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Health and Physical Education exemplars
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Rationale for Health and Physical Education exemplars
What is a health and physical education exemplar?
A health and physical education exemplar is a sample of authentic student work annotated to illustrate learning, achievement, and quality in relation to levels 1–5 of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum. The curriculum incorporates health education, physical education, and aspects of home economics
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/health/curriculum/
statement/page6_e.php
The health and physical education exemplars relate to each strand and key area of learning of the curriculum, to a range of achievement objectives, and to a wide range of learning contexts from a variety of classroom settings across Aotearoa New Zealand.
The matrices
The four matrices set out indicators of student progress at levels 1–5 for:
- Strand A: Personal Health and Physical Development
- Strand B: Movement Concepts and Motor Skills
- Strand C: Relationships with Other People
- Strand D: Healthy Communities and Environments.
Each strand matrix is further expanded by the achievement aims in the curriculum document.
http://www.tki.org.nz/r/health/curriculum/
statement/page8_e.php
The phrasing of the progress indicators is closely modelled on the achievement objectives, which are generic yet precise enough not to need detailed 'unpacking'. To help teachers focus on aspects of the achievement objectives, several have been separated out into more than one progress indicator.
Although the progress indicators are expressed in a tabular format, it is important to remember that students may not always develop their understandings in health and physical education in consistently incremental steps. Teachers can regard the matrices as maps for locating a student's 'best fit' level of learning and the progress indicators as signposts on different possible learning journeys (See also How might the exemplars and matrices be used?).
The index charts
The index charts are intended to help teachers to make connections between the health and physical education exemplars, the matrices of progress indicators, and the curriculum document. These charts map the available print and online exemplars by curriculum strands, achievement aims, and levels. The charts also flag exemplars that can be related to each other, for example, Ngā Tauira Hīkoi - Stepping Patterns and Tī Rākau or the three exemplars Climb Away, Climb Safely, and Safety with Attitude.
What is exemplified?
The health and physical education exemplars were selected to reflect:
- the breadth of the curriculum
- achievement objectives shared across the curriculum
- the underlying concepts of:
- hauora, well-being, with its four dimensions of taha tinana (physical well-being), taha hinengaro (mental and emotional well-being), taha whānau (social well-being), and taha wairua (spiritual well-being)
- health promotion
- the socio-ecological perspective
- attitudes and values that promote respect for the rights of others, care and concern for others and the environment, a sense of social justice, and positive and responsible feelings about personal well-being.
The exemplars were also selected so that, overall, they cover the key areas of learning identified in the curriculum. The seven key areas of learning (mental health, sexuality education, food and nutrition, body care and physical safety, physical activity, sport studies, and outdoor education) reflect and address the current learning needs of students for hauora, well-being.
Not every curriculum achievement objective is exemplified. The exemplar development team considered the evidence, such as National Education Monitoring Programme (NEMP) data and National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) data, to identify where teachers are already working with some confidence and where more support would be most helpful. The selected exemplars aim to:
- broaden teachers' knowledge of the curriculum
- provide assistance where teachers have expressed some difficulty in fully interpreting the intent of the curriculum
- exemplify learning experiences that present challenges because of the contentious or sensitive nature of the learning context and content.
In selecting which achievement objectives to exemplify, the development team also considered whether the related learning context and student work could be expressed within the constraints of print and online exemplar formats, for example, some very personal and deep responses from older students in their discussions of sexuality issues.
Gaps in the index charts do not suggest that these objectives are less significant. The process for developing the exemplars closely followed what happens in classrooms, when sometimes the actual learning outcomes vary from the intended outcomes.
Health education, physical education, and home economics
The rationales for selecting the exemplars are set out in more detail below. The titles of the exemplars are also listed according to the subject area in which they were developed to help teachers who may wish to refer to the exemplars in this way.
Although the exemplars can be usefully identified and discussed by subject area, it is important to remember:
- the underpinning philosophy of hauora, which is common to all three areas
- the shared aim to foster students' capacities in critical thinking
- that the learning approaches and strategies described in the exemplars can be applied across a broad range of learning contexts.
At every point in their planning and teaching, teachers are encouraged to consider the development of the concepts of the curriculum that are relevant for their students.
