The Goals of Physical Education:
Not All of Our Goals Are Equal
Chuck Corbin
Arizona State University-East
chuck.corbin@asu.edu
October 14, 2004
With the publication of the new (2nd. Ed.) National Standards for Physical
Education (NASPE, 2004), physical educators will begin the process of
revision of state and local standards for their physical education programs.
The standards developed by each state, each school district, and each
school serve as formal declarations of the goals and outcomes for physical
education in our schools.
It is good that we establish our goals and outcomes BEFORE we develop
our programs, because our goals and outcomes should be the blueprints
for our expectations for learners. Programs then are the tools we use
to meet our goals. As physical educators continue to refine the standards
that represent goals and outcomes for learners in schools, I feel it is
important not only to consider the specific outcomes to be accomplished,
but to establish priorities for those outcomes. In the section that follows
I have outlined a few statements about goals and outcomes for teachers
to consider. It is my hope that these statements will encourage discussion
and result in some changes in the way we implement standards in schools.
- Attention to too many goals and
outcomes dilutes the attention that we give to each individual goal
and outcome. The physical education outcomes project (NASPE,
1992) described a physically educated person as one who: has
learned skills necessary to perform a variety of physical education
objectives, is physically fit, does participate
regularly in physical activity, knows the implications
of and the benefits from involvement in physical activities,
and values physical activity and its contribution to
a healthy lifestyle. I wholeheartedly endorse each of these five outcomes
as our most important goals and objectives. The first edition of the
National Standards for Physical Education (NASPE, 1995) emphasized three
of the goals listed above (skill, physical activity, fitness) but de-emphasized
two of the original goals (knowing the benefits of and valuing physical
activity). Substituted or added were “applies movement concepts
and principles to learning and development of motor skills, ”
“demonstrates responsible personal and social behavior in physical
activity”, demonstrates understanding and respect for differences
among people in physical activity,” and “understands that
physical activity provides opportunities for enjoyment, challenge, self-expression,
and social interaction. ” The most recent national standards include
six basic goals. Again having skill, being active, and being fit are
included. The remaining three standards focus on “understanding
movement concepts”, “exhibiting responsible personal and
social behavior,” and valuing physical activity (similar to original
outcome). ” It’s clearly physical education has adopted
many goals and outcomes, perhaps too many. I believe and in my opinion
we should narrow our focus so that we do a few things really well, rather
than try to do so many things that we do none of them well. This is
not to say that we should not consider all of the goals and outcomes
that have been outlined over the years. It does mean that we should
focus more on some than on others.
- Not all of our goals and outcomes
are of equal importance. The most recent National Standards
for Physical Education (NASPE, 2004) states that, “the goal of
physical education is to develop physical educated individuals who have
the knowledge, skills, and confidence to enjoy a lifetime of healthful
physical activity.” I strongly endorse this statement and feel
that our most important goal is lifetime physical activity promotion.
This is our principal goal! Accordingly, building skills that promote
lifetime activity, promoting knowledge and understanding of the benefits
of activity as well as understanding how to use self-management skills
that promote physically active lifestyles are of primary concern. Physical
fitness, an outcome of physically active living, is also important,
but is the result of activity. Thus it is my contention that fitness
will happen (to the extent possible for each person’s heredity)
if learners become regularly active people. Other goals such as responsible
behavior and respect for others are important, but are secondary. Educators
sometimes refer to these types of goals as concomitant goals. When teaching
any lesson these should always be kept in mind, but they should not
be our primary focus. Physical Educators should focus on goals that
are unique to us.
- Physical activity promotion is
our most important goal. While this point is made in item number
2 above, I want to emphasize it again. The bulk of the evidence we use
to justify the importance of physical education is based on the health
and wellness benefits of regular physical activity. Appropriately physical
activity should be the center of our focus. If we help learners to be
physically active on a regular basis, and give them the skills, knowledge
and confidence to be active, other goals will take care of themselves
(fitness, health and wellness). I agree with Earl Zeigler who has suggested
that if we were ever to change the name of our profession, Physical
Activity Education would be the best choice.
