(An item from the ISHN Member information service) One of the trends we have noted in recent articles about physical activity & schools is a focus on improving quality through a number of incremental changes, much like a total quality approach. Several articles in Issue #1, 2014 of Research Quarterly for Exercise & Sport are part of this trend, as they discuss teacher effectiveness in physical education. The set of articles are published in response to previous articles in the December 2013 issue of the same journal. The first article examines how student behaviours and expectations affect teaching, noting that "The most vocal students in physical education classes appear to thrive in the current multiactivity, recreation-oriented sport culture that dominates many U.S. physical education programs. They expect lessons with minimal skill and tactical instruction and with maximum opportunities to play ball". The article concludes by contesting an earlier claim that the goals of PE are "muddled". The second article suggests that PE is changing dramatically from the previous three decades of curriculum control led by PE teachers and researchers to one led by education ministries and education faculties. The third article suggests that high quality, daily PE is threatened by current increased demands on schools to be accountable for student performance. The fourth article examines how PE teachers can be accountable for student outcomes as one measure that also includes class observation, student activity levels and student engagement. The final article examines constraints imposed on PE teachers such as administrator support, limited curriculum time, student ability levels and other factors. Read more>>
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The Impending Return of Job Skills & "Instrumental" Education: Another trend affecting H&SD Programs11/20/2013 (An item from the ISHN Member information service) As societies turn again to schools to solve their economic problems (a false promise), we are already seeing a return of demand for more job skills education and "instrumental" education aimed more directly at preparing students for vocational purposes. Several articles in Vol 61, 2013 of International Journal of Educational Research help us prepare for this cyclical debate about educational purposes and competing futures for schooling. Read more>>
(An item from the ISHN Member information service) A blog post from Edutopia underlines the need to understand teacher belief systems when we try to integrate health & social programs more closely with their work. Robert Garmston (with co-author Arthur Costa) identifies six predominant ideologies that influence educators' decision making:
Elena Agular, the author of the Edutopi blog suggests that conflict among teachers can arise when these six beliefs collide. Now imagine the collisions when non-teachers, with different belief systems, seek to enter the school. Read More>> Recent Review of SH Approaches Suggest Integration within education, Context, Capacity, Coordination7/8/2013 (An item from the ISHN Member information service) A review of the research on multi-intervention approaches to school health promotion reported in the July 2013 issue of the Journal of School Health suggests that effective approaches included stronger consideration of integration within the school system. the local context, building capacity for sustained implementation and ensuring coordination. The authors report that "Findings indicated that, for adequate implementation, an intervention should be integrated in pre-existent school settings, fine-tuned to its target population or environment, involve family and the community, and be led by the school itself, with there being a “healthy school coordinator” to coordinate the program." Read more>>
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