EDITORIAL

Eggs and Chickens: What's Fresh and Foul in Physical Education?

Every three years the world of US physical education teacher education (PETE) pauses to reflect. And so last month close to 450 professional colleagues gathered in Las Vegas to contemplate things good and bad in physical education. Hardly a location epitomizing healthy and active living, the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino nonetheless successfully served as a comfortable venue for four days of professional discussion and debate.

Catching up on what's happening in the future started the event with another PE 2020 forum. A packed audience of early-bird attendees gathered for 4 hours of speculating on what physical educators might expect in both the immediate and long term future. In 2011, NASPE's PE 2020 initiative attracted close to 2000 visionary essays from people imagining how PE might look in the year's ahead. Following the San Diego convention five areas were identified to focus on, and Vegas gave attendees the chance to discuss progress to date and ways to continue forward thinking and planning.

Among several of the ideas that emerged was a suggestion that the imminent arrival of the year 2020 didn't give us much time to plan our professional future. Instead of a planned and purposeful future's approach, we tend instead to be reactive and opportunistic. Rather than being guided by a carefully deliberated and intentional plan, we find ourselves looking for ways to integrate new gadgets and games into our programs. Acting this way, we are absolving responsibility for our future and letting it be directed by outsiders who are motivated to serve their own best interests rather than ours.

Of course thinking for the long-term brings a different set of problems. It's easy to assume that physical education has an assured place in tomorrow's schools. The accelerating, and in many ways, unpredictable changes taking place in today's world make this assumption unwise. Public schools are going to change much faster than most of us expect. They have to. America is fast losing traction as the dominant global leader. Our children must be better prepared with 21st century skills and knowledge. How will physical education fit into this new landscape? That's a question that demands much more of our attention.

The good news is that in any future world, children will need to be physically educated. They'll need the skills and knowledge that'll prepare them to lead healthy and active lives. But agreeing on this is the easy part. Sadly, after more than a century of trying we still can't seem to agree on what physical education is and is not, and today it's becoming even murkier. For a half century or more we've debated whether physical education should be an education of or through the physical. Should we be focusing exclusively on the body, or emphasizing social, emotional, and cognitive benefits?

If that wasn't confusing enough, attendees at the PETE conference were repeatedly confronted with a new conundrum: Should physical education's purpose be to contribute to physical activity, or is physical activity the way we help people become physically educated? While there are good arguments for both viewpoints, if we can't agree on what we're trying to do, what chance do we have explaining it to others?! It should come as no surprise that amid the confusion we "don’t get no respect."

Reflecting the perspective of many future thinkers, a lot of attention at the PETE conference focused on getting physical educators involved in physical activity promotion outside of scheduled "gym classes." Let's Move in School (LMIS), Comprehensive School Physical Activity Programs (CSPAPS), and a certification program for PE teachers to qualify as Directors of Physical Activity (DPA) were discussed in numerous presentations. What these all have in common aligns with one of the pe2020 themes: Developing community connections. Clearly physical education classes alone cannot significantly improve children's health. The negative impact of sedentary living and unhealthy eating can't be overcome without a much more concerted lifestyle changing focus.

At least two aspects of the aforementioned programs are worthy of reflection. First, each initiative recognizes the necessity of expanding opportunities for children to be physically active within and outside the school day. Second, and from a professional perspective significant, they challenge us to step back and to consider redefining the role of the public school physical educator. If you think about this, these are potentially profession-changing proposals. If this trend persists, what might it mean for physical education teacher education and for public school physical education teaching?

In anticipation of an avalanche of "We are busy enough and don't have time for additional responsibilities" reader comments, what it doesn't mean is that public school physical educators in the future should be expected to work harder and for longer hours. That's an easy misperception and handy ammunition for those who'd resist considering any role-changing scenario. Better to think of it instead as a new job with new expectations.

Of course transitioning into a new role would necessitate careful thought about how it might work, and how future physical educators would need to develop a different skill set from today. This switch would have repercussions both for public school staffing and also for physical education teacher education. It wouldn't be easy. But then neither is it going to be easy to solve worsening children's health and avoiding the expensive and frightening consequences. What we can probably all agree upon is that doing things the way we are currently doing them is guaranteed not to bring different results.

What an interesting time this is for our profession. Accelerating health care costs are fast driving the nation to a fiscal catastrophe. Our professional association is in transition to some yet-to-be determined new structure with a still undecided mission. Children's health promoting organizations are increasingly encroaching into what we've long considered our unique territory: America's public schools. And encountering the perfect storm of a national economic meltdown and rising academic expectations, school boards and school administrators show little reluctance to cut physical education programs and positions.

"What's in our professional future?" is a question well worth ongoing and focused deliberation.

Steve Jefferies, publisher pelinks4u

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