- It is appropriate to focus on different
goals at different grade levels. One of the biggest problems
physical educators face is the limited amount of time that we have to
accomplish so many important things. One way to solve this problem is
to focus on different goals at different times. It is not an abdication
of duty to say, “this year I am going to focus only a few goals”.
Other concomitant goals are considered, but the bulk of the time is
devoted to those goals selected as primary for that specific year. It
is my own view that focusing on motor skill development (with the concomitant
goal of enhancing enjoyment and increasing confidence) should be the
focus of the primary grades. At the high school level, it is my view
that the focus should be on learning self-management skills that will
help students assess their own fitness, set their own goals, plan their
own programs, and become good problem solvers who are resistant to exercise
quackery. It is NOT necessary to try to do everything every year!
- Concomitant or secondary goals
should be considered at all times while teaching. To be sure,
some lessons should focus on our concomitant or secondary goals. But
the bulk of teaching time should on our primary goals. Concomitant goals
can be accomplished by always keeping in mind their importance. For
example, while teaching motor skills it is possible to teach about social
interactions, respect for others, and self-expression. All lessons in
physical education should emphasize enjoyment and, consistent with current
physical education guidelines, no lessons should allow exercise to be
used as punishment..
- No single goal should be the focus
of outcomes assessments. In recent years, other subject matters
have used “high stakes testing” to determine student achievement
and teacher success. This testing movement has been detrimental to physical
education in several ways. First, it has resulted in efforts to reduce
physical education time to allow more time for “academic subjects”.
For example 29% of high school physical education programs were cut
during the decade of the 1990s. Second, some states have decided to
use fitness tests as the overall outcomes test for physical education.
Some have even used fitness test results as a measure of teacher success,
basing raises on student fitness test performance. This is a big mistake!
Physical fitness is only one of our many goals. Further, the evidence
shows that physiological maturity and genetics play a much bigger role
in fitness test performance than physical activity involvement. For
this reason they are not a true test of student achievement or teacher
success. The use of fitness tests as indicators of student and/or teacher
success in physical education fails to recognize the importance of other
goals. Finally, single outcome assessments tend to drive the curriculum
or program. There is a real danger that classes will become physical
training rather than physical education. There is a real risk that such
programs will undermine the confidence of youth (see NASPE principal
purpose of physical education in item 2), undermine enjoyment of activity,
and in many cases lead to cheating by students and teachers. .
- Motor skills are NOT the only
skills of importance. Each of the major statements of physical
education goals, from the first outcomes project to the most recent
NASPE National Standards, has emphasized the importance of learning
motor skills. Most, if not all, physical educators would agree that
teaching a wide variety of skills is important. But motor skills are
not the only skills of importance in promoting lifelong physical activity.
A growing body of evidence suggests that learning self-management skills
such as self-assessment (of fitness, activity, and skill), goal setting,
program planning, self-monitoring, critical thinking to avoid quackery,
knowledge and understanding of key activity concepts, time management,
and relapse prevention are critical to being active for a lifetime.
Teaching self-management skills is as important as teaching motor skills,
especially at the secondary level. These skills will help both those
who have good motor skills, and those who do not, to be regularly active.
Summary
Physical education has many important goals. Trying to do too many things
in a limited amount of time can results in not doing anything well. It
is my contention, that as schools and school districts develop goals and
outcomes for their programs, they should consider narrowing their focus
by identifying primary goals. Other goals (concomitant or secondary) should
be encouraged, but will be given less time and/or developed as a secondary
focus of lessons. Consistent with recent National Standards for Physical
Education (NASPE, 2004), I suggest that promoting “….a lifetime
of healthful physical activity” is our principal goal. I also contend
that it is not only OK, but also desirable, to choose specific goals and
outcomes for different grade levels (not trying to do everything every
year). Because physical education claims many goals and outcomes no one
goal should be the basis for outcomes testing. Physical fitness testing
should definitely not be used as an outcomes test for our programs. If
lifelong physical activity is our goal, both motor skills and self-management
skills should be taught to help learners to achieve that goal.
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