An Investigation into Primary School Physical Education

An Investigation into Primary School Physical Education

This report will provide a concise investigation into the

developmental stages of physical education. Whilst this assignment

will provide an overview of the subject in primary schools at present,

it will also go on to investigate into the issue of teaching on a

practical basis and also look at how physical education can develop a

child. Using the information gathered from primary and secondary

research, which was conducted whilst attending a primary school as a

six week work placement, the latter stages will provide some critique

and offer some recommendations to how physical education can be

improved or developed in the future.

After experiencing physical education at all academic levels, I was

very interested in researching into the primary stages of the subject

as I understand it to be the most valuable period of learning for any

child. This belief is reinforced by the quote that ‘it is widely

accepted that the younger the child, the more they learn through

physical activity’ (P.Wetton, 1988). This, although an outdated quote,

coincides with the British Heart Foundations opinion that ‘learning at

an early age is important in establishing good exercise patterns for

life’ (2004). If taught efficiently, physical education can be very

beneficial to a child in terms of their sociological, physical and

mental well being and development. For instance figure 1 highlights

several physiological, sociological and psychological benefits which

are developed because of a good physical education program.

Physiological

Sociological

Psychologica...

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...cal traits. P.E is more

beneficial at a younger age as the child’s personality allows them

to learn more and to develop more (refer to figure 1).

* Teaching is an area which needs development and improvement as

results show that P.E isn’t a specialist/preferred subject

compared to core subjects such as Maths and Science (refer to

figure 3).

* A general consensus reveals that there is a need for more

dedicated hours to P.E in the National Curriculum as well as a

development in school sport as a whole.

In summary, this assignment reveals that while there are some areas of

Physical Education, whether it be the National Curriculum or teaching,

that need improvement or attention, the subject itself is proven to be

beneficial to an individual in terms of development and progression.