Evaluating the relationship between physical education.docx

Evaluating the relationship between physical education.docx

《Evaluating the relationship between physical education.docx》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《Evaluating the relationship between physical education.docx（30页珍藏版）》请在冰豆网上搜索。

Evaluatingtherelationshipbetweenphysicaleducation

Evaluatingtherelationshipbetweenphysicaleducation,sportandsocialinclusion

ClickhereforimmediateaccesstothelatestkeyresearcharticlesAuthor:

RichardBaileya

Affiliation:

aCanterburyChristChurchUniversityCollege,UK

Abstract

FocusingupontherecentpolicycontextwithintheUK,thispaperoffersareviewoftheevidencerelatedtotheoutcomesoftheparticipationofchildrenandyoungpeopleincurricularphysicaleducationandsport.Particularattentionispaidtopotentialcontributionsthatsuchactivitiescanmaketowardssocialinclusionandthedevelopmentofsocialcapital.Thereviewsuggeststhattherearesomeareasforwhichthereisaconsiderableamountofevidenceinfavourofapositiverelationshipwithparticipationintheseactivities（suchasphysicalandmentalhealth）,andothersforwhichfurtherresearchremainsnecessary（suchascognitiveandacademicdevelopment,crimereduction,truancyanddisaffection）.Ingeneral,however,itisevidentthatmuchmoreempiricalresearchisnecessaryifthebenefitsofsportingparticipationforyoungpeopleandsocietyaretobecomemuchmorethanatheoreticalaspiration.

Introduction

Questionsabouttheoutcomes,placeandjustificationofphysicaleducationandsportinschoolscontinuetogenerateconsiderabledebateamongteachers,theoristsandpolicy-makersalike（Kirk,1992;Armour&Jones,1998;Parry,1998;Green,2000;DepartmentforCulture,MediaandSport[DCMS]/StrategyUnit,2002）.Thetoneofmuchofthisdebatemightleadonetoassumethatthedifferentadvocatesaredrawinguponasubstantialbodyofempiricaldata.

FocusinguponthepolicycontextwithintheUK,thispaperexaminestheevidenceregardingtheoutcomesoftheparticipationofchildrenandyoungpeopleincurricularphysicaleducationandsport.Particularattentionispaidtopotentialcontributionsthatsuchactivitiescanmaketowardsthesocialinclusionagenda,whichhasbeenafeatureofmucheducationaldebateamongpolicy-makers.Whilstmanyclaimsaremadeonbehalfofphysicaleducationandsport（e.g.Vuorietal.,1995;Doll-Tepper&Scoretz,2001）,thereremainsaneedforanobjectiveconsiderationoftheempiricalbasisofsuchclaims.Thispaperattemptstogoalittlewaytowardsthatgoal.

Clarifyingterms

Asitstitlesuggests,thisarticleisconcernedwith'physicaleducation'and'sport'.Clearly,theseconceptshaveagreatdealincommon,butitisoftensuggestedthatthereremainessentialdifferences.Sincethedistinctionbetweenphysicaleducationandsportcontinuestobeacauseofdebate（Murdoch,1990;Whitson&Macintosh,1990;DepartmentofEducationandScience/WelshOffice[DES/WO],1991;Penney,2000）,itisworthwhileclarifyingthepresentuseoftheterms.

'Physicaleducation'isastatutoryareaoftheschoolcurriculum,concernedwithdevelopingpupils'physicalcompetenceandconfidence,andtheirabilitytousethesetoperforminarangeofactivities（DepartmentforEducationandEmployment[DfEE],2000,p.129）.Whilsttheperformanceofphysicalskillsformsacentralandcharacteristicfeatureofthesubject,likeallotherareasofthecurriculum,itisfundamentallyconcernedwithknowledge,skillsandunderstanding.InthewordsofapositionpaperfortheWorldSummitonPhysicalEducation,thesubject'involvesboth“learningtomove”and“movingtolearn”'（Talbot,2001,p.39）.Inotherwords,physicaleducationisconcernedwithlearningtheskillsandunderstandingrequiredforparticipationinphysicalactivities,knowledgeofone'sownbodyanditsrangeofandcapacityformovement;anditisalsoacontextforandmeansoflearningawiderangeofoutcomeswhicharenotinherenttophysicalactivity,butwhicharevaluableextrinsiceducationallessons,suchassocialskills,aestheticjudgement,literacyandnumeracy.

'Sport'isacollectivenounandusuallyreferstoarangeofactivities,processes,socialrelationshipsandpresumedphysical,psychologicalandsociologicaloutcomes.Theseactivitiesincludeindividual,partnerandteamsports;contactandnon-contactsports;motor-drivenorperceptuallydominatedsports;differentemphasesonstrategy,chanceandphysicalskills;andcompetitive,self-developmentandpurelyrecreationalactivities（Coalter,2001）.Reflectingthisdiversityofprocessesandpossibleoutcomes,itishelpfultofollowtheacceptedpracticeofmanycentralgovernmentsandsportsgroupsinadoptingthedefinitionintheCouncilofEurope'sEuropeanSportsCharter（2001）:

Sportmeansallformsofphysicalactivitywhich,throughcasualororganisedparticipation,aimatexpressingorimprovingphysicalfitnessandmentalwell-being,formingrelationshipsorobtainingresultsincompetitionsatalllevels.（Article2）

Avirtueofabroaddefinitionofthiskindisthatitisinclusiveofawholerangeofphysicalactivities,notjustcompetitivegames,suchasdance,outdooractivitiesandmartialarts.

