Health and Physical Education
Introduction
The Health and Physical Education domain provides students with knowledge, skills and behaviours to enable them to achieve a degree of autonomy in developing and maintaining their physical, mental, social and emotional health. This domain focuses on the importance of a healthy lifestyle and physical activity in the lives of individuals and groups in our society.
This domain is unique in having the potential to impact on the physical, social, emotional and mental health of students. It promotes the potential for lifelong participation in physical activity through the development of motor skills and movement competence, health-related physical fitness and sport education.
Engaging in physical activity, games, sport and outdoor recreation contributes to a sense of community and social connectedness. These are vital components of improved wellbeing.
Students’ involvement in physical activity can take many forms, ranging from individual, non-competitive activity through to competitive team games. Emphasis is placed on combining motor skills and tactical knowledge to improve individual and team performance. Students progress from the development of basic motor skills to the performance of complex movement patterns that form part of team games. They learn how developing physical capacity in areas such as strength, flexibility and endurance is related to both fitness and physical performance.
Students progress from learning simple rules and procedures to enable them to participate in movement and physical activity safely, to using equipment safely and confidently. Students undertake a variety of roles when participating in sports such as umpire, coach, player and administrator and assume responsibility for the organisation of aspects of a sporting competition.
This domain explores the developmental changes that occur throughout the human lifespan. It begins by identifying the health needs necessary to promote and maintain growth and development, followed by discussion of significant transitions across the lifespan including puberty, to gaining an understanding of human sexuality and factors that influence its expression. The exploration of human development also includes a focus on the establishment of personal identity, factors that shape identity and the validity of stereotypes.
Students develop an understanding of the right to be safe and explore the concepts of challenge, risk and safety. They identify the harms associated with particular situations and behaviours and how to take action to minimise these harms.
Through the provision of health knowledge, this domain develops an understanding of the importance of personal and community actions in promoting health and knowledge about the factors that promote and protect the physical, social, mental and emotional health of individuals, families and communities. Students investigate issues ranging from individual lifestyle choices to provision of health services by both government and non-government bodies. In investigating these issues, they explore differing perspectives and develop informed positions.
This domain examines the role of food in meeting dietary needs and the factors that influence food choice. Students progress from learning about the importance of eating a variety of foods to understanding the role of a healthy diet in the prevention of disease.
The Health and Physical Education domain provides students with the knowledge, skills and behaviours necessary for the pursuit of lifelong involvement in physical activity, health and wellbeing.
Structure of the domain
The Health and Physical Education domain is organised into six sections, one for each level of achievement from Level 1 to Level 6. Each level includes a learning focus statement and a set of standards organised by dimension.
Learning focus
Learning focus statements are written for each level. These outline the learning that students need to focus on if they are to progress in the domain and achieve the standards at the levels where they apply. They suggest appropriate learning experiences from which teachers can draw to develop relevant teaching and learning activities.
Standards
Standards define what students should know and be able to do at different levels and are written for each dimension. In Health and Physical Education, standards for assessing and reporting on student achievement apply from Level 1.
Dimensions
Standards in the Health and Physical Education domain are organised in two dimensions.
- Movement and physical activity – from Level 1
- Health knowledge and promotion – from Level 3.
Movement and physical activity
The Movement and physical activity dimension focuses on the important role that physical activity, sport and recreation need to play in the lives of all Australians by providing opportunities for challenge, personal growth, enjoyment and fitness. It promotes involvement in a manner that reflects awareness that everyone has the right to participate in a healthy and active lifestyle. It develops students’ confidence in using movement skills and strategies to increase their motivation to become active as well as improve their performance and maintain a level of fitness that allows them to participate in physical activity without undue fatigue. It builds understanding of how training and exercise in areas such as strength, flexibility and endurance relate to physical performance.
Health knowledge and promotion
The Health knowledge and promotion dimension examines physical, social, emotional and mental health and personal development across various stages of the lifespan. It focuses on safety and the identification of strategies to minimise harms associated with particular situations or behaviours. Students examine the promotion of health of individuals and the community through the use of specific strategies and the provision of health resources, services and products. They examine the factors that influence food selection and the role of nutrition on health growth and development.
