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Physical
Activity Programming: The new kid on
the block!
Friend,
foe, or just what we needed?
Written
by: Clive
Hickson, University of Alberta
In North America some school jurisdictions
have started to attend to the issue
of the rising occurrence of obesity
in children and youth by mandating that
schools provide daily physical activity
experiences. For example, in Canada
several Provinces (Alberta, British
Columbia, and Ontario) have stipulated
that schools are expected to engage
children and youth in physical activity
for set daily time requirements. This
move has also been followed in other
countries outside of North America,
such as Australia.
In acknowledging the importance of
opportunities for children and youth
to be physically active, NASPE (2010)
endorses physical activity by stating
that…
"…students need physical
activity opportunities throughout the
school day to meet the recommended minimum
requirements of at least 60 minutes
of physical activity each day."
However, NASPE does suggest that it
is critical that such programming must
not replace physical education programming.
"These physical activity opportunities
are not to take the place of physical
education, but rather supplement physical
activity time accumulated during physical
education class, and use the skills
and knowledge learned in physical education
to successfully be physically active."
It can be argued that it is this kind
of distinction that needs to be remembered
as more physical activity programming
finds its way into our school environments.
However, there can be confusion among
professionals in the field, as well
as by media and the general public regarding
the similarities, differences, and interplay
between physical education and physical
activity. In fact, many documents use
the terms interchangeably; however,
upon examination they are clearly not
the same.
The implications of this have the potential
to negatively impact the way physical
education is viewed and delivered. Therefore,
it is critical that we can identify
the similarities and differences between
physical activity and physical education
and help provide an understanding of
why we need to have quality daily physical
education in all schools. While this
is a most important issue to ensure
that we are all cognizant of and attending
to, I am starting to also wonder if
this can also be viewed as a “wake-up
call” to us all. Spending time
arguing over the differences or connecting
the two programs has its place; however,
perhaps time would be better spent ensuring
our programs are so beneficial to children
that they attend to the reasons why
physical activity programs were thought
of and implemented in the first place.
If educational jurisdictions are prepared
to provide daily physical activity experiences,
surely we can argue and promote the
notion that daily physical education
programming can serve the same purpose.
However, we will need to ensure that
our programs do serve the same purpose
and achieve the goals that are set out
by physical activity programming. So,
here are a few things that we can all
do to ensure physical education remains
an important part of a child’s
life at school…
If we really want to promote healthy
active lifestyles for our students,
we might need to reflect on the kinds
of physical education experiences that
we are providing each day in our schools.
As we all know, activities where children
are eliminated or left standing and
watching others participate are not
going to encourage others to support
our programs and ensure that qualified
professionals are hired to run our programs.
We need to encourage the use of developmentally
appropriate activities that are inclusive
of all children.
We need to critically consider and
examine the physical education programs
that we follow, the lessons that we
provide, and what we are teaching our
students on a daily basis. Are our lessons
promoting health and encouraging children
to follow a healthy lifestyle? If not,
our programs run the risk of being replaced
by physical activity programming that
can be easily delivered by outside agencies.
For example, we might need to reflect
on whether our programs truly benefit
a child’s cardio-vascular system,
and if we are attending to the health
needs of all of our students. Are children
involved in physical activity experiences
that are of a moderate to vigorous level?
Are all the children active in our lessons?
Also, do our programs provide children
with activities that can significantly
increase bone density and the hope of
promoting life-long activity to prevent
osteoporosis? By providing developmentally
appropriate weight bearing activities
for the whole body, we can do much to
offset this debilitating illness. Are
our programs purposely planned to achieve
these outcomes and others that address
the health of children and youth? This
is an important question for all of
us to consider.
Greater consideration might well be
necessary for the resources and facilities
that are available in our communities.
By aligning our programs with these
resources and facilities, we can try
to provide children with the knowledge,
skills, and attitudes necessary for
them to be active outside of our programs.
This might cause us to have to re-think
what we teach in our programs. Programs
that are dominated by sports or game
activities may well not foster the kind
of activity levels that we hope for
from children outside of our schools.
As registration in traditional sports
continues to decline in communities
(also an expense that is beyond some
families) and children are becoming
more interested in non-traditional kinds
of physical activities, perhaps we need
to turn our attention to other areas
such as activities that are more individualistic
or unique in nature. For example, the
increasing number of birthday parties
held at indoor climbing facilities is
something for us all to ponder and consider,
as is the level of interest of children
in the Ga-ga game in various regions
of North America.
We might check our comfort level in
teaching the range of activities found
in our physical education curriculum.
It can easily be argued that, at best,
children are provided with a small exposure
to dance activities; at worst, it is
an area that is often ignored in the
scope of our programming. However, “Dance,
Dance Revolution” clearly illustrates
that children love to move to external
stimuli, and television shows such as
“So You think You Can Dance”
remain extremely popular. How often
do we stare in amazement at grandparents
dancing at weddings or other social
functions, and admire the manner that
they move gracefully around the dance
floor? Yet dance continues to be a poor
relative in the physical education family
when considered next to areas such as
games. Perhaps this is another question
that we need to consider.
As the issues of inactive lifestyles
and poor dietary eating habits continue
to grab our attention in news headlines
and magazine articles, we need to ensure
that children and youth develop the
knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary
for participating in active healthy
living. This is the role
of school physical education.
In other words, our children and youth
need to be physically educated
so they will be physically
active throughout their
lives (Fishburne
and Hickson, 2005). In doing
so, we can suggest that children and
youth have the opportunity to become
physically literate. They have the knowledge
of why being physically active and healthy
is so important in their lives, the
skills to be physically active, and
a positive attitude toward physical
activity.
Physical education programs that do
not provide students with the knowledge,
skills, and attitudes to lead healthy,
active lifestyles will not achieve the
accolades and benefits that we all hope
for and presume will occur. If we are
to be a major influence in determining
the well-being of the next generation,
the questions raised here and many others
are essential for us to consider and
to pose to other professionals in our
staff rooms or hallways. It is only
then that we can truly say that we are
meeting the needs of our students and
playing an influential part in their
health.
References
Fishburne,
G. & Hickson, C. (2005). What
is the Relationship between Physical
Education and Physical Activity?
Retrieved electronically January 27th,
2010 from http://www.cahperd.ca/eng/advocacy/issue_summary.cfm?id=6
NASPE (2010).
Comprehensive School Physical Activity
Programs. Retrieved electronically
January 27th, 2010 from http://www.aahperd.org/naspe/standards/upload/Comprehensive-School-Physical-Activity-Programs2-2008.pdf
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