For example, the learning exemplified in the level 5 exemplar Positive Practicals: Personal Reflection, developed in a food and nutrition class, exemplifies an aspect of mental health. The level 3 exemplar Building a Positive School Community was developed specifically in the context of mental health. It describes the students and adults from the school's community contributing to a supportive environment through preparing and sharing a celebratory lunch, which could relate to learning contexts in food and nutrition.
Tī Rākau and Ngā Tauira Hīkoi, level 2 exemplars, illustrate how Māori contexts can provide a means through which skills related to physical activity can be developed alongside those related to mental health. It is important for students in Aotearoa New Zealand to have opportunities to experience Māori contexts and to recognise the importance of te reo Māori and tikanga Māori in these contexts.
The exemplars have not been listed by key areas of learning because the learning related to one often emerges through teaching in the context of another.
Learning contexts for the exemplars have been selected to provide examples of a range of personal attitudes, strategies, and skills, including:
- strategies for self-care, for care of others, and for caring for the environment
- critical-thinking skills (such as self-reflection and analysis) using a variety of approaches, for example, strategic play, the action learning cycle, the use of learning logs, and self-assessment journals
- confidence and positive attitudes towards accepting and meeting challenges
- an attitude of responsibility in self-management and decision making and of sharing responsibility with others when appropriate.
Exemplars have also been selected to show:
- students working together in small groups, sharing responsibilities for their own learning and that of others, for example in the level 5 exemplars Climb Away, Climb Safely, and Safety with Attitude.
- opportunities for students in groups to reflect on their learning, share their understanding with others, and construct group responses, for example, in the level 5 exemplar Hauora and My Life.
The exemplars for health education
- I Feel Angry – What Can I Do? (level 2)
- Understanding Growth (level 2)
- Building a Positive School Community (level 3)
- Hauora – Helping Us Grow (level 3)
- Understanding Loss and Helping Others (level 3)
- Crisis and Change (levels 3–4)
- Getting It Together (level 4)
- Hauora and My Life (level 5)
- Love and Relationships (level 5)
- Promoting a Healthy Body Image (level 5)
The health education exemplars provide evidence of how students can develop their understanding of hauora in a variety of learning contexts. The development of this understanding is the necessary foundation for further student learning across the curriculum.
Student learning in the mental health and sexuality education key areas of learning has been exemplified in a range of contexts and at different levels. The level 2 exemplar Understanding Growth provides evidence of learning at a level that can be challenging because students at this level (early primary) may not yet have developed the language skills needed to discuss this topic. The Love and Relationships exemplar (level 5) shows secondary students discussing aspects of a difficult topic: ending romantic relationships.
Supportive classroom settings
Students need to be encouraged to listen and respond sensitively to others' ideas and opinions.
Teachers need to be aware of the different feelings that students express verbally or indicate by non-verbal responses and to encourage their students to be supportive and non-judgmental of each other. Supportive attitudes and actions are evident in the level 3–4 exemplar Crisis and Change.
The exemplars for physical education
- P Is for Play (level 1)
- Ngā Tauira Hīkoi – Stepping Patterns (level 2)
- Tī Rākau (level 2)
- Water Rats (level 2)
- Responding to Challenge (level 3)
- Walking Safely in the Bush (level 3)
- Rescue Me (level 4)
- Weatherproof Me (level 4)
- Climb Away (level 5)
- Climb Safely (level 5)
- Safety with Attitude (level 5)
- Strategic Play (level 5)
The physical education exemplars are based on the principle that regular, enjoyable physical activity enhances the individual's hauora. These exemplars promote:
- play as a stimulus for developing effective motor skills
- enjoyment of and positive attitudes towards movement
- regular participation in activities involving movement.
It is important for students to gain skills appropriate to the New Zealand environment, such as outdoor pursuit skills (outdoor recreation activities such as rock climbing, abseiling, bushwalking, and kayaking), outdoor safety skills, and aquatic skills.
The exemplars for aspects of home economics
- Clean Hands (level 1)
- Sharing Food with Others (level 1)
- Media Messages about Nutrition (level 4)
- Teenage Tucker (level 4)
- Positive Practicals for Groups (level 5)
- Positive Practicals: Personal Reflection (level 5)
The student learning exemplified in home economics illustrates approaches that promote hauora for both the self and others. From curriculum level 1, food preparation activities able to be carried out safely in a non-specialist room can be used to develop students' skills in sharing, cooperation, being inclusive, and respecting the rights of others. For example, the level 5 exemplar Positive Practicals: Personal Reflection illustrates how Georgie is able to take part in a positive experience of food preparation and how the group respects her wish to say grace before they eat together.