Stages of learning
The VELS take account of the developmental stages of learning young people experience at school. While student learning is a continuum and different students develop at different rates, they broadly progress through three stages of learning. General statements about characteristics of learners in these three stages are available at Stages of learning.
The following statements describe ways in which these characteristics relate to learning experiences and standards in each of the three stages of learning in the Health and Physical Education domain.
Years Prep to 4 – Laying the foundations
Students in the early years of schooling experience steady growth; they generally have abundant energy and a sense of adventure. During most of this period there is little difference between boys and girls in height, weight, strength and speed.
Learning in Health and Physical Education lays the foundations for the development of fundamental or basic motor skills that will assist students to participate in physical activity and in a healthy and active lifestyle. Knowledge, skills and behaviours developed in this stage form the basis for future learning, and contribute to a student’s physical, social, emotional and cognitive development and wellbeing.
During this stage, students begin to develop basic motor skills and movement patterns, including locomotor and manipulative skills, in a range of movement environments (indoor, outdoor and aquatic). The development of basic motor skills is critical and lays the foundation for future participation in physical activity. Although play has an important role in the contribution to a student’s social, emotional and cognitive growth, evidence suggests that playing games is not an effective method for the development of basic motor skills. Teachers should aim to teach for skill mastery rather than just skill awareness. This requires direct teaching of the components of basic motor skills. While attempting to engage students in physical activity through participation in organised games, teachers need to be mindful that the focus of games at this stage should be on specific skill development.
At the beginning of this stage, students develop basic motor skills such as running, hopping, jumping, skipping, catching, throwing, kicking, rolling, balancing, twisting and turning. Later they develop the capacity to link these skills into more complex and coordinated movement sequences. Towards the end of this stage of learning, students develop increasingly complex motor skills and begin to apply these to appropriately modified games and sport-specific settings. Students will also begin to use basic tactics in appropriately modified games and sport-specific situations, and apply their increasing knowledge of rules to keep games and activities safe.
Students use their newly developed skills while regularly participating in moderate to vigorous activities as part of an active and healthy life. They begin to form understandings about the links between physical activity and health. They also learn that they need energy to maintain their activity levels.
Through participation in physical activity, students develop their movement vocabulary, including motor terms and ways of describing the physical responses of their bodies to movement and feelings associated with participation in physical activity.
Students in the early years of schooling tend to understand the world by linking new concepts to their own experiences. Their initial exploration of the meaning of health is through their own experiences at home and at school, which provide concrete examples of relationships, food, physical activity, safety, care, illness and changes associated with the transition from home to school.
As students grow and develop, they become more aware of the broader world – of others’ views and perspectives, how people differ, and the physical and social environments in which they live, learn and play. They become more skilled at observing what makes familiar environments safe or unsafe and healthy or unhealthy. Their increasing capacity to question allows them to consider how they would respond to different scenarios where their health or safety could be threatened.
Students’ increasing attention span, recognition of aspects of the world outside themselves and continuing intellectual curiosity makes them more reflective and able to set their experiences within the broader family and community context. For example, they learn about influences on their choices and actions related to health and physical activity, how they promote feelings of self worth in others, and the characteristics and needs of people at different stages of the human lifespan.
Years 5 to 8 – Building breadth and depth
During this stage of learning, students begin to develop more complex thinking skills and can apply more abstract thinking strategies to their learning.
Students in these years of schooling are experiencing rapid personal change, including physical growth, emotional and social development, and sexual development associated with puberty. The different rates at which individuals develop is also a major issue.
The development associated with puberty affects students’ involvement in physical activity. Their increasing strength, coordination and control allows them to develop and refine locomotor and manipulative skills through practise and rehearsal, so that they can participate effectively in games, activities and sports. At this stage, students refine basic and complex motor skills and apply them to increasingly complex games, activities and sport-specific situations. Students participate in outdoor adventure activities in natural environments, which develop skills, knowledge and behaviours to enhance and promote safety. They use skills such as strategic thinking to solve real-life problems to improve game performance.
Students learn skills such as monitoring intensity during exercise, which help them maintain health-enhancing levels of physical activity. They participate regularly in moderate to vigorous physical activity and explore factors that influence participation.
