Philosophy and goals of physical education

Transcription

1 Philosophy and goals of physical educati Secd level cells (excluding PL separate map) 1. What does it mean to have a philosophy and why do teachers of physical educati need an underlying philosophy? Philosophy is an exercise in critical thinking through which process individuals determine their most basic beliefs about, and attitudes towards, human nature and life, and identify what is important to them. These beliefs form a ratiale for acti, providing the rais d etre for decisis and practice. Commitment to these beliefs is closely related to justificatis that people give to how they live their lives. For example if asked why an individual devotes every Sunday to visiting Art Galleries the answer could well be that involvement in the creative arts is fundamental to the nurturing of the human spirit. Above all having a philosophy that has been csidered and interrogated, creates a reference point for all decisis, and results in coherent practice and the ability to articulate what is valued and why. Developing a philosophy is usually achieved after an individual has had the opportunity to experience a range of life situatis and thus has accrued a vocabulary of practices and their outcomes. This vocabulary informs critical thinking and ctributes to the identificati of a persal philosophy. An individual may have a philosophy of life such as if you take care of the pennies, the pounds will look after themselves or, in the ctext of inter-persal relatiships, always treat others how you would wish to be treated yourself. On the other hand an individual may have a philosophy that is directed to a particular aspect of life such as educati or indeed physical educati. Building from the above, having a philosophy of physical educati means that you have ratially thought through your beliefs, views and attitudes to the subject area and have decided where you stand. This philosophy means that your teaching is focused, coherent and authentic. Your teaching and relatiships with learners evidences a csistent message. You evaluate your work through a lens coloured by your philosophy. You are able to articulate a justificati for the subject and defend its value. Your demeanour and practice are characterised by your philosophy. A teacher of physical educati who has a csidered philosophy of the subject will be a teacher who has cfidence in and commitment to the subject and whose actis are always founded carefully deliberated principles. That having been said people who have thought deeply about their philosophy and act accordingly, should always be open to challenges and willing to debate alternatives and even shift their positi, if this is seen appropriate. A philosopher should be cfident but not arrogant, assured by not dogmatic.

2 2. In what ways should the philosophy of physical educati relate to the aims and philosophy of educati? This questi is not as straightforward as it might seem. On the face of it the answer should be that the aims of physical educati should be in line with broader aims. Where an educatial aim is to enable all learners to reach their potential or to make progress in developing what are often called, in England, Persal Learning and Thinking Skills such as communicati, independence and team work, there is clearly no issue. All areas in the curriculum are expected to make a ctributi to realising these aims, mainly through the teaching approaches they use. Issues can arise, however, in respect of the somewhat hidden implicatis of some educatial aims such as those that put a focus, for example, preparing for the world of work, ctributing to the ecomy of a country, preparing learners for higher educati or living in the digital age. Aims such as these would seem to favour cognitive development or computer literacy. In these ctexts a curriculum can be weighted significantly towards academic subjects, with the Arts and Physical Educati being seen as peripheral to the business of educati. These areas are not valued highly by the school and are often treated as less important. Regrettably this attitude is all too readily picked up by learners. A curriculum that lays great stress cognitive /intellectual development differs from that which is often called a Liberal approach to educati. A liberal educati describes a broad educati that prepares learners for life in all its multitude of aspects and arenas. A liberal educati includes a respect for all human capabilities including the affective and the physical as well as the cognitive. Whitehead in Capel and Piotrowski (2000), Bailey (2006), Bailey et al (2008) Whitehead in Capel and Whitehead (2013)

3 3. What is the danger of selling physical educati as a means to wider educatial goals? On what grounds can the goals of physical educati be ends in themselves? This questi again opens up a whole range of issues. As indicated the previous cell, physical educati should, can, and does make a ctributi to the broader aims of educati such as fostering Persal Learning and Thinking Skills. In this way physical educati is a means to general educatial ends. Faced with the lack of respect for physical activity per se the professi has, occasi, sold the subject the grounds that it can promote these wider goals as well as objectives such as fostering loyalty, team work, managing winning and losing, developing independence establishing commitment and perseverance. While it cannot be denied that all these abilities and qualities are valuable to educati, we are not ale in fostering them. They do not identify a unique ctributi to the curriculum. Indeed should time be short, physical educati could be removed from the curriculum the grounds that other subject areas can cover these aspiratis. Our strength in being able to make this sort of ctributi to educati can, indeed, be a weakness, as it does not present a case for the subject s unique intrinsic value. The other problem with this type of justificati of the subject is that we could be challenged to show unequivocally, that we really do make a ctributi in these areas. Sadly this is impossible to prove as so many other aspects of schooling are working alg the same lines. Physical educati should not be a means to other ends in educati, it should make a ctributi to educati via its intrinsic value. Physical educati should be seen to make a unique and significant ctributi to educati. The practice of physical educati should be an end in itself. The professi needs to have the knowledge, understanding and cfidence to articulate the unique and significant value of our subject area. This is what the philosophy of physical literacy sets out to do. Whitehead in Capel and Piotrowski (2000), Whitehead (2010) Whitehead in Capel and Breck (2013),Whitehead in Capel and Whitehead (2013)

4 4. Is there value in seeing physical educati in terms of educati about, through and in movement? This approach is set out well by Arnold (1979). He argues that physical educati can promote educati about movement, through movement and in movement. A full critique of this approach can be found in Capel and Whitehead (2013) In a nutshell Whitehead suggests that in a subject that has physicality at its heart there is insufficient time to cover intellectual disciplines and claim to make a real ctributi to knowledge of this nature. The noti of educati through movement carries the same problems as set out above, being that this approach does not highlight a unique ctributi to educati and it is almost impossible to prove that physical educati does, in fact, make this ctributi. In additi it leaves too many arguments available for the diminuti or indeed the removal of time being given to this curriculum area. The focus of the ctributi that physical educati can make to educati should be located clearly in the noti of educati in movement. In adopting this approach, however, care needs to be taken not focus entirely physical activity for cardio-vascular fitness - viewing the body as an object to managed, nor to focus solely high level physical prowess. As the chapter in Capel and Whitehead (2013) sets out, the focus needs to be human embodiment as affording the realisati of a human capability the development of which can enrich the lives of each and every e of us. Arnold (1979) Whitehead (2010) Whitehead in Capel and Whitehead (2013)

5 5. What are the current competing goals/philosophies of physical educati? Over the years there have been numerous goals for physical educati. Early years saw such notis as posture and freedom from illnesses as central, public schools champied muscular Christianity as the rais d etre of sport through involvement in team sport and progressive educatiists in 1950 s saw movement as developing self expressi and creative abilities. Currently amg interested parties there is a variety of schools of thought relating to the goal of, or value of, physical educati including those that focus health and fitness and the fight against obesity identificati and nurturing physical talent to feed forward into the creati of winning teams and outstanding athletes to compete at internatial level social skills, such as team work and persal skills such as independence, respsibilty and resilience physical literacy where the goal is to enable all to develop the motivati, cfidence, physical competence, knowledge and understanding to value physical activity and accept the respsibility to make physical activity an established element of their lifestyle. Whitehead in Capel and Whitehead (2010) Kirk (2010) Whitehead (2010)