Helping students to learn about and maintain basic hygiene, body care, and physical safety in relation to Food and Nutrition is essential. Although the two exemplars Clean Hands (level 1) and Sharing Food with Others (level 1) are pitched at a basic level, the core learning illustrated in them is fundamental and can be applied to address increasingly complex challenges.
The exemplified teaching also emphasises empowering students to develop personal strategies or to set goals, to help them meet the nutritional needs they have identified for themselves. For example, in the level 4 exemplar Teenage Tucker, Sophie is encouraged to think about the barriers and enablers that affect her food intake.
Teaching approaches
Action learning cycles are a frequently-used learning strategy in the health and physical education exemplars. Many activities that use the action learning cycle, or a version of it, can be found in books in The Curriculum in Action series, for example, Choice Food! Food and Nutrition: Years 7–8 and in Making Connections: Years 9–10. In these books, it is called the action plan approach. In its most simplified form, the essential elements of an action learning cycle are:
- understanding – gathering and evaluating information and deciding whether action is necessary
- planning – if action is necessary, setting associated goals, identifying factors that will make achieving the goals either easier or more difficult, and deciding on a course of action
- acting to overcome the barriers and achieve the goals
- reflecting on what happened.
An action learning cycle involving critical thinking and critical action empowers students to identify skills and strategies that help them begin taking positive action to apply these in different contexts.
At a higher level in these exemplars, students engage in the action competence learning process, which provides a framework that enables them to take individual or collective action. Action competence means the development of competencies (understandings and skills) that enable students to take critical action.
In the experiential learning cycle, students develop critical-thinking skills by reflecting on the activity they have experienced, examining the activity at a deeper level during the generalising and abstracting stage, and, in the transfer phase, beginning to apply the knowledge they have gained to the next activity or to their daily lives (see pages 29–31 of the year 11–13 The Curriculum in Action title Making Meaning: Making a Difference).
Other teaching approached underpinning the exemplars include:
- the cooperative learning model
- a critical-thinking model
- Hellison's model for developing personal and social responsibility in physical education.
Further information about the experiential learning cycle, the cooperative learning model, and the critical-thinking model, is available online at www.tki.org.nz/r/hpe/action_wellbeing/teach_approach_e.php or can be found in the Curriculum in Action titles Olympism: Attitudes and Values in Physical Education: Sport Studies: Years 5–7 and Attitudes and Values: Olympic Ideals in Physical Education: Sport Studies: Years 9–10. Information about Hellison's model is available online at www.tki.org.nz/r/health/sport_studies/approaches/index_e.php
How might the exemplars and matrices be used?
Teachers will use the health education, physical education, and home economics exemplars, and matrices of progress indicators in ways that optimise their teaching strengths and meet the needs of their students.
Teachers can use the exemplars and matrices to identify important features of student work to watch for, collect information about, and act on to support their students' progress in learning and achievement. Individually, or in syndicates or whole-school settings, teachers can use the exemplars and matrices to support their professional judgments about the quality of student work.
Some students may not be able to fully articulate the new learning that they can ably demonstrate. Teachers may find the exemplars and matrices useful in helping their students to identify, conceptualise, and explain their learning.
Teachers are also able to use the exemplars with their students to:
- set and illustrate expectations for student achievement at each level
- help students to undertake peer and self-assessment
- illustrate particular goals, techniques, practices, or development points.
The exemplars and matrices can be used in professional development to focus on assessment in health and physical education. They may also provide ideas or strategies for planning and teaching learning activities.
The exemplars and matrices may also be used to inform parents and board of trustee members about expectations and achievement in Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum.
What does each exemplar show?
The learning context
This section of each exemplar explains how the exemplified work was produced. It may refer to:
- the context in which the work was produced
- how the exemplified work links to the curriculum
- the teaching and learning sequence leading up to the exemplified work
- what the students knew or understood before the exemplified learning
- the subsequent learning needs of the students.
Where to next?
This section of an exemplar offers suggestions about one or more of the following:
- how to help the students progress to their next level of learning
- how to transfer the learning of particular skills and understandings to other contexts
- how to cover other aspects of the achievement objective where the progress indicator covers only a part of it
- how to develop the socio-ecological aspects of the learning, for example, by expanding one class's learning to the context of a whole-school exercise in the level 2 exemplar I Feel Angry – What Can I Do?
