Development of the Curriculum Statement

Policy Specifications for a National Curriculum Statement in Health and Physical Education

The following policy specifications provided direction to the contracted writers of the statement Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum.

Print version of these specifications (pdf 21k)

Introduction

1. A national curriculum statement is to be prepared for the Health and Physical Well-being essential learning area. The national curriculum statement which forms the core of the Health and Physical Well-being learning area is to named Health and Physical Education.
   
   
2. The foundation for the curriculum statement is described in The New Zealand Curriculum Framework (1993). The new curriculum statement also builds on the relevant existing syllabi, namely Physical Education Syllabus for Junior Classes to Form 7 (1987) and Syllabus for Schools, Health Education in Primary and Secondary Schools (1985), as well as aspects of the syllabus for schools, Home Economics Forms 1-4 (1985).
   
   
3. The Health and Physical Education curriculum makes an important contribution to students' health and development. "Health is vitally important for personal and social well-being and achievement. It encompasses the physical, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual dimensions of a person's growth" ("The New Zealand Curriculum Framework", 1993, p 16). Throughout this document the word "health" is used in this wide sense. A healthy person will be active in all of these dimensions.
   
   
4. This essential learning area encompasses integrated learning processes which inform, extend and critique practices that promote health, development and well-being of individuals and groups who live in a changing world.
   
   
5. The Health and Physical Education curriculum provides a basis for students to learn the essential skills, understandings, attitudes and values that enable them to make responsible, informed decisions about personal and community health, both now and in the future.
   
   
6. The Health and Physical Education curriculum will have a health promotion orientation which will include the development of supportive policies, positive models of good health, the development of physical skills, personal skills and responsibilities and the creation of safe physical and emotional environments.

Structure of the curriculum statement

7. The aims of the Health and Physical Education curriculum are to enable students to:
   • develop understandings, skills and attitudes for personal health and physical development;
   • develop motor skills and kinaesthetic awareness through movement, acquire knowledge and understandings about movement, and develop positive attitudes to physical education and physical activity;
   • develop understandings, skills and attitudes to enhance interactions and relationships with others;
   • participate in creating healthy communities and environments by taking responsible and critical action.

8. The four general aims lead directly to four strands of learning:
   1. developing and maintaining personal health and physical development;
   2. developing motor and movement skills;
   3. enhancing interactions and relationships with others;
   4. creating healthy communities and environments.

9. At each level the objectives, sample learning and assessment activities across all strands will reflect a comprehensive view of health and movement. Internationally, the philosophy of a healthy lifestyle incorporates either explicitly or implicitly various dimensions: physical, social, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. A broad and balanced programme will incorporate all these dimensions, although there will be varying degrees of emphasis for individual elements. The notion of interaction between all dimensions should be coherently and consistently applied throughout the statement.
   
   
10. This approach is consistent with a Māori philosophy of health which incorporates Taha Wairua; Taha Hinengaro; Taha Tinana, and Taha Whānau.
    
    
11. The scope and depth of skills and understandings developed through the strands will provide sufficient background for any student who has achieved at level five in Health and Physical Education to undertake separate study from level six in such areas as health, physical education and/or home economics or any other health and movement-related specialist study.
    
    
12. In developing the curriculum statement, the contractor should ensure there is a suitable balance between heath education and physical education components, and between present and future requirements to establish and maintain patterns of active healthy living.
    

13. The four strands of learning provide a structure for the content. Within the integrated approach unique to this area, three broad overlapping contexts further overlay the main strands (in a three-dimensional model similar to that of the national curriculum statement Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum). The suggested contexts are:
    • dimensions of health;
    • safety, challenges and risks;
    • physical activity.
    
    
14. Each of these contexts can provide further specific contexts for exploration. For example, within the dimensions of health, disability, ageing and puberty could be included.
    
    
15. The sample learning and assessment activities must demonstrate the way in which the strands and contexts are inextricably linked.

16. Programmes based on the Health and Physical Education curriculum statement will contribute to the development of the essential skills identified in the New Zealand Curriculum Framework (1993, pp.17-20).
    
    
17. Processes and skills regarded as particularly important to be developed through the objectives of the Health and Physical Education curriculum are: physical skills; self-management and competitive skills; communication skills; problem solving skills; and social and cooperative skills.
    
    
18. An early task in the contract will be for the contractor to indicate how the most relevant skills for this area of learning are to be explicated.
    
    
19. The curriculum statement will describe sequentially developed physical, personal, interpersonal and process skills (and associated knowledge) across the four strands. The statement should be responsive to the need to equip students with the relevant skills and attitudes which enable them to react constructively to challenge and change, stress and conflict, competition, and success and failure.
    
    
20. Throughout the statement there will be appropriate emphasis given to developing skills and knowledge through both student-centred, interactive, and cooperative learning strategies. This emphasis is consistent with previously developed national curriculum statements.
    
    

21. The value people place on health, recreation, sport and well-being is obviously central to a range of related attitudes and patterns of behaviour. Like all curriculum areas, this area of learning is not value-free. The values, attitudes and beliefs held by students and society can act positively or negatively in regard to developing and maintaining health behaviours. The attitudes students hold will reflect their previous learning and experiences.
    
    
22. The curriculum statement should provide opportunities to promote attitudes that enable students to develop a cohesive and consistent value base, while recognising the changing nature of values. Many of the attitudes and values described in the New Zealand Curriculum Framework (p 21) are relevant to this area of learning. An early task in the contract is for the contractor to provide advice on the attitudes and values that this learning area should foster.
    
