This subject provides a comprehensive overview of key researchers in the field of child and adolescent development providing models of instruction and resources in the health and physical education arena. It specifically focuses on physical, cognitive, social and emotional, moral development and the application to health and physical education incorporating a Christian world view enabling each student to flourish.
The following subjects are prerequisites:
Religious belief, participation, theories of spirituality and the role of parents/carers; cultural identity and cultural influence and community concerning child and adolescent development and identity, motivation, social-emotional learning and self-regulation. Peer influences and relationships and the role of PDHPE in this.
The foundations of how a student’s brain develops from early childhood through to adolescence including the development of the executive functions and the implications for teaching.
Brain & learning: make explicit how attention, working memory and retrieval practice inform skill teaching in PDHPE, using brief modelling and worked examples before guided practice.
i.e. bullying, social media, anxiety, depression, etc. Understanding strategies for working effectively, sensitively and confidently with parents/carers including parents/carers and community members/groups from different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The concept of partnership and working in partnership with parents/carers and community groups/organisations.
Whole school initiatives and strategies that foster student wellbeing and holistic development including Restorative Practices etc.
Two-way family partnership: model two-way, strengths-based communication with parents/carers (quick feedback loops, light-touch learning updates and collaborative problem-solving) to support student wellbeing.
Explicit instruction + calm routines: teach PDHPE with a clear ‘I do – We do – You do’ sequence and establish concise rules/routines (equipment, space, safety) with in-the-moment checks for understanding and feedback.
Literacy & numeracy in PDHPE (part 1): make PDHPE-specific literacy (health vocabulary, short explanations) and numeracy (measurement, tables/graphs, simple fitness metrics) explicit, then fade scaffolds to independence.
Literacy & numeracy in PDHPE (part 2): continue explicit teaching of PDHPE literacy/numeracy within practical lessons, linking language forms and basic data use to games and movement tasks.
Literacy & numeracy in PDHPE (part 3): consolidate PDHPE literacy/numeracy through short writing/speaking routines and simple data displays that inform goal setting in health and movement.
Leadership; rules, routines and consequences including the research within PDHPE context, anti-bullying strategies. Including strategies to facilitate a positive classroom environment. Discipline/crisis response. How to collaborate with students to set goals. The research evidence that shows why consistent and proportional responses to student behaviour to reinforce expectations and maintain safety is most effective when paired with verbal and non-verbal calm, expected, and escalating responses. How to reinforce expectations and maintain safety during health and movement learning.
Assessment for learning, visibly: make assessment-for-learning visible via quick in-lesson checks and actionable feedback that informs the very next lesson and aligns to reporting.