Introduction
Curriculum and teaching in physical education is an issue that requires attention. This is because many schools do not integrate physical education into the curriculum. According to a recent research by the Association for Physical Education, physical education activities are important because they help in the holistic development of the students and the teachers. This is because they facilitate the physical, social, psychological and emotional well-being. As a result, this paper will discuss the concepts of teaching physical education, its role and the effects on the realities of teaching as well as the teachers’ performance. Thereafter, an evaluation of internal consistency will take place. Finally, the paper will highlight changes in the teaching curriculum and the way forward.
Concept of Teaching Physical Education
The concept of teaching is to equip the student with knowledge that will help him/her in personal and societal transformation. The teacher achieves this by using the approach of a student-centered learning which entails a shift from the known to unknown (Jewett & Bain, 1985). The students are given a task to research. The findings are then later discussed with the teacher. The students will be empowered with knowledge that helps in changing the society.
The concept of teaching physical education is diverse because of the elusive definition of the subject. The concept is not limited to the curriculum of teaching physical education but it amalgamates the view of the people and the culture in the society (Bain, 1996). There are five foremost concepts of teaching physical education curriculum. They include biological oriented, through-movement, personalist movement, conformist sport socialization and critical constructive movement.
Biological oriented concepts concentrate on the training of anatomical as well as physiological variables (Naul, 1992). The concept of teaching that I choose is the through-movement concept. It focuses on the overall personal development. In addition, movement helps the students realize their competencies and identities, whereas, conformist sport focuses on physical fitness and assisting the students establish their talents in sports. Critical constructive movement helps a person to grow socially. In general, the aim of physical education curriculum is to empower an individual with knowledge that will help them transform and handle the society from different angles. It also gives them the ability to diversify as the students are involved in practical activities. This ensures that the system produces an all round student.
The future of the concept of teaching and the concept of teaching physical education curriculum relate to each other in a variety of ways. To begin with, they are all justified, legitimized and incorporated as school subjects. Secondly, they share a common objective of transforming an individual into a mature person that can help make the society a better place (Renson, 1999). Both concepts also have ways of achieving set goals and objectives. Finally, they both execute assessment and evaluation of the students. This helps determine if they have acquired the necessary skills.
The Role of Athletics, Adapted Physical Education, Health Education and Dance in the Concept of Physical Education
Athletics
Athletics plays an imperative role in the concept of physical education. The aim of athletics is to make students and teachers familiar with educational activities that enhance a healthy lifestyle and facilitate leadership, teamwork and a quest of excellence (Renson, 1999). The healthy lifestyle helps in the accomplishment of the biological oriented concepts. Athletics also helps people identify their talents in sports. This empowers them in personal development, for instance, it helps the student realize the importance of teamwork, self confidence, perseverance and dedication. Moreover, community development takes place through sports through participation in recreational sporting events in the community, for example, simple sporting events may easily be turned into fund raising events.
The emphasis of physical education empowers students with keen interest in athletics to develop physically, socially and psychologically. This aids in the facilitation of the through-movement concepts as it enhances the personal development of the students (Bain, 1996). Athletics provides competitive opportunities that help students achieve personal goals since their focus is centered on perfect execution and performance. Movement skills and determination in sport centered activities ensure life quality in the present and the future.
Adapted Physical Education
Adapted physical education is where the physical education is made to incorporate those individuals who have disabilities. This is an important factor in any physical education concept as it ensures that the people who have disabilities are not marginalized (Schempp, 1996). The incorporation of activities that the disabled indulge in helps in ensuring that they are able to accept their situations. They also feel accepted in the society. Their participation also increases their fitness levels and this helps them in improving their health conditions. The adapted physical education helps in ensuring that my concept of physical education is holistic and does not discriminate against any disadvantaged group of individuals. It also widens the scope of the concept making it receptive to any group of individuals.
Health Education
Health education is an important factor in my concept of physical education. The concept focuses on ensuring that the system produces students who are all rounded. These students are able to perform various different tasks since they are fit to perform them. Therefore, teaching them on the methods of ensuring that they are healthy is mandatory. This will ensure that their contribution is not limited because of the health issues that they may be subjected to if they are not well informed. They will be enlightened in areas such as nutrition and health to ensure that they are constantly on proper diet. This ensures that their contribution will be optimum.