What the work shows
The student work samples include: pieces of writing, diagrams, and art work; transcribed conversations with the teacher or with other students; written or transcribed reflective commentaries; and sequences of actions, which are represented by still shots in the print exemplars and, more fully, by the video clips (also available on CD-ROM, and as a video).
The student work displayed and annotated in these exemplars is all drawn from longer units of work. The learning context section briefly describes the nature of that unit.
In several exemplars, coloured text has been used to indicate a connection between the progress indicator and the learning being exemplified. The coloured text has no other significance.
Students' original diagrams have been edited where necessary to remove copyrighted clip art. Some diagrams and written work have been redesigned for ease of reading. These graphic versions preserve the spelling and grammar from the students' original work.
The varied work samples each represent evidence of student learning reached at a key point, that is, evidence of what student learning looks like and sounds like at that point. This learning may be captured during practice or may be a final piece of work.
The importance of group processes in helping students to achieve a point of learning is demonstrated by some exemplars showing transcripts of interactions between students or video clips of several students contributing to the learning of the whole group or class. Other exemplars show individual students' work.
The annotations are based on the class teacher's observations of how their students' new understanding relates to the progress indicators. In some cases, the work is further annotated by the students' reflections on their own learning.
Teachers may want to share sections of the centre spread and back pages with their students. For example, the level 5 exemplar Promoting a Healthy Body Image provides several examples of the students' reflective commentaries on their bumper stickers and offers opportunities to compare and contrast these commentaries.
In many of the exemplars, video clips have been used to capture important sequences during the students' work over a period of time and also elements, such as movement, that cannot be displayed in a static image. Exemplars that contain video evidence of learning are indicated by a small video symbol beside the title on the first page.
The video clips may be shared with students as opportunities to reflect on their own learning in relation to what they see in the video. For example, the clips in Positive Practicals: Personal Reflection (level 5) demonstrate the learning achieved by Georgie's group, which could be transferred to the students' own learning contexts.
Teacher-student conversations
These conversations show teachers scaffolding student learning by asking good focus questions or drawing out the significance of what the student has said. The conversations are also used to show a process of learning and reflection.
The conversations are drawn from every stage of the work, including reflections on the learning that occurred some time after the main unit of work was completed. Exemplars at more senior levels include peer conversations in which students mentor each other's learning.
Accessing the health and physical education exemplars
The exemplar materials are available in the following formats: in print, online, and on CD-ROM. In addition, a video containing the video clips shown online and on the CD-ROM has been distributed to schools.
The home page for the New Zealand Curriculum Exemplars sets out all the exemplar materials, including those for health and physical education. There are online links to other essential materials, including relevant curriculum documents, and PDF formats for all the online exemplar materials.
The CD-ROM replicates the online materials and is designed to work in both Macintosh and Windows settings. Full instructions for loading are printed on the CD-ROM slick.
Additional help is available from the Ministry of Education ICT helpdesk: telephone 0800 CALL ICT (0800 225 542).
Safety guidelines in health and physical education
A 'safe physical and emotional environment for students' (National Administration Guideline 5 [i]) is essential in all schools. It is particularly important to health education, physical education, and home economics (See page 54 of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum).
Appropriate safety guidelines need to be in place well before a unit requiring them is taught and teachers and students need to refer back to these regularly.
Safety guidelines in the exemplars
Specific exemplars refer briefly, as appropriate, to safety guidelines. Where necessary, these exemplars also include suggested references and/or links to more extensive safety statements (see below). Teachers are encouraged to use the suggestions provided to develop their own work-related safety guidelines in conjunction with their students and to revise these guidelines in context as the year's work progresses.
Health education
Health education, in many schools, is the context in which students focus on developing and enhancing the skills and attitudes required for safe learning environments. Some of the exemplars illustrate how students are actively involved in developing a culture of inclusiveness.
Before certain kinds of lessons, teachers need to inform their students that sensitive personal experiences may be discussed and alert them to the likelihood that others will respond in various ways to these descriptions of experiences.
Schools must meet legislative requirements for biennial consultation on implementing the health curriculum (See page 39 of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum). As a courtesy, before they begin teaching particular units likely to involve discussion of sensitive topics, class teachers may need to inform parents of the purpose and content of their teaching and learning programme.
