Purpose: Fitness testing is common within physical education, but there has been considerable debate about the pedagogical purpose and potential psychological implications of this practice. The aim of this study was to conduct a pilot experimental study to determine the impact of traditional fitness testing approaches on the body image,…

The purpose of the article is to discuss, explore and advocate for the importance of self-management skills (cognitive and behavioural) for physical activity in health and physical education (HPE) in relation to the newly revised Australian Curriculum. This conceptual paper is presented as two halves. The first half presents an examination of the…

Background: Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers are in a unique position to act as role models to their students. Purpose: To explore the expectations, beliefs and attitudes towards role modelling of health behaviours by pre-service teachers who were specialising in HPE, and those who were not. Study design: Cross-sectional, Survey…

When teachers help students see connections between mathematical concepts and real life it can increase students' interest and learning in mathematics. Physical activity is also a part of daily life; therefore, Health and Physical Education (HPE) is a particularly rich subject area that mathematics teachers can capitalise on to show students how…

"Fitnessgram"® is a digital platform designed to help physical education teachers measure, record, disseminate and analyse the results of school-based student fitness testing. Despite important questions about the ethics, educational value and costs of "Fitnessgram"®, it is now widely used in the United States and is spreading…

Notions of creativity are increasingly central to educational scholarship and policies, but few studies attend to the intersection between "Health and Physical Education" (H/PE) and "creativity." In this paper we explore the literature on creativity in education and identify how creativity is represented across a broad spectrum…

This paper explores the legacy of Dr Fritz Duras in order to address the issue of whether the implementation of a new curriculum for health and physical education in Australia represents a defining time for the subject. Dr Duras was Director of the first physical education teacher education course at the University of Melbourne during an earlier…

More than 30 of the 43 universities in Australia offer an exercise science and/or sport science degree programs. In the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, more than 160 Registered Training Organisations offer Australian Government approved fitness training courses. The paper is a self-reflective exercise based upon mentoring placement…

Australian youth (5-17) are exhibiting the most alarming statistics surrounding poor physical activity (PA) levels and increasing correlating chronic disease trends (i.e. obesity). With schools well positioned to address such concerns, this study aimed to determine the type, frequency and intensity levels of PA being undertaken by children during…

Digital technologies are now considered important in shaping young people's engagement in and with health and physical activity. Recent discussions show that the use of digital technologies to track health and fitness may over-emphasize the linear understanding of the body and health generally underpinned by Western health ideologies such as…

Despite extensive critique, the teaching of Health and Physical Education (HPE) continues to be characterised by individualised and performative ideologies which are reflected in part by a continued focus upon fitness testing. There has been little attempt, however, to explore Australian HPE teachers' thoughts and reasoning for its privileged…

The unrealised and under-estimated value of human motion in human development, functioning and learning is the central cause for its devaluation in Australian society. This paper provides a greater insight into why human motion has high value and should be utilised more in advocacy and implementation in health and education, particularly school…

De Coubertin developed the sport philosophy of Olympism and the Olympic Games as a response to social and political crisis to promote peace, fair play, and the development of Christian masculinity. The purpose of this paper is to examine how crisis discourse functions as an important shaper of contemporary understandings of Olympism and how…

This paper focuses on the significance of embodied understandings to the emerging subjectivities and pedagogical practices of pre-service teachers undertaking a Physical Education (PE) specialisation through a B.Ed. (primary/middle). Data from a research project conducted at an Australian university with seven pre-service teachers will be…

Stereotypes and self-perceptions are important in understanding how people develop their self-knowledge and social identity, become members of groups, and view groups and their members. While we have some understanding of the stereotypical view of the physical education teacher, we currently have little knowledge of how physical education…