|  | Feature: Physical Education in Early Childhood | No.51 September 2007 |
Providing Quality Physical Education for Children 3-14 Years: A Scottish Solution Theresa Campbell & Liz McGhie |
Abstract This is a time of immense change in physical education for children aged 3-14 in Scotland. Current national curriculum developments and concerns over the levels of physical inactivity across all ages of the population have focused attention on the importance of providing quality experiences in physical education at a young age. These experiences should focus on whole child development and thus provide children with the skills, confidence and motivation to continue activity into adult life. This article outlines the development of the Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Physical Education at the University of Glasgow and examines the impact of the decision by the Scottish Executive to fund the expansion of the Programme to a national level in order to provide teachers with the knowledge, skills and beliefs to deliver high quality physical education experiences for primary aged children. Consideration will be given to the distinctive features of the Programme and to the feedback received to date from the course participants. Introduction: The Scottish Context Scotland is experiencing a period of decline in participation in physical activity among young people and is having to recognise the inevitable impact of this on the level of health problems in adult life. The most recent Scottish Health Survey 2003 (Scottish Executive, 2005) revealed that, in the 2-15 age range, 33% of girls and 25% of boys are not meeting the required minimum of 60 minutes of accumulated physical activity each day. Concerns over these statistics are at the centre of the recommendations from the Physical Activity Task Force (Scottish Executive, 2003) and the Review Group on Physical Education (Scottish Executive, 2004b) that Scottish children should receive a minimum of 2 hours of quality physical education within curriculum time in school. This increased time allocation for physical education and the emphasis on quality must also be viewed in the context of current developments in the Scottish curriculum as a whole. A review of the curriculum in Scotland for young people from 3-18 years is currently underway. The values, principles and purposes of this proposed new curriculum, known as A Curriculum for Excellence (ACfE), are informed by the current legislation outlined in The Standards in Scotland’s Schools etc. Act (2000) and the National Priorities for Education (2000). For the first time in Scotland, the specific duty for schools to provide for the development of a child’s physical abilities, has been set in statute. This, in conjunction with the identification of Learning for Life, which has physical activity as a key outcome, as one of the five National Priorities, has raised the profile of physical education (Scottish Executive, 2004b). The increased focus on physical education reflects the national concerns about health and the growing recognition of the important role education should have in addressing the issue of inactivity. Examination of the aims of the proposed curriculum helps to explain the central role that physical education can play. The new Curriculum for Excellence aims ‘to enable all young people to become successful learners, confident individuals, responsible citizens and effective contributors’ (Scottish Executive, 2004a, p.12). Quality physical education should then be seen as contributing to the development of these four capacities and will involve a focus on the physical, social and emotional health and well being of young people. It is recognised that the focus is not just on what is to be learned but how it will be taught (Scottish Executive, 2004a). The emphasis is shifting to teaching and learning approaches and so the delivery of quality physical education experiences for all children will require effective teaching. Effective learning and teaching requires teachers who are confident and competent in the teaching of physical education and skilled in helping children to learn, and so the Scottish Executive was confronted with the problem of how they would ensure the necessary training and qualifications for those charged with the task of delivering the 2 hours of quality physical education. The Report from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate, Improving Physical Education in Primary Schools (2001), whilst acknowledging the existence of high standards of practice in some schools, raised various issues relating to the quality of experiences for children in Primary Physical Education. The Report identified the need to address the issue of effective teaching and learning in physical education and highlighted the important role of staff development in achieving this. Teachers of Primary Physical Education Within the Scottish education system, all teachers with responsibility for teaching physical education to primary aged children will have undertaken an initial teacher education programme, which qualifies them to teach physical education in primary schools. Why then did the Inspectorate identify a problem with the quality of the experiences on offer to children? The problem mostly lies in the amount of time devoted to Primary physical education in these initial teacher education programmes. Scottish teachers follow one of two main routes to their qualification. There are those whose teaching qualification is in physical education. The majority of people who gain this qualification will teach in the secondary school sector with young people aged 11 – 18 years and therefore the initial teacher education courses for these teachers will, by necessity, focus mainly on the secondary years with a limited time given to the younger age group. There are those whose teaching qualification is in primary education. The time spent on exploring issues relating to the teaching