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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.

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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!
  5. 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..
  6. 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. .
  7. 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.