Their social development helps facilitate cooperation, communication, planning and team development in sports and games, and they consider how these factors can influence participation and performance. They favour working with their peers during learning activities to improve performance, and develop skills in providing constructive feedback to a partner based on performance criteria. They also monitor and analyse their own performance.
Students at this stage acquire descriptive and analytical skills for discussing roles and rules in competitive sports. They undertake a variety of roles in team games, including player, coach, umpire and administrator. They reflect on their experiences and develop an awareness of the responsibilities that accompany leadership roles.
Students at this stage are experiencing significant physical, social and emotional changes associated with puberty. The changes associated with puberty usually occur between the ages of 10 and 14 years. For a few, puberty may begin as early as 8 or 9 years and for others it may be much later. The Health knowledge and promotion dimension takes into consideration the intense developmental changes that students may experience at this stage. As students increasingly differentiate themselves from their peers, they reflect on the commonly asked question, ‘Am I normal?’.
Students’ increasing recognition of belonging to a peer group parallels their developing sense of self. They explore how they define their own identity and that of others, including looking at beliefs and generalisations associated with characteristics such as gender, race and religion. They discuss the validity of such classifications. At this stage, they use problem-solving strategies relevant to the health interests and needs of young people, such as issues associated with sexual health and drug use. They discuss and evaluate strategies to minimise harm and protect their own and others’ health.
They increasingly identify with groups and communities outside the family, which provides a context for studying the range of peers and social influences on their health-related behaviours, learning about establishing and maintaining relationships and considering views of what is right/wrong, good/bad, acceptable/unacceptable. They begin to see themselves as members of larger communities and to consider factors that affect their own and others’ ability to access and use health information, products and services within their local area.
Students regularly engage with new subject matter; for example, discovering the range of influences on food and the importance of nutritional requirements for growth and activity at different stages of life. Accordingly, they learn how to set nutritional goals using food-selection models.
Years 9 to 10 – Developing pathways
Students engage in authentic and personally meaningful activities that assist in developing pathways for their future. They explore how their learning links to the world around them and applies to specific situations. Importantly, students become more focused on how their learning relates to their personal future.
Students’ increasing strength and development allows for greater control and skill in physical activity. Students develop proficiency in a range of high-level movement and manipulative skills; for example, combining several skills simultaneously, devising and employing tactics and strategies to counter tactical challenges. Their increasing skills in planning, observation and analysis allow them to develop and evaluate ways of refining techniques and enhancing their own and others’ performance. They are capable of analysing their personal skill level and movement strengths in order to devise effective individual game strategies. They are able to set personal fitness goals and implement plans to achieve these.
They are introduced to new sports that require the learning of new skills, or the adaptation of previously learnt skills in new contexts, and implement ways to improve the quality of their own performance.
Students regularly participate in moderate to vigorous physical activity, set personal fitness goals, develop a fitness program and evaluate its success. However, during this stage of schooling, involvement in physical activity becomes problematic for some students, particularly young women as they experience issues such as body image, social pressures about appropriate behaviour for young people, and competing interests for time.
Students participate in peer teaching or coaching, with a focus on skill development and improvement. They engage in a variety of recreational and outdoor adventure activities, and develop skills, knowledge and behaviours for safe participation in these activities. They learn basic first aid skills.
Students at this stage realise that they have some input into factors, views or actions affecting the environment of their classes and their community. They develop an appreciation of the importance of sporting codes of conduct, implementing fair play and modelling good sporting behaviours for younger members of the community. They also assume responsibility for the organisation of a sporting competition.
Students are at a stage when their bodies, emotions and social behaviours are continuing to change rapidly. The Health knowledge and promotion dimension acknowledges the social reality of young people. At this stage, young people are acknowledged as sexual beings with feelings and desires that are a normal part of development. They are aware of their developing sexuality, and consider how different roles and responsibilities in sexual relationships can affect their health and wellbeing. They explore the assumptions, community attitudes and stereotypes about young people and sexuality. They evaluate policies and practices in relation to sexual harassment, homophobia and/or discrimination, and consider their rights and responsibilities in these areas. They learn about different views of sexuality and sexual behaviour, rights and responsibilities in relationships, and effective ways of establishing, maintaining and ending relationships.
