Unit of Study EDUC2015 - Personal Development, Health and Physical Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy (2021)

Unit description

This unit builds on Foundations: Personal Development, Health and Physical Education by providing students with knowledge of relevant syllabus and curriculum requirements for teaching PDHPE to children early years -12. Students will design integrated assessment and teaching and learning strategies which maximise both student engagement and inclusivity; employ ICTs and support students in the transition from early childhood to primary and then to secondary school settings. 

Unit content

Module 1: Physical Education

This module expands upon the fundamental movement skills ideology examined and applied in the foundation unit. This module also provides students with

• hands-on understanding of the basic concepts and practical skills for creating and facilitating safe and inclusive physical activity in PDHPE for children early years to 12.
• prerequisite knowledge to effectively plan and teach movement experiences according to the age and motor abilities of individual students including those who require more supportive learning environments.
• constructivist learning approaches with students actively participating in learning in, through and about physical education.
• a focus on personal and social skills that can be developed through participation in movement and physical activities such:

o   communication
o   decision-making
o   problem solving
o   critical and creative thinking and
o   cooperative skills.

Students will investigate models of pedagogy for teaching and assessing primary and early childhood PDHPE. Students will also engage in practical activities that will explore varying strategies that will enable them to teach activities such as imaginative play, dance, minor games, lead-up and modified games.

Module 2: Health Education

This module builds on the key frameworks and foundational understandings around health education and promotion developed in the foundation unit. Students will examine a range of models and pedagogy for teaching and assessing and design a variety of teaching and assessment strategies to cater for students early years to 12 years. Explicit links are made to the Australian Curriculum frameworks with an emphasis on planning, programming and implementation of appropriate documents. Students develop key pedagogical strategies, including ICT’s, to effectively address health priorities for young children. The development and promotion of protective factors through their teaching of Health Education is a focus. The following key areas are covered in detail:

• Sexual Health and Child Protection
• Alcohol and Drugs
• Bullying, Cyberbullying and Resilience
• Mental Health and Wellbeing and Safety
• Integrating ICT in PDHPE
• Ways of differentiating curriculum to meet the diverse needs of learners in the PDHPE classroom.
• The role and value of PDHPE in the broader school curriculum and its relationship to numeracy and literacy.
• The placement of primary and early childhood PDHPE in the continuum of learning from K-12, including a particular understanding of the links between Stage 3 and Stage 4.
• Planning effective lessons utilising relevant support documents such as the Personal Development Health and Physical Education K-6 Syllabus, NSW Primary Curriculum Foundation Statements, Queensland ELs, EYLF and the Australian F-10 Health and Physical Education curriculum.