Development of the Curriculum Statement

Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum

July 1999

Contents
Introduction
What does it mean to be healthy?
What do we want students to know, understand and do?
How can you help your child at home?

This online issue of what's new? looks at the new national curriculum statement, Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum.

It will show you:

• what is in the health and physical education curriculum;
• what it means to be healthy;
• what health and physical education issues are facing our students;
• how you can be involved in health and physical education programmes at school;
• how you can help your child.

The New Zealand Curriculum Framework has seven essential learning areas. One of these areas is Health and Physical Well-being. Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum is the core curriculum statement for this essential learning area.

Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum encourages students to develop the understandings, knowledge, skills, and attitudes they need to live healthy lifestyles and to contribute positively and responsibly to the well-being of other people and to their communities.

If we nurture the health, hopes, and skills of young people, their potential to improve the world is unbounded.

Dr Lloyd Kolbe, Chairman, WHO

Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum was published in February 1999 to replace the physical education, health education, and home economics syllabuses written in the 1980s. Schools are now beginning to implement this new curriculum, and all health education and physical education teaching will be based on it by the year 2001.

A draft health and physical education statement (Hauora) for schools teaching in the Māori language will be published next year.

Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum is compulsory for all students from year 1 (junior primary) to year 10 (form four). In the senior secondary school years (years 11–13), the curriculum sets the basis for qualifications and provides opportunities for students to specialise in aspects of health, physical education, and home economics.

What does it mean to be healthy?

At the turn of the century, ideas about well-being were closely linked to sanitation and a belief that the main requirement for a healthy lifestyle was to have hygienic living conditions. In the 1950s and 1960s, the ways people behaved, physical fitness, and advances in medicine were considered to be the main contributing factors to good health.

Now, in the 1990s, our ideas about well-being are broader, and our approach to health and physical education is more holistic. Our understandings about health encompass not only physical well-being but also mental and emotional, social, and spiritual well-being. We also acknowledge that other people, the society in which we live, and the environment all have an impact on our health and well-being. This thinking is at the heart of the new curriculum.

In Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum, well-being (hauora) has four dimensions:

These dimensions influence and support each other, a bit like the walls of a house. For example, a student who is having social difficulties may also end up becoming physically or emotionally ill, which may, in turn, affect their other learning at school.

What are some current health and physical education issues?

Changes in New Zealanders' lifestyles, work, and leisure patterns have had a significant impact on the health and well-being of our young people. Concerns about such issues as the increasing rates of youth suicide, drug-related suspensions of school students, patterns of decreasing physical activity, our high abortion rate, bullying in schools, and violence in sport were addressed during the development of Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum.

Schools can play a role in addressing these issues but not by themselves; the whole community needs to work together. Each of us can make a difference by helping to create a healthier classroom, school, or community.

What do we want students to know, understand, and do?

Within the framework of the curriculum, there are seven key areas of learning that reflect and address the learning needs of New Zealand students. These key areas must be included in health and physical education programmes in both primary and secondary schools. They are:

• Mental Health
• Sexuality Education
• Food and Nutrition
• Body Care and Physical Safety
• Physical Activity
• Sport Studies
• Outdoor Education

How can you be involved in health and physical education programmes at your school?

While Health and Physical Education in the New Zealand Curriculum sets the broad direction for learning in this curriculum area, it is up to schools and their communities to think about the health and physical education learning needs of their students and to design programmes that will make a difference to their well-being and the well-being of their communities.

To make sure that parents are involved in the development of school health education programmes, principals must, by law, consult with parents and caregivers about the heath education programmes in the school. About every two years, your school will send information home to you about the health programme that it proposes to implement in the following two years. Most schools will then organise a meeting, a hui, or some other opportunity for you to ask questions and express your views about this programme.

How can you help your child at home?

You are the best and most effective teacher of health and physical education that your child can have. Everything you do provides an example for your child. If we want our young people to take care of their personal health, to enjoy physical activity, and to care about other people, then these are the things we need to show them in our own actions.

Here are some ways in which you could help your son or daughter to make health-enhancing decisions.