Importance’s of Physical Education Programs and Profession

Physical education is best known as a subject offered in schools. Most people who prepare to become physical- education teachers complete a curriculum that culminates with not only a degree but also a teaching certificate.

Does physical education take place only in schools? If physical education is limited, by definition, to activities that occur in schools, then how do we describe programs that look similar to physical education in schools, but are conducted in other places?

Adventure education is often done in summer camps and by private agencies such as Outward Bound. Fitness programs are conducted in health centres, spas, and family centres such as the YMCA and YWCA. Children and youth learn and participate in sport in community programs.

Movement skills can be learned in pre-schools, gymnastic academies, and dance studios. Sport and fitness programs with strong social-development goals can be found in church caps, Police Athletic League programs, and family centres such as a Jewish Community Centre. Are these all physical education?

How you answer this question will reflect how narrow or broad is your concept of physical education and of how it affects the lives of children and youth. Most professionals tend to take the broader rather than the narrower perspective.

Obviously, school physical education is important. School is still the one institution in our culture that touches the lives of virtually all children and youth. It is the institution to which we have delegated a primary responsibility for passing on the best of our culture and for trying constantly to improve the culture.

You do not have to be rich to go to school nor do you have to have special talents to take part in the school curriculum.

In 1987 a resolution was introduced in the U.S. Senate to encourage state and local governments to provide a quality, daily physical-education program for children and youth from kindergarten through the twelfth grade.

Can you imagine the impact of such an ideal? Every day, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, students would get a high-quality lesson in physical education.

It the average school year has 150 days of instruction and the average length of a lesson is 30 hours of instruction in physical education per year. After 13 years, each student would have had nearly 1,000 hours of high-quality physical education instruction.

What wondrous things might be accomplished if this could be achieved? Is it too much to expect or even to hope for? Not if you consider how much time is spent on sport for the more talented students.

During a typical season, a high- school basketball player attends team practices 2 or 3 hours per day, 5 days a week for nearly 5 months. That amounts to approximately 275 hours of practice per season, not counting games.

It the player is active for 4 years in high school, he or she will accumulate nearly 1,100 hours of practice. Thus, in 4 years, a varsity-level basketball player will spend more time in practice than will a student in physical education throughout his or her educational career even under optimal circumstances!

Thus, the ideal of daily, high-quality physical education, which seems so remote and almost unobtainable given the current status of physical education in schools, is not so outlandish when compared with the time, resources, and effort devoted to high-school athletes.

It seems at least reasonable to expect that someday our culture might recognize the value of that kind or investment in all of its children and 1987 resolution has had a significant impact on physical education.

Keep in mind this idea as we review physical- education programs, their contents, and the competencies needed to develop and maintain them. This chapter will focus on high-quality programs. As you no doubt are already aware, some school physical-education programs do not deserve that label.