Clearly,thereisacloserelationshipbetweenphysicaleducationandsport,buttheyarenotsynonymous.Atthemostsuperficiallevel,thedistinctionbetweenthetermsissimplythat'sport'referstoarangeofactivitiesand'physicaleducation'referstoanareaoftheschoolcurriculumconcernedwithphysicalactivitiesandthedevelopmentofphysicalcompetence.Foramoreprecisearticulationoftherespectivefociandnatureofphysicaleducationandsport,however,itisworthwhiletorecallastatementoftheWorkingPartyfortheNationalCurriculumforPhysicalEducationin1991:

Sportcoversarangeofphysicalactivitiesinwhichadultsandyoungpeoplemayparticipate.Physicaleducationontheotherhandisaprocessoflearning,thecontextbeingmainlyphysical.Thepurposeofthisprocessistodevelopspecificknowledge,skillsandunderstanding,andtopromotephysicalcompetence.Differentsportingactivitiescananddocontributetothislearningprocess,andthelearningprocessenablesparticipationinsport.Thefocushoweverisonthechildandhisorherdevelopmentofphysicalcompetence,ratherthantheactivity.（DES/WO,1991）

Inthisdocument,therefore,'sport'willbeusedasagenerictermforthewiderangeofactivitiesoutlinedabove,and'physicaleducation'willbeusedtoreferspecificallytothecurriculumareasandassociatededucationaloutcomes.

Therecentpolicyagenda

PhysicaleducationhasbeenastatutoryelementoftheNationalCurriculumfromitsstart,andtheUKGovernmenthasrecentlyannouncedajointPublicServiceAgreementtargettoincreasethepercentageofschoolchildreninEnglandwhospendaminimumoftwohourseachweekonhigh-qualityphysicaleducationandschoolsport（DepartmentforEducationandSkills[DfES]/DCMS,2003）.Ithasalsointroducedahostofinitiativesaimedatimprovingthequalityofphysicaleducationinschools,andwideningopportunitiesforparticipation,includingspecialistsportscolleges,schoolsportcoordinatorsandsportsassistants.

InApril2000,theUKGovernmentpublisheditsstrategyforthedevelopmentofsportoverthecomingdecade,'ASportingFutureforAll',withthegoalto:

'ensurethateverymemberofoursocietyisofferedopportunitiesandencouragementtoplay,leadandmanagesport'（DCMS,2000,p.7）.ThispaperreflectsanacknowledgementwithinUKandregionalgovernmentsoftheimportanceofsportingparticipationandachievement,bothasvaluedendsinthemselves,andasmeanstootherends.

Alongsidearecognitionoftheimportanceoftheseactivitiesintermsofpersonalenjoymentandfulfilment,therehasbeenanincreasingemphasisuponsport'spotentialcontributiontoahostofwiderbenefits.Inthelanguageofthephilosophyofeducation,intrinsicjustificationsforthesubjecthavebeensupplementedbyextrinsicjustifications（Arnold,1992;Parry,1998）.Infact,measuredincolumninches,inbothofficialdocumentationandacademicjournals,itisapparentthatbyfarthegreatestattentionhasbeenpaidinrecentyearstoextrinsic,generallyinstrumentalvaluesassumedtoresultfromparticipation.

Themostcommonextrinsicjustificationforincreasinglevelsofparticipationinphysicaleducationandsport,especiallyforchildrenandyoungpeople,istheassociationwithimprovedhealth（Hendryetal.,1994,Vuorietal.,1995）.'Knowledgeandunderstandingoffitnessandhealth'remainsacentralstrandoftheNationalCurriculumforPhysicalEducation,andtheperceivedhealth-relatedoutcomesofparticipationinphysicalactivities（andhealthrisksassociatedwithlowlevelsofparticipation）havebeenfrequentlystressed,bothnationally（HealthEducationAuthority,1998;DepartmentofHealth,1999）andinternationally（WorldHealthOrganization[WHO],1990;USDepartmentofHealthandHumanServices[USDHHS],1996）.

Theurgencywithwhichpolicy-makershaveembracedthephysicalactivity/healthconnectionhasonlyincreasedwithagrowinganxietythatsomechildrenandyoungpeoplearenotsufficientlyactivetoaccruehealthbenefits（BritishHeartFoundation,2000）,andthatthereisanincreasedriskof'hypokineticdiseases'（diseaseslinkedtosedentarylifestyles）,suchascoronaryheartdisease,obesity,hypertension,osteoporosisanddiabetes,whichcanhavetheirorigininchildhood（Bailey,1999）.

Morerecently,policy-makershavebeguntostressthesocialdimensionsofsportsparticipation,althoughclaimsofpro-socialoutcomesformanestablishedtraditionwithinbothcurricularphysicaleducation（Kirk,1992;Bailey,2000b）andrecreationalsport（Coakley,1990;Donnelly&Coakley,2002）.ThereporttotheSocialExclusionUnitfromthePolicyActionTeam10suggeststhatsport（andthearts）ca