Dance
Dance helps in maintenance of a person’s well-Being. As a result, it plays several roles in the concept of physical education. To begin with, dance has an educational impact that helps in motor skills development and performance. This helps an individual stay fit. In addition, it increases the education potential of a student via the positive relationship that exists between the dance and psychosocial development. Students who take part in dance are able to envision situations due to improved levels of balance and creativity. Moreover, dance contributes to the concept of through-movement (Tinning, 1997).This is because dance helps in the holistic development of a person. For instance, students are able to acquire the virtue of teamwork, respect and conformation to policies and regulations because of the strict rules that come with different dance concepts. Participating in dancing sessions and competitions also enhance social and moral development of students. This helps in ensuring that the students use their time in more productive activities.
The Effects of Concepts of Teaching and Curriculum in the Realities of Teaching
The concepts of teaching and curriculum have a variety of effects on the realities of teaching. To begin with, the teaching concept of equipping students with knowledge that aids in their transformation affects the reality of unpredictable outcomes since the outcome of any teaching activity is sometimes unpredictable (Fernandez, 1997). For instance, in a classroom setting, incidental learning usually takes place. The students might unconsciously acquire negative behavior from their immediate surroundings. As a result, students can adapt behaviors and habits that transform them into immoral individuals. This concept also emphasizes the reality of teaching that requires a beneficial relationship between the teacher and the student (Naul, 1994).The teacher is required to train students to be better people in the society. Lastly, the concept affects the reality of teaching. This is concerned with the impact of the attitude of the teacher towards the students. Teachers influence students’ behaviors either directly or indirectly. Therefore, the teacher should mould students to be better people by changing their attitudes towards different aspects of life. This is possible through role-play, where the teacher acts as a role model to the students.
The biological oriented concept and critical constructive movement affects the reality of the teaching of drama as well as immediacy of teaching (Tinning, 1997). This reality of teaching states that teaching involves events that keep on changing. As a result, the teacher should concentrate on physical activities that enhance the changing nature of the human. This is brought about by the inconsistent outcome of teaching. For example, an activity such as dance can keep some students fit while to others it portrays little effects. Additionally, the biological oriented concept affects the reality of teaching that explains the unique nature of teaching experience (Jewett & Bain, 1985). The teacher has to focus on each student in order to enhance his or her physical fitness.
Finally, the concept of through-movement and conformist sport socialization affect the reality of teaching that concerns the difficulty in assessment of the students’ learning. This teaching reality states that it is hard to measure what someone else knows or does not know (Naul, 1994). Since the concept of through-movement concentrates on personal development, it is hard for the teacher to assess it. This is because what the students learn is beyond what can be measured. On the other hand, the concept of personalist movement that helps students realize their competencies and identities affects the reality of teaching that concerns unpredictability of outcome (Tinning, 1997). This is because the teacher may not be in a position to know the kind of physical activities that can help a student identify their potential. As a result, the teacher needs to anticipate what he or she is going to teach in order to benefit all students.
The Influence of Realities of Teaching on Concepts of Teaching and Curriculum
There are six basic realities of teaching that influence the concepts of teaching and curriculum. They include unpredictability of outcome, difficulties of assessing learning, the need for learner-teacher relationship, the consequences of teachers’ attitude, the drama of teaching and the uniqueness of teaching experience (Jewett & Bain, 1985). For example, unpredictability of outcome influences all the concepts. Neither the teacher nor the learner can determine the outcome of learning and teaching. As a result, the teacher tries to facilitate those activities that he or she thinks are important to the students.
The difficulty in assessing learning has a major influence on the concept of teaching and curriculum as well. The teacher has to develop assessment techniques that focus on student’s feedback. For example, the biological oriented concept should focus on the assessment technique that analyzes the effect of physical activities on the students (Naul, 1992). Additionally, the need for a learner and a teacher relationship influences how the student grows socially. Teaching is a demanding profession and the teacher has to ensure that learning takes place. This can be done by putting emphasis on a professional level of student-teacher relationship as it facilitates the social development of the student.
The consequences of the teachers’ attitude influence the concepts of teaching and curriculum (Penny, 1999). For instance, the concept of transforming a student is under this teaching reality. The teacher has a great impact on the attitude as well as the behavior of the learner, for example, a negative attitude from the teacher on a particular subject may also result in the students having a negative attitude towards that subject. Finally, the drama of teaching and the uniqueness of education experience play imperative roles in the concepts of curriculum since teaching and learning is ever changing.