of PE will vary considerably with some courses offering up to 100 hours for those who choose to follow a PE option, to as little as 10 hours in some Universities for those undertaking the one year postgraduate route to Primary teaching. Neither of these routes provides what is really needed, that is, teachers with the in-depth knowledge of appropriate content and methodology in PE for pupils aged 3-14 years. The Solution for One Local Authority Glasgow City Council was aware of the need to extend the knowledge and confidence of their teachers in delivery of primary PE and in 2004 approached the University of Glasgow to discuss the provision of sustained Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for primary teachers within the authority. Glasgow is one of the authorities in Scotland with a team of specialist physical education teachers who are bought in by schools to delivery physical education at a variety of stages. However, not all schools are able to fund specialist teachers and so there can be the problem of quality of experiences being delivered in those schools where specialist teachers are not in place. The council therefore identified the need to provide CPD for the non-specialist teacher in the schools. What was particularly visionary about the approach from Glasgow City Council was the thinking that it would be of value to provide a sustained programme made up of a series of courses and to have a recognised qualification attached to the programme. This vision allowed the University to explore the possibility of developing a two year part-time Certificate Programme at Masters level. Staff from the Faculty of Education at the University of Glasgow worked with members of the Glasgow Primary Physical Education team to write a Certificate Programme designed to address the staff development issues of teacher confidence and competence in the teaching of primary physical education and to provide the opportunity for teachers to engage in debate on the many factors influencing the nature and delivery of the curriculum. Thus, in 2004, the first Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Physical Education (PGCertPPE) in Scotland was launched. The Aims and Structure of the PGCertPPE The PGCertPPE addresses the following aims: to improve teacher confidence and competence in the teaching of primary physical education; to provide opportunities for teachers to engage in debate on the many factors influencing the nature and delivery of physical education in the primary curriculum; and to encourage discussion and a sharing of knowledge, thus impacting on practice across the school community. The above aims are delivered through four courses: Courses 1 & 2: Primary Physical Education Curriculum 1 & 2 share the same learning outcomes and allow for extended examination of issues relating to the curriculum. These courses offer participants the opportunity to address significant issues on policy and practice in physical education at local authority and national level. Course 3: Working With Others addresses the issues of multi-agency delivery of physical education and promotion of physical activity for children. Course 4: Independent Research Project enables participants to assume more independent responsibility for their own learning in a specialist area selected by each individual. The Blend of Practical and Academic At the time of developing the PGCertPPE, as the lead writers, we faced the challenge of producing a programme that would meet the needs of Glasgow City Council, in terms of an immediate impact on the quality of learning and teaching in schools, while fulfilling the academic rigour and reflection required for a masters level qualification. We aimed to achieve this through a delivery format of addressing key topics in physical education whilst using practical sessions to exemplify the issues and thus provide a focus for debate on these areas. Subsequent evaluations from course members have provided evidence that these two aims are being met successfully. Teachers are returning to schools with immediate ideas to adjust and tailor their work with classes and they are inspired to find out more and to make sense of what they are doing and why they are doing it. “I feel the course has been an excellent opportunity to meet fellow primary teacher’s who share my determination to bring physical education to the forefront of peoples minds and indeed lives. I have found the course to be an extremely valuable learning opportunity for myself and my colleagues in school. Its immediate impact on my delivery of the P.E. curriculum has been fantastic!” (Course member, 2007) “I am providing my pupils with more quality PE experiences, which was possibly not the case prior to my inclusion on the course. In an ideal world all teachers should undertake the PGCertPPE if for no other reason than to question their own practice.” (Course member, 2007) The Growth of the Programme By late 2005, it was apparent that the PGCertPPE was drawing interest from the decision makers in Scottish Education. The main motivation for this interest was the Scottish Executive’s commitment to the delivery of two hours of curricular physical education per week to all children as recommended in the Sport 21 Strategy (Sportscotland 2003) and the promise of an additional 400 physical education teachers (Scottish Executive, 2004). The obvious route to achieving this target of the 400 additional teachers would have been to recruit and train 400 additional specialist teachers of physical education, although, as previously discussed, this would have been a route with a limited focus on the age group of 3-14. The alternative was to look at the current workforce in education and to provide opportunities for teachers to gain a specialism in primary PE. This was the route the Scottish Executive chose. In 2005, representatives from the Scottish Executive Education Department approached the University and discussions took place