelated nature of the two strands, give information about what is appropriate for that stage(s) of schooling and provide an overview of the health and movement content for the year level(s). The HPE curriculum has six band levels:
- Foundation
- Years 1 and 2
- Years 3 and 4
- Years 5 and 6
- Years 7 and 8
- Years 9 and 10
For each band there are content descriptions. Content descriptions describe the knowledge, understanding and skills teachers are expected to teach and students are expected to learn. They have been organised under the six sub-strands. To assist teachers to develop a common understanding of the content descriptions intent each content description will have a number of content elaborations which will have an annotation to an area of learning. For example in the PSCH Foundation band the content descriptor Identify personal strengths can be taught through “describing how they (students) feel when they are learning a new skill and what strategies they can use to persist until they are successful.” The areas of learning for this elaboration could be AP (Active Play) or FMS (Fundamental Movement Skills). To demonstrate scope and sequencing from Foundation to Years 9 and 10 the content descriptions and content elaborations will be shown as a table/matrix.
How much time has been allocated for HPE in the Australian Curriculum?
A notional time allocation of 80 hours per year was used as a guide by writers during the development of the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education. It is important to note this notional time allocation for Health and Physical Education does not include extra-curricular school sport programs. Decisions regarding time allocation for each learning area remain a responsibility of the states and territories.
When will implementation of the Australian Curriculum: HPE occur in my state/territory?
ACARA has made the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education available for use by states and territory jurisdictions, and has now been endorsed by the Education Council.
For further advice about implementing the Australian Curriculum in your state/territory, please contact the relevant authority below:
How will students be assessed?
Ongoing formative assessment is used to monitor student learning and to provide feedback to enhance their teaching. Summative assessment assists schools in reporting student achievement. Achievement Standards that outline what students understand and can do at the end of the band are given i.e., at the end of Foundation, Year 2, Year 4, Year 6, Year 8 and Year 10.
ACARA has stated that jurisdictions are to use current approaches to assessment and reporting.
Will the review of the Australian Curriculum undertaken by the federal government affect implementation?
On January 10 2014, the Minister for Education, the Hon Christopher Pyne, announced a review of the Australian Curriculum led by Professor Ken Wiltshire AO and Dr Kevin Donnelly. The Final Report has now been released, which may affect the content, implementation and teaching of the Learning Areas of the Australian Curriculum. You can read more here.
ACHPER has delivered a Students First review statement that strongly advocates for the HPE learning area as being concerned with the provision of learning experiences that are educationally worthwhile and seek to develop skills, knowledge and understandings that will enable young people to live healthy and active lives. You can read more here.
How has the Australian Curriculum been developed?
As with other learning areas in the Australian Curriculum, the HPE Curriculum, has followed a process based on a Curriculum Design Paper produced by ACARA. In developing the Australian Curriculum, the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians was a key reference. The curriculum has been designed to meet the declaration goal that ‘All young Australians become successful learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed citizens’.
Direction on the purpose, structure and organisation of the HPE Curriculum has been given through a shaping paper; the Shape of the Australian Curriculum- Health and Physical Education. There has been widespread consultation on the shaping paper and the Australian Curriculum- HPE.
The Australian Curriculum for all learning areas gives special attention to three Cross curriculum priorities:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (HC)
- Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia (AAEA)
- Sustainability (SUS)
For students to live and work successfully in the twenty-first century they require knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions. These are called General Capabilities and there are seven of them that are acknowledged in every learning area:
- literacy
- numeracy
- information and communication technology capability
- critical and creative thinking
- personal and social capability
- ethical behaviour
- intercultural understanding
The General capabilities will be identified in the content descriptions.
Articles of Interest
As readers across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond will be very aware, the development of national curriculum texts will inevitably be characterized by both opportunities and challenges. Such developments also serve to bring to the fore the need for professional engagement with official curriculum development. This collection reflects that need and that this is an exciting time for Health and Physical Education in Australia, amidst the progressive development of the Australian Curriculum.
In total there are seven papers within this issue that each represent a contribution to the academic discourses that are currently featuring within the Health and Physical Education community in Australia. The diversity of the articles appropriately reflects the vibrant and plural research community of scholars in Health and Physical Education in Australia. Importantly, they raise issues pertinent to development and debates in Health and Physical Education internationally.
Stewart G. Trost and Hans van der Mars, December 2009/January 2010, Volume 67, Number 4, Health and Learning, Pages 60-65, Educational Leadership
Eliminate physical education to increase time for reading and math, the theory goes, and achievement will rise. But the evidence says otherwise.
- Specialist or Generalist: Who is best placed to teach HPE in the Primary School?
The below articles from the Active & Healthy Magazine by Timothy Lynch, Natalie McMaster and Christine Curry draw on recent research about whether specialist teachers or classroom teachers are best placed to teach Health and Physical Education in primary schools.
Generalist Teachers
HPE Teachers in Primary Schools
Why Public Schools Need Specialist PE Teachers