Students examine the perceptions of challenge, risk and safety in a variety of settings. They examine strategies that promote safety, including those associated with the workplace. They also demonstrate an understanding of how to express independence, and use strategies for being assertive when protecting their own and others’ health in their classroom, home and community. They explore issues related to their increasing independence, such as the provision of services through Medicare.
Students develop greater independence. They seek deeper connections between their learning and the world around them. They use health data to explore personal behaviours and community actions that contribute to the health of specific groups. They investigate community facilities available for health and physical fitness activities, and explore how they might use them to maintain their wellbeing.
National Statements of Learning
The Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) incorporate the opportunities to learn covered in the national Statements of Learning (www.mceetya.edu.au/mceetya/statements_of_learning,22835.html). The Statements of Learning describe essential skills, knowledge, understandings and capacities that all young Australians should have the opportunity to learn by the end of Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in English, Mathematics, Science, Civics and Citizenship and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).
The Statements of Learning were developed as a means of achieving greater national consistency in curriculum outcomes across the eight Australian states and territories. It was proposed that they be used by state and territory departments or curriculum authorities (their primary audience) to guide the future development of relevant curriculum documents. They were agreed to by all states and territories in August 2006.
During 2007, the VCAA prepared a detailed map to show how the Statements of Learning are addressed and incorporated in the VELS. In the majority of cases, the VELS learning focus statements incorporate the Statements of Learning. Some Statements of Learning are covered in more than one domain. In some cases, VELS learning focus statements have been elaborated to address elements of the Statements of Learning not previously specified. These elaborations are noted at the end of each learning focus statement.
Pathways to VCE, VCE VET and VCAL
As students approach the end of the compulsory years of schooling they begin to make choices about their preferred areas of and pathways for learning. Students choose studies from the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) or recognised vocational training through either a Vocational Education Training (VET) program or the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL).
In Year 10, students can begin the post-compulsory pathway by undertaking a VCE study. Each of the disciplines represented in the Health and Physical Education dimensions provides a basis for studying the relevant VCE studies of Health and Human Development, Outdoor and Environmental Studies, and Physical Education.
Alternatively, some students will commence VET studies. The VCE VET program combines general VCE studies with vocational training and experience in the workplace. Students who have successfully met all of the Health and Physical Education standards can elect to train in a relevant industry area approved by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) including Certificate III in Community Services (Community Work); Certificate II in Hospitality (Operations); Certificate II in Fitness; Certificate II in Outdoor Recreation and Certificate II in Community Recreation.
The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is based on applied learning principles. It aims to give more choice to senior students who believe that their learning needs will not be met by following a traditional VCE/VET pathway. VCAL provides these students with an alternative pathway from school to further education, training and work. Students wishing to continue learning in the Health and Physical Education Domain through a VCAL pathway can choose to study subjects from the areas of Outdoor Recreation; for example, Demonstrate bushwalking skills in tracked or easy untracked areas and Children’s Services; for example, Prepare for work in the community services industry.
More information about VCE (www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vce)
More information about VET (www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vet)
More information about VCAL (www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/vcal)
Downloads
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Health and Physical Education booklet (
PDF - 240KB)
This booklet includes an introduction to this domain, a description of the structure of the domain, and the learning focus statements and standards at each level.
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Health and Physical Education standards table (Doc - 42KB)
This document provides the standards in this domain in table format to enable quick teacher reference. It includes descriptions of the dimensions and the standards from Levels 1 to 6. It does not include learning focus statements.
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Victorian Essential Learning Standards by Level
Level 1 ( PDF - 702KB)
Level 2 ( PDF - 591KB)
Level 3 ( PDF - 649KB)
Level 4 ( PDF - 751KB)
Level 5 ( PDF - 755KB)
Level 6 ( PDF - 788KB)
These booklets include the information for every domain at the relevant level. Each level publication includes:- the relevant stage of learning statement
- the relevant level statement
- introductions to each of the three strands
- introductions to every domain
- learning focus statements and standards for every domain
