Physical education (PE) is a complex subject area and it can, if done with quality, legitimately achieve a wide range of educational outcomes for school-age children & youth (Kirk, 2013). A quality PE programme is one that has high quality: curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment (Penney et al, 2009). The multi-activity sport-based curriculum model found in many schools (Kirk, 1998) has failed to promote lifelong participation in physical activity (Kirk, 2002). Kirk (2009) claims that the repetitious teaching of sport-specific techniques is worrying for students and for PE as a subject. Assessment quality in PE is often poor (AIESEP, 2019). Traditional assessment approaches in PE tend to focus on isolated skills (Penney et al., 2009), fitness testing (Moura et al., 2020), and can lack relevancy (e.g. attendance, coming changed in PE kit).

This session will provide attendees with best practice and the latest research on curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment. This presentation is created with the hope that you and/or your PE department can reflect on your current school’s PE context and make any necessary changes to curriculum, pedagogy, and/or assessment to improve learning experiences for your students.