Australian Physical Education Curriculum

Physical Education (PE) can be defined as the study, practice & implementation in a scholarly environment of the principles related to the art and science of physical activity and has arguably never been a more important part of the Australian educational landscape given the breadth and depth of its potential impact (Graham, Holt/Hale & Parker, 2013). PE has never been stagnant (Philips & Roper, 2006). It has a long history that has played an integral role in the development of the Australian PE curriculum. Beginning as far back as 700BC where the Ancient Greeks sought to fulfil their quest for physical and intellectual perfection, and then to the middle ages where the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of Christianity saw the view of physical

Techow, a former army officer, had trained hundreds of teachers at the National Gymnasium in Melbourne with his own spin on a Swedish style of gymnastics that also included military style drills. However, Techow was still careful to draw a line between gymnastics and the rigid military exercise drills, insisting that gymnastics lessons should still be joyful and cheerful. Arguably ahead of his time, Techow was also a proponent of the idea that physical education should be taught with playground games in which the teacher was actively involved with the student. Moving on from here the evolution of PE in Australia took a dramatic turn during the climate of the World War

For example, the Australian Society for Sport History formed in the 1970s when the Dance and Recreation and Australian Council for Physical Education merged with various economic, social and Australian historians (Philips & Roper). This heightened cognisance led to a pivotal inquiry (the Inquiry) by the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia published in 1992. This Inquiry identified a number of shortcomings with the quality & content of the PE curriculum across the nation that had arisen from a number of factors including: a squeeze on PE as a subject area due to a congested curriculum; PE still being broadly defined under the ‘health education’ umbrella; a lack of comprehensive policy, and the long list continues (Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1992). As is evident, the state of PE across Australia was in poor shape and so the senate in the Inquiry also made a multitude of recommendations to rectify these inadequacies that included: renaming the National Statement on Health to the ‘National Education Statement on Health and Physical Education’ (a seemingly subtle difference, but one that highlights the importance of the