The Existing School Programs and the Teacher’s Performance
The existing school program influences the teacher’s performance in a variety of ways. To begin with, a supportive administration is imperative for the performance of teachers (Schempp, 1996). He/she acts as a motivating factor. Research by the Association for Physical Education shows that a teacher performs well when his/her needs are taken care of (Laporte, 1997). According to the existing school program, teachers are motivated because the administration satisfies their needs for development. This is by organizing seminars and fieldwork where teachers learn. The field projects also help teachers gain diverse knowledge concerning teaching and learning experiences.
Furthermore, the inclusion of physical education into the school program is a great advantage and benefit. This is because physical education activities help in the mental, social, psychological and physical development of a person (Laporte, 1997). Therefore, when a teacher engages in physical activities there is a high probability of an increase in his or her performance. Physical education’s activities help make him or her relaxed. The result of this is improvement in the quality of service delivery when the teacher returns to work. As a result, the teacher’s performance will improve. The break from class work also rejuvenates the students when they come back to class.
Internal Consistency
Concepts of Physical Education Curriculum
Internal consistency is the degree to which tests as well as procedures evaluate similar characteristics or skills (Hardman, 1998). It is a measure of specificity between the assessor and the evaluating instrument in the study. The assessor uses it in data interpretation as well as prediction of the results and the relationship that exists among the variables by evaluation of characteristics.
The concepts of physical education that I have adapted show correlations with the concepts of teaching that are being used to educate a student. This can be seen as both concepts aim to improve the current ability of the student. On the other hand, the biological oriented concept focuses on the anatomical and physical variation. This makes it hard to evaluate the same characteristics. For example, it is hard for the assessor to determine the person who has the best anatomical structure. Additionally, the concept of through movement and personal movement portray some challenges in internal consistency. This is because these concepts attempt to achieve personal development as well as increase in competencies and identities (Naul, 1994). These attributes vary from person to person. As a result, the probability of the measuring instrument is almost zero. Finally, the concept of critical constructive movement concentrates on the social growth of a person. The teacher can neither evaluate nor measure this aspect. For instance, the physical education teacher cannot predict that a particular student is going to be social.
Curriculum Development
Curriculum development is highly affected by internal consistency. This is because curriculum development is a diverse process that begins with environment assessment and ends with a teaching and learning procedure (Schempp, 1996). During environmental assessment, the teachers may not analyze the same qualities. There are the different subjects in school that have different aims and objectives. For instance, a physical education teacher has a goal of ensuring that the students develop physically, socially and psychologically. On the other hand, an English teacher aims at ensuring that the students become proficient in spoken and written language. Therefore, curriculum development has different interpretation of data. Additionally, curriculum development process cannot measure or predict the same outcome.
Program Implementation
Program implementation usually portrays a bit of a challenge to teachers. This is because different teachers use a variety of methods in the implementation process. The methods include lectures, role-play, simulation, discussion groups, use of posters and narration (Penny, 1999). Different implementation methods exist. However, internal consistency is upheld since the objective of the implementation process is the same regardless of the process used. For example, a teacher who uses the simulation method expects a different result from the one who uses posters. Additionally, the skills and the qualities that the different methods assess are not similar. For instance, a teacher who uses discussion groups wants to assess the understanding of the students at a teamwork level. On the contrary, a teacher who uses the narration method wants to evaluate the language proficiency of the students.
Lesson Plans
Lesson planning is an imperative tool in the teaching experience because it contains the teaching objectives, learning activities, time and the content (Crum, 1992). Therefore, it directs the teacher in the classroom. Unfortunately, internal consistency usually affects lesson plans. To begin with, it is difficult for the teacher to measure some teaching objectives. Such objectives are the ones that deal with understanding and knowledge. Additionally, the teacher cannot predict learning activities. This is because students have different intellectual capacities and this influences the learning process. Finally, the analysis of how the lesson content focuses on the topic is hard. A teacher may think that he or she has delivered the right content, but students may feel that the content did not match the topic under discussion.
