Is the Physical Education National Curriculum just doing a circuit?

1992 National Curriculum

 

The 1992 National Curriculum had a strong emphasis on participation, and lifelong participation with a focus on living well balanced and healthy lifestyles. The promotion of healthy living as well as active lifestyles was to try and ensure that students lived following a culture of healthy eating and active lifestyles (McKinlay, 2013). The emphasis on participation means that the competitive nature of physical education could be lost due to the need for inclusion and mass participation.  

The broad curriculum which was provided throughout each key stage ensures that students receive a balanced curriculum and are introduced to a multitude of different sports. Developing students through a broad curriculum can influence the structure and culture students follow, this social construction is the attempt to influence students to follow active, healthy lifestyles, by teaching a broad curriculum students will be able to find a sport or physical activity they are interested in. 

Throughout key stages one and two, the curriculum is very broad for that teachers who aren't necessarily physical education experts. This could lead to students having a poor physical education experience at primary school, instead of playing games such as netball, football and basketball; it could mean students play games such as tig. Also, instead of the gymnastics and dance parts of physical education on the curriculum, primary school students could often be taught dance through a voice over sound track, and taught gymnastics by experimenting on the equipment, rather than educational or Olympic gymnastics (Kirk, 1992). 

Also, due to outdoor and adventure activities being compulsory throughout key stages one and two; being taught by teachers who didn't necessarily have the expertise to teach high quality outdoor adventure activities. This could be costly by taking students to adventure parks such as Kingswood, PGL or Outward Bound, for schools with money or parents with money would be okay, but what about the students from a less economic background. It could be performed poorly by taking students on wildlife walks, which although in essence they comprise as outdoor adventure activities, but it is not high quality outdoor adventure activities (Kirk, 1992). 

Once students reach secondary school, teachers and departments had slightly more autonomy through the curriculum. Allowing departments and teachers to decide what is taught based on their facilities and expertise as well as their biography. Whilst department biography could have narrowed subjects taught to students, the curriculum was in place to ensure a broad and balanced basis of subjects were taught (McKinlay, 2013). 

In this 1992 National Curriculum, swimming was seen as an essential skill and had to be taught in either key stage one or two, with all students having to be able to complete a twenty five metre swim, confidently and competently. The emphasis on swimming was taken away in key stages three and four, becoming optional for departments in secondary school based on the expertise of teachers and the facilities physical education departments had. There was contestation about this, as students had to be competent and confident by the age of 11, but didn't have to continue swimming throughout secondary school, the confidence built throughout primary school could have been lost due to the lack of swimming throughout secondary school.