regarding the roll out of the Programme across Scotland. The outcome of the discussion with the Scottish Executive was the commitment of funding for the Faculty of Education to deliver the PGCertPPE for approximately 240 teachers commencing in January 2007. What had started as a small scale project to provide a few teachers with what they needed to improve the quality of experiences in PE for their pupils, had in a short space of time, developed into a major National project with scope to make a huge impact on what was happening in Scottish schools. In addition, the Executive commissioned the University of Edinburgh to develop a similar Programme, thus allowing an even greater number of teachers across Scotland to access this level of qualification. The combined number of teachers undertaking the Postgraduate Certificates provided by the two institutions is, at time of writing, approximately 330. Demand for the Certificate Programme The PGCertPPE is delivered in a twilight or weekend basis and anyone embarking on the programme has to be prepared to give 100 hours of their own time for class contact and a considerably greater amount of time to study and reflection. So who has this level of commitment to make these personal sacrifices? The course members are mainly primary class teachers who have responsibility for the physical education for their own class or for classes across the school. There are head teachers of primary schools who wish to extend their understanding and expertise in relation to the management of physical education within the curriculum and there are some PE specialist teachers based in Primary Schools. There are teachers working with the 3-5 age group and there are some working with young people with additional support needs. This rich mix of course members is a valuable feature of the programme and early evaluations provide evidence that the programme is meeting the needs of all. In the early days of discussions with the Scottish Executive, they did wonder whether there would be the demand among the teaching workforce for a programme delivered outside of school hours, but the overwhelming response from Scottish teachers proved these concerns to be unfounded and prompted the Executive to more than double the number of places to be funded. Successful Features of the Programme Certainly the responses from the course members and feedback from authorities suggests that the aims of the programme are being achieved. This is a huge undertaking and it is important to stand back and analyse the particular features of the programme that contribute to its value. Role of Glasgow University in Initial Teacher Education From discussions with course members, one of the major successes of the programme is the recognition of knowledge and skills that the teachers already possess and the encouragement for them to transfer these skills to the PE environment. Prior to involvement in the programme, teachers were using a wide range of effective child centred approaches in their classroom but found that they changed when in the gym. They taught very direct skills based lessons and did not have the confidence to involve the children in their own learning. They delivered a series of tasks rather than providing learning experiences suited to the needs of each child. They feel that involvement in the programme has helped them to see that teaching in PE should not be different to their practice in other areas and that using child centred approaches are the key to providing quality experiences in PE. They are making greater use of their knowledge of the children as individual learners in their planning and delivery of these learning experiences in the gym. Why have we been able to have this impact? As members of staff in the Faculty of Education we work as generalist tutors in primary education in addition to our role as lecturers in physical education. We therefore have knowledge of the requirements and nature of the whole primary curriculum, so are well placed to help students and teachers: draw links between approaches to learning in other areas and in physical education; make links with content in other areas of the curriculum. This allows us to examine physical education as part of an integrated approach to learning and helps teachers to see how learning can take place ‘across and beyond the traditional subject boundaries’ (Scottish Executive, 2004. p.16). Partnership with Local Authorities Each of the Programmes is planned and delivered with tutors from the relevant Education Authority. As might be expected there is a great deal of similarity in the requirements across the authorities and where there are some differences it is in terms of the particular practical areas selected as a focus for exemplification. One of the very positive features of the initial Programme with Glasgow City Council was the partnership with the Glasgow Primary PE Team. It was a real advantage to be working alongside teachers who had a knowledge of the authority perspective and very current experience and expertise in the field. Basing the Courses within the Authorities Each of the programmes is based in the Education Authority and staff travel to deliver the inputs in one of their primary schools. This has the obvious advantage of reducing the travel time for course members but more importantly this means that we are working in the ‘real context’ for teachers. We face the same problems they face of small working areas, limited apparatus and dual use of dining halls as gym halls. This allows us to discuss and find solutions to the issues that are very relevant to them in the everyday delivery of their lessons. Use of Virtual Learning Environment and Web-based Resources The use of the University Virtual Learning Environment is proving to be a valuable tool for communication and management of the programme and there is huge potential for sharing of ideas within and across the programme groups. We have been able to use the