In health education, teachers may need to access additional support from parents or appropriate support groups when dealing with sensitive material.
Through professional development, teachers need to maintain their professional and personal preparedness for teaching health education.
Physical education
Safety guidelines for top-rope climbing
Before starting work focused on top-rope climbing in physical education, such as that described in the level 5 exemplars Climb Away, Climb Safely, and Safety with Attitude, schools need to have in place specific policies and procedures on developing, implementing, and reviewing safety management systems. Refer to Safety and EOTC: A Good Practice Guide for New Zealand Schools (Ministry of Education, 2002) for recommendations on developing and reviewing these policies and procedures and on developing safety management systems specific to each school's requirements.
Useful websites
Safety and EOTC: A Good Practice Guide for New Zealand Schools (Ministry of Education, 2002) can be found at: http://www.tki.org.nz/r/eotc/resources/safety_e.php
Outdoor Pursuits: Guidelines for Educators (Watts, 1996) outlines guidelines for best practice. A school that uses an outside provider of top-rope climbing education needs to check that these systems are in place.
Ensure that there are policies, procedures, and safety management systems specific to the gymnasium and to using and maintaining both the climbing wall and all the available climbing equipment. The use of all climbing equipment, particularly ropes and harnesses, should be recorded in detail in a log. Safety management policy should also include procedures to deal with such factors as long hair, loose clothing, and jewellery. If the school is using an outside provider's gymnasium facilities, climbing wall, or climbing equipment, check with the provider that these systems are in place.
Before delivering a unit in top-rope climbing, best practice is for teachers to have one of the following qualifications:
- New Zealand Outdoor Instructors Association (NZOIA) Indoor Climbing
- NZOIA Rock Climbing 1
- New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (NZMSC) Abseil 2 (This includes top-rope climbing).
Alternatively, to determine they have equivalent skills, knowledge, and experience, schools should seek advice from the NZOIA or NZMSC.
Safety guidelines for guided trips outdoors
Specific policies and procedures need to be in place in a school before teachers begin designing units of work involving outdoor education. These policies and procedures should be based on a safety management system for outdoor education, as outlined in section 4 of Safety and EOTC: A Good Practice Guide for New Zealand Schools (Ministry of Education, 2002).
Teachers taking students on guided trips in the outdoors should have the NZMSC Outdoor First Aid certificate and either the Education Outdoors New Zealand (EONZ) Outdoor 1 qualification or the NZMSC Outdoor Leader qualification. Alternatively, teachers should seek advice from the EONZ or NZMSC to find out whether they have the equivalent skills, knowledge, and experience.
Adults accompanying a class on an outdoor education trip need to be briefed on the safety management requirements and their roles and responsibilities. The appropriate ratio of competent supervisors to students needs to be decided after considering the factors listed in section 76 of Safety and EOTC: A Good Practice Guide for New Zealand Schools (Ministry of Education, 2002).
Teachers need to have a plan prepared for actions to take in case students do not have the appropriate gear.
Safety management (risk management)
In relation to the key area of learning Outdoor Education, Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum refers to 'planning strategies to evaluate and manage personal and group safety, challenge, and risk' . The achievement objectives for A3 (safety and risk management) refer to 'safety procedures', 'safe practices and basic risk-management strategies', 'safe choices', and 'safety procedures and strategies'. The generic term 'safety management' has replaced the term 'risk management', in outdoor education, to describe systems and strategies to identify, minimise, and manage risks before and during an outdoor-education activity.
Home economics
In home economics, students' learning about safety, particularly in relation to food, should be both explicit and implicit and underpin other important learning outcomes, such as learning about the foods of other cultures.
Teachers and students need to plan ways in which their learning environment, whether a regular classroom without specialist equipment or a purpose-built food preparation area, can provide for food safety.
Section 5 of Safety and Technology Education: A Guidance Manual for New Zealand Schools (Ministry of Education, 1998) provides useful information to guide schools' practice. This resource is available at www.tki.org.nz/r/technology/pdf/saftec.pdf
Reference
Watts, J., ed (1996). Outdoor Pursuits: Guidelines for Educators. Compiled by Education Outdoors New Zealand. Wellington: Hillary Commission for Sport, Fitness and Recreation.
Print version of the teachers' notes (PDF, 85 kb)
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