Is the Physical Education National Curriculum just doing a circuit?

What did the 1992 National Curriculum for physical education involve?

 

The 1992 curriculum wasn't very broad and it was mainly handed to the teachers to make the decisions based on what was taught, although there were some compulsory aspects of the curriculum, it was not dictated as to how or when they should be taught (Ofsted, 1993). 

When the 1992 National Curriculum for physical education was introduced there was an emphasis on the student’s participation, and involving students in healthy, active lifestyles. Though the main emphasis lay with participation in sport and physical activity, the ability for students to be able to plan and evaluate their performance and their peers performance, and this was included as part of the assessment frameworks (McKinlay, 1993).

Students in key stage one and two (ages 4-11) would have been involved in activities such as athletics, dance, games, gymnastics, outdoor adventurous activities and swimming (McKinlay, 1993). By the end of key stage two all students should have been able to swim twenty five metres. This shows focus on achievement of young students and key skills such as swimming were seen as important by the government and the working party that created the NCPE in 1992.

When a student then went to high school and entered key stage three (ages 11-14), it was no longer compulsory for students to be taught swimming although games were still compulsory and a choice of dance or gymnastics was also still compulsory. Along with games and a creative activity, another two activities had to be taught from the list that key stage one and two students were taught (McKinlay, 1993). As all students should have been able to swim twenty five metres by the end of key stage two, it was seen that it was no longer necessary for students to be taught swimming, and teachers were given more free reign at secondary school as to what was taught, and the physical education departments could organise what was taught based on the facilities and equipment each department had. (McKinlay, 1993)

At key stage four level, students who were not involved in the participation of GCSE physical education would still have to participate in core physical education each week. Although each school's physical education department could decide individually what content students were taught in key stage four physical education, two physical education subjects were required to be taught, these could be any two activities from the curriculum. The activities could have been from the same aspect of physical education, so two games could be taught or it could be that all aspects are taught, it came down to the school's physical education department's decision based on their facilities and equipment. (McKinlay, 1993)

Throughout each key stage, excluding key stage four, games was a compulsory part of the curriculum. Games, however is a wide aspect of the curriculum and includes a plethora of sports for which teachers could choose from, allowing teachers the freedom to create the curriculum to suit their strengths but also the facilities of each school.