site to establish shortcuts to important websites or policy documents, thus helping to ease the pressure of time for these students who are managing a full-time job along with their study. The location of programmes across Scotland is one of the strengths of the Project but also could have potentially presented us with a real problem of student access to the library and reading materials. The purchasing of e-books and digitising of chapters and journal articles has meant that students have access to an electronic collection of reading materials. This has been well received by the course members although it is important to recognise that not everyone feels comfortable with use of information technology and where necessary, paper or disc copies are provided. Links to Further Study The programme is accredited by the University of Glasgow and provides opportunities for course members to further enhance their professional qualifications by providing evidence to support application for Professional Recognition with the General Teaching Council for Scotland. Successful completion of the programme will allow for possible progression to Diploma and Masters Courses within the University. The Impact of the Programme Interim feedback on the impact of the programme from the course member evaluations, and reflections in assignments, provide evidence that there are already improvements in the quality of learning experiences for the children. Course members state that they have grown in confidence and are enjoying and understanding their teaching more. Of particular interest is the impact on other members of staff. The course members are sharing their experiences and insights with colleagues and for some, their colleagues’ interest is generated by an awareness that something different is happening in the gym. The Glasgow City group of teachers from the initial programme have reported that one year on from completion, they have developed their roles in physical education. Some have taken on mentoring roles with other staff, some have taken on responsibility for coordination and delivery of the physical education programme across the school and others have been involved in working groups at school and authority level. It is clear from their responses that the programme has had a continued impact on them. The gathering of information on the impact of the programme was done at an informal level with the initial group. A joint full Evaluation of the impact of the Scottish Executive funded phase of the programme at Glasgow and Edinburgh Universities is underway. This will allow for more formal analysis of the impact on the quality of physical education provision. The Future The Scottish Executive has already committed funding for a second cohort with approximately 180 places in Glasgow and 100 in Edinburgh to commence in 2008. Two more Universities are in discussion with the Executive regarding further commitment of money to support the programmes in the next financial round. Decisions have yet to be made about priority areas for Government funding beyond 2008 but it is hoped that the success of the programme and the continued focus on the role of quality physical education in addressing health issues will add strength to the case for continued funding. If funding is not continued it is hoped that the Education Authorities will be prepared to support teachers on the programme. Glasgow City Council provided the funding for the initial programme because they had identified the continuing professional development of the non-specialist teacher of physical education to be an authority priority. It is therefore possible that the programme will continue to serve the needs of teachers in future years. Conclusion The Postgraduate Certificate in Primary Physical Education was developed to provide for the continuing professional development needs of a small group of teachers in one area of Scotland. As outlined, the changing curriculum context and growing health agenda have resulted in the development of a National Programme. The time has been right for the raising of the profile of physical education for 3-14 year olds and, at the University of Glasgow, we have been fortunate to have been in a position to respond very quickly to the demands of this focus on physical education. Many Scottish teachers have shown immense personal commitment to improving the quality of learning experiences for their pupils and we consider this to be the most significant feature of the Project. Quality physical education for children 3-14 years is in very safe and enthusiastic hands. References Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (2001). Improving Physical Education in Primary Schools, Edinburgh: Her Majesty’s Inspectorate Scottish Sports Council (1998). Sport 21: Nothing Left to Chance, Edinburgh: The Scottish Sports Council Scottish Executive. (1998) Towards a Healthier Scotland, A White Paper on Health. Scottish Executive (2000).Standards in Scotlands Schools etc. Act, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Scottish Executive (2003). Let’s make Scotland more active: A strategy for physical activity, Edinburgh: HMSO Scottish Executive (2004a) A Curriculum for Excellence: The Curriculum Review Group, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive (2004b). The Report of the Review Group on Physical Education, Edinburgh: HMSO Scottish Executive (2005). Scottish Health Survey 2003, Volume 3, Edinburgh: Scottish Executive Sportscotland (2003). Sport 21: 2003-2007: The National Strategy for Sport: Shaping Scotland’s Future, Edinburgh: Sportscotland Contact Theresa Campbell Faculty of Education University of Glasgow Glasgow, UK Email: t.campbell@educ.gla.ac.uk Liz McGhie Faculty of Education University of Glasgow Glasgow, UK Email: e.mcghie@educ.gla.ac.uk http://www.icsspe.org/portal/index.php?w=1&z=5 Providing Quality Physical Education for Children 3-14 Years: A Scottish Solution Theresa Campbell & Liz McGhie