Teaching Behaviors
Teaching behavior involves a variety of activities that focus on speech, non-verbal movements, explanation, organization, interests, task orientation, rapport and participation (Fernandez, 1997). As a result, the assessment of these activities becomes hard to both the teacher and the students. This increases the level of internal consistency in the teaching behaviors. The behavior exhibited by the teachers varies and therefore there will be little or no correlation between them. For instance, the assessment of rapport involves the friendly nature of the teacher, but the assessment of participation focuses on the student involvement in the teaching and learning activities. Therefore, specificity cannot exist because the two variables are different. Additionally, it is hard to predict the outcome of the teaching and learning activities in such a situation.
Student Assessment
Student assessment entails evaluation of a particular skill or a characteristic to determine if learning took place (Laporte, 1997). The assessment varies from subject to subject. For instance, the assessment of physical education activities is different from other subjects. As a result, the tests cannot assess the same characteristics. This shows that student assessment portrays internal consistency. The assessment takes place at different times but the content being tested remains the same. For example, assessment of physical education activities involves attributes like social, physical and personal development. These attributes cannot be quantified thus an increase in internal consistency. On the other hand, assessment of the different subjects has little consistency. This is because the teacher bases the evaluation on the teaching contents. In addition to the result, a teacher can predict the outcome from students.
Analysis and Evaluation of Teaching Program
The analysis and evaluation of the teaching program is almost similar to student assessment. The only difference is that it concentrates on the entire teaching program and not the student assessment. Therefore, the extent of internal consistency is slight (Hardman, 1998). Teaching programs usually have an overall objective of transforming the students in a positive way. Therefore, the analysis and evaluation will concentrate on the changes that the student has undergone since the beginning of the teaching program.
Changes in Teaching Program
The changes in the teaching program also show internal consistency. This depends on the type of changes that have taken place and the parties involved. For example, it would be easier to assess and evaluate the changes that take place in physical education activities if only minimal variations existed. This is because the effect of physical education activities differs from person to person. On the contrary, the test and measurement of changes that take place in subject teaching is easier because subject teaching has an overall goal of enhancing student performance.
Many changes concerning the concepts, program plans as well as teaching practices have taken place. For example, the concept of student transformation does not receive great attention due to program plans that keep on changing with the advancement in technology. Program plans should be changed with the importance of physical education in mind; appropriate time should be accorded for every physical education session. Finally, teachers are still using the old teaching practice methods, even though there are changes in physical education curriculum (Hardman, 1998). This makes it hard for students to gain contemporary knowledge. For instance, teachers have to use the lecture method which does not always focus on maximum involvement of the learners.
Conclusion and Future Insight
The way forward involves facilitation of professional development, improvement of the teaching programs and contribution to the field of physical education. To begin with, professional development would be enhanced if teachers and the teachers in training vouched for more detailed training and seminars (Fernandez, 1997). Training is a process where teachers attend school to receive education about the current teaching practices. On the other hand, in seminars teachers learn about changes that take place in the curriculum. The training and the seminars lead to professional development as they equip the teachers with the current teaching practices.
Additionally, the improvement of teaching programs involves dedicated teachers. This means that teachers require motivation in order to improve the teaching practices (Armstrong, 1996). According to the statement, the improvement of teaching programs will focus on the motivation of teachers. This will include an increase in remunerations, teachers’ appraisals and facilitation of an environment that facilitate teaching. Once the teachers are motivated, they are likely to increase their performance. Eventually, the teaching programs will improve. Finally, the contribution to the field of physical education will involve a number of activities. Policy development will be the priority. It provides direction on the activities that form physical education. Additionally, it focuses on the scheduling of the physical education activities. As a result, the policies will concentrate on health and safety, sports, education and the equipment. Secondly, teachers should use sport events to create fund raisers that contribute by increasing the supply of the necessary equipment and materials–balls, rackets and badminton sticks. Additionally, the playing grounds should be free from any hazards like holes or thorns. Finally, all the physical education teachers should receive proper training. This will equip them with knowledge about physical education activities. As a result, they will provide quality training to the students.
My input to educate the current society and also to ensure that physical education is well taught and the curriculum is up to date is mainly by participation. Being involved in the development of the curriculum will help to change some of the shortcomings that the curriculum currently have. Organizing workshops to enlighten both the students and the teachers will also serve to help in raising the level of education. Emphasis on the extensive inclusion of the adapted physical education in the curriculum in order to take care of the disabled should also be promoted.
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