    
23. Students should be exposed to experiences which foster the development of attitudes and values which endorse health-enhancing practices and positive attitudes to physical activity.
    
    
24. Assessment of attitudes is a valid means of programme evaluation for this area of learning, providing the measures used are suitable, reliable and consistent. However, students should not be assessed on the beliefs or values they hold.
    
    

25. Each of the four strands is to be subdivided into eight levels of achievement objective, catering for the learning range typical of junior primary children to 7th formers. The statements, Mathematics in the New Zealand Curriculum (1992); Science in the New Zealand Curriculum (1993); English in the New Zealand Curriculum (1994); and the draft, Technology in the New Zealand Curriculum (1994) should provide appropriate models for the structure of the documents.
    
    
26. Students will be working towards the achievement objectives over a period of time, and through a range of learning contexts and activities. The achievement objectives and the learning activities should not be seen as providing a rigid structure. Rather, it should be recognised that students will approach learning with different levels of achievement, individual needs, and different learning styles. These must be considered when developing sample achievement objectives and learning activities and associated assessment procedures.
    
    

27. In each strand and at each level, the achievement objectives will be accompanied by sample learning activities which will be designed to help students to achieve the objectives, and also activities which teachers could use to assess the objectives. The activities described will be descriptive rather than prescriptive, will exemplify very good practice, and will be well grounded in research about effective teaching and learning.
    
    
28. The learning experiences and activities will reflect a commitment to student-centred learning. Student-centred learning requires teachers to accurately assess the knowledge, attitudes, values and learning needs of students, as the first step in helping them achieve the objectives and goals identified in the curriculum.
    
    

29. The intention of the levels structure is that teachers and parents will have a clearer idea of how students' knowledge and understanding is progressing. The assessment examples will be demonstrated across all strands and contexts.
    
    
30. The primary purpose of the assessment examples devised for Health and Physical Education is to improve student learning (NZCF, 1993, p 24). The assessment examples will indicate the close relationship between learning, teaching and assessment. The examples should be based on the assessment principles outlined in Assessment Policy to Practice (1994, p 28). Health and Physical Education offers opportunities to use ongoing self-assessment and peer assessment. Methods of involving parents and caregivers in assessment processes also need to be considered.
    
    

31. The learning approaches in the curriculum statement will build on the best of current practice in New Zealand classrooms. The development of the achievement objectives will be based on the observations of leading teachers and educational researchers familiar with the ways in which children learn, effective teaching practice, and productive approaches to health and movement education.
    
    
32. Learning outcomes will be more likely to be achieved if some important approaches to Health and Physical Education are taken into account. The achievement objectives, sample learning activities and assessment examples should enable teachers to:
    • look anew at this area;
    • identify the specific health and movement needs of students;
    • provide students with a diversity of movement experiences;
    • foster student involvement in, and appreciation of, physical activity and sport;
    • recognise the special place of Māori in New Zealand;
    • recognise the diversity of cultures, experiences, home backgrounds, orientations and values that students bring to their learning;
    • develop programmes that are culturally responsive, gender-inclusive, and capable of engaging all students;
    • recognise the special needs of students with different abilities and disabilities. For example, the particular needs of gifted and talented students need to be recognised;
    • become involved in the development of policies and practices that create healthy communities and environments in schools;
    • encourage the involvement of parents, caregivers and others in the community in activities which reinforce and give consistency to the messages that students receive at school through Health and Physical Education.
      
      

33. The success of the Health and Physical Education curriculum statement will depend on consistency between policies, practices, and programmes within the school.
    
    
34. The national curriculum statement in Health and Physical Education should demonstrate continuity between primary and secondary school programmes.
    
    
35. The national curriculum statement in Health and Physical Education should be designed in such a way as to best encourage the delivery of programmes by classroom teachers.
    
    
36. The curriculum statement must be applicable in a range of learning contexts. It should be flexible enough to enable teachers in different educational settings to be able to develop classroom programmes that meet the needs of their students.
    
    
37. The curriculum statement should reflect the importance of mental health issues.
    
    
38. When developing learning activities recognition of the financial costs to schools should be considered. For example the contractor should bear in mind costs of activities incorporated within Education Outside the Classroom programmes.
    
    

39. The curriculum statement must take account of the requirement for schools to consult parents about health education at least every two years (section 105C of the 1985 amendment to the 1964 Education Act). Consultation with staff, parents and others in the community provides a valuable means of gaining agreement on the needs of students and the objectives of school programmes, and can help to avoid double standards.
    
    
40. The curriculum statement must also take into account existing legislation regarding sex education (section 105D). An early task in the contract will be to consult about age-appropriate learning in sexuality education, and to provide advice on whether sexuality education should be available in lower levels than at present (forms 1-2).

41. To ensure delivery of a broad and balanced curriculum, the essential learning area of Health and Physical Well-being should receive equal emphasis with the other six essential learning areas up to year 10.
    
    
42. The curriculum statement in Health and Physical Education is to assist teachers and students to make links between the unique learning that takes place within this learning area and the learning that occurs in the other essential learning areas.
    
    

43. The Health and Physical Education national curriculum statement will form a compulsory core for the essential learning area up until the end of year 10 (form four).
    
    
44. The Health and Physical Education national curriculum statement may continue to be studied until the end of year 13. Some students will continue with Health and Physical Education; some will study specialist options such as health education, home economics, physical education; and others may do both.