Is the Physical Education National Curriculum just doing a circuit?

1992 vs 2014 physical education National Curriculum

 

Whilst the National Curriculum for physical education has been in place for twenty two years, it has been amended five times since its introduction. 

The original National Curriculum, introduced in 1992, is very similar to the most recent National Curriculum, introduced in 2014. Neither curriculum is very broad in instruction, whilst both National Curriculums dictate what must be taught, they allow freedom for the teachers to use their expertise and experience to deliver the best learning experience for students, this is more so in key stage three and four in both the 1992 and 2014 National Curriculum. 

Whilst through key stages three and four facilities and experience could be taken into consideration when planning the schemes of work, through either key stage one and two, in both the first and most recent curriculum, swimming is mandatory whether the school has a swimming pool on site or not. Throughout key stage one or two, in both curriculums, every child must have swimming lessons, and by the end of key stage two each child must be competent and confident to swim over twenty five metres. The 2014 curriculum however, goes into more detail regards the swimming aspect of physical education, and children must be able to swim varied strokes by the end of key stage two, as well as being able to perform a safe self-rescue.

The six main activities to be taught have remained the same from 1992 to the new National Curriculum in 2014. The basis of games; athletics; swimming; outdoor adventurous activities; dance and gymnastics, still provide the balance curriculum that was established in 1992. The six main activities all had to be taught in key stages one and two, which remains the same in the most recent curriculum. In both curriculums in key stage three all the activities must be taught except swimming which is optional, as students should already be competent. In the 1992 curriculum, in key stage four students must be taught two activities, this can be two games, or any two sporting or physical activities. However, in the 2014 curriculum, students must be taught games and outdoor adventurous activities, and a choice of athletics and gymnastics must be taught. 

Throughout each key stage, the 2014 curriculum requires students to be able to evaluate their own performance in order to improve. This differs from the 1992 National Curriculum for physical education, as the original curriculum was focused on participation rather than performance. The 2014 curriculum has a strong focus on competition and improving participation, whereas the focus on the 1992 curriculum was on the participation within physical education and maintaining healthy, active lifestyles. 

The competitive nature of the 2014 curriculum was shown again through the enforcement of competitive sports outside of physical education lessons, which differs from the 1992 National Curriculum, as throughout the first curriculum there was no mention of anything out of school or club and community links. This shows that the government recognise that physical education lessons are simply not enough to create world class, Champions League winning, world cup winning, gold medal winning athletes.