The Importance Of Physical Education

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Most Victorian senior schools offered physical education as a compulsory subject in year 7-10 in 1989. It is mandatory in the school Curriculum because it helps to achieve two goals which are physical fitness and the development of motor skills. Secondary students preparing for the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) should undertake four units in physical education. Furthermore, the purpose of physical education is to provide students with skills, behaviour and knowledge to enable them to obtain 23-degree autonomy in maintaining their emotional, physical, social, emotional and mental health. Students are taught sports such as tennis, basketball, netball, volleyball, gymnastics, soccer, hockey, football and swimming (cited in Query, 2014). …show more content…

However, many studies show that physical education is necessary for physical and mental health. According to the 2007-2008 National Health Survey, 72% of Australians aged 15 years and over were categorised as sedentary. Therefore, schools should encourage sport to decrease health problems that are caused due to immobility (Healey, 2013). Furthermore, being physically active has significant health benefits, including reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, dementia, some chronic conditions and helping to control weight (Healey, 2013; Reiner,2013). Other studies found that sport has positive impacts on mental health. For example, sports activities have positive impacts on psychological and emotional development, so they help to relieve stress and depression resulting from exams (Thomas, Côté & Deakin, 2016). That’s why physical education should be taught for …show more content…

2016). On the other hand, this correlation is not significant and many studies prove that physical education enhances students’ academic achievement. Physical education and school sport develop students’ concentration, behaviour, academic performance and memory. Moreover, the more students participate in sport the more their academic performance increases (Improving School Sport and Physical Education in your School, 2009). For instance, the students’ math grades were significantly higher after a 10 minute and 20-minute exercise in contrast with the sedentary students (Ebbeck, 2016). As a result, “45 percent of Victorian teachers rated physical education as being ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ important in their schools” (Jenkinson & Benson, 2010). This is how physical education improves academic

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