The Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education is written on the basis that all students will study Health and Physical Education from Foundation to Year 10.
Understand this learning area
Health and Physical Education
Introduction
Rationale
Health and Physical Education enables students to develop skills, understanding and willingness to positively influence the health and wellbeing of themselves and their communities. In an increasingly complex, sedentary and rapidly changing world, it is critical for every young Australian to flourish as a healthy, safe, active and informed citizen. It is essential that young people develop their ability to respond to new health issues and evolving physical activity options.
Integral to Health and Physical Education is the acquisition and application of movement skills, concepts and strategies across a range of physical activity contexts. This enables students to participate confidently and competently when moving. Movement is a powerful medium for learning through which students can acquire and practise personal, social and cognitive skills. When learning in movement contexts, students gain skills, understanding and dispositions that support lifelong physical activity participation and enhanced movement performance.
In Health and Physical Education, students develop personal and social skills through interacting with others in classroom and movement contexts. They use health and physical activity resources to enhance their own and others’ wellbeing. Health and Physical Education addresses factors that influence the health, safety, relationships, wellbeing and physical activity patterns of individuals, groups and communities. Students develop the understanding to challenge discrimination, assumptions and stereotypes. They gain skills to take positive action regarding diversity, inclusion, consent and respect in different social contexts.
Aims
Health and Physical Education aims to enable students to:
- access, evaluate and synthesise information to make informed choices and act to enhance and advocate for their own and others’ health, wellbeing, safety and physical activity participation
- develop and use personal, social and cognitive skills and strategies to promote self-identity and wellbeing, and to build and manage respectful relationships
- acquire, apply and evaluate movement skills, concepts and strategies to respond confidently, competently and creatively in various physical activity settings
- engage in and create opportunities for regular physical activity participation as individuals and for the communities to which they belong
- analyse how varied and changing personal and contextual factors shape opportunities for health and physical activity.
Structure
Health and Physical Education is presented in 2-year band levels from Year 1 to Year 10, with Foundation presented as a single year level.
Content in Health and Physical Education is organised under 2 strands:
- Personal, social and community health
- Movement and physical activity.
The 2 strands are interrelated and inform and support each other. Both strands must be taught in each year from Foundation to Year 10.
The strands and sub-strands are illustrated in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Health and Physical Education content structure
Personal, social and community health
The Personal, social and community health strand focuses on the knowledge, understanding and skills needed to make healthy and safe choices. In the early years, the focus is on exploring and investigating safe and healthy personal practices. The strand examines the contextual factors that influence health, safety, physical activity levels and wellbeing through a range of focus areas and issues. It is underpinned by a strengths-based approach and socio-critical perspectives. It focuses on developing health literacy skills to apply new information to changing circumstances. This strand examines environments that influence health, safety, relationships and wellbeing at an individual and community level.
Under this strand, content is further organised into 3 sub-strands:
- Identities and change
- Interacting with others
- Making healthy and safe choices.
Movement and physical activity
The Movement and physical activity strand promotes appreciation of how movement in all its forms is central to daily life. Movement meets functional requirements and provides opportunities for active living. It is also a setting where personal, social and cognitive skills can be developed and refined. In the early years, the focus is on development of movement skills and physical activity participation through active play and minor games. The acquisition and refinement of a range of movement skills, concepts and strategies builds movement competence and confidence. This also develops the dispositions necessary for lifelong participation in physical activities.
Under this strand, content is further organised into 3 sub-strands:
- Moving our bodies
- Making active choices
- Learning through movement.
When planning programs, it is recommended, where appropriate, to combine content descriptions from across sub-strands to make relevant connections between health and movement. Programs should provide students with meaningful learning experiences that meet their interests, abilities and local contexts.
Practical application is essential to the development of knowledge, understanding and skills across health and movement focus areas. Students should be provided with the opportunity to participate in weekly physical activity, as a minimum, as part of the Health and Physical Education curriculum.
Focus areas
The content descriptions in Health and Physical Education must be taught through the following 12 focus areas.
Alcohol and other drugs addresses safe practices in relation to a range of drugs, including prescription drugs, natural and alternative medicines, energy drinks, caffeine, tobacco, alcohol, e-cigarettes and other synthetic drugs, cocaine, ecstasy, and methamphetamines.
Food and nutrition addresses the role of food and nutrition in enhancing health and wellbeing. The content supports students to make healthy, informed food choices. Students explore the contextual factors that influence eating habits and food choices.
Health benefits of physical activity addresses the impact regular physical activity participation has on individual and community health and wellbeing. The content supports students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills to make active choices. They explore influences on physical activity participation and choices.
Mental health and wellbeing addresses how mental health and wellbeing can be enhanced and strengthened at an individual and community level. The content teaches students to maintain and enhance their own mental health and wellbeing, and to support that of others.
Relationships and sexuality addresses physical, social and emotional changes that occur over time and the significant role relationships, identities and sexuality play in these changes. The content supports students to develop positive and respectful practices in relation to their reproductive and sexual health and their identities.
Safety addresses safety issues that students may encounter in their daily lives. The content supports students to make safe decisions and behave in ways that protect their own safety and that of others.
Active play and minor games focuses on students learning through play with people, objects and representations – indoors, outdoors, alone, with a partner or in a group. The content supports students to be physically active and develop creativity, persistence, negotiation, problem-solving, planning and cooperation.
Challenge and adventure focuses on how individuals participate in physical activities that challenge them physiologically, behaviourally and socially in diverse environments. The content supports students to assess hazards and manage risks.
Fundamental movement skills focuses on the development of fundamental movement skills that support competent and confident participation in physical activities.
Games and sports focuses on the development of movement skills, concepts and strategies through a variety of games and sports. This content builds on learning in active play, minor games and fundamental movement skills.
Lifelong physical activities focuses on how participation in physical activity can enhance health-related fitness and wellbeing across the lifespan.
Rhythmic and expressive activities focuses on how movement can be composed and performed in response to equipment, beats and sounds, images, words and themes.
The focus areas provide the breadth of learning across Foundation to Year 10 that students require to demonstrate the knowledge, understanding and skills described in the achievement standard for each band of learning. The band level descriptions and content elaborations provide guidance for how each focus area can be addressed in each band.
Decisions about the specific timing of individual aspects of each focus area being taught are the responsibility of schools and teachers. Planning decisions should consider local needs, available resources, students’ readiness and community priorities. Content elaborations provide further detail about how and when elements of the focus areas can be addressed in bands of learning.
Key considerations
Health and Physical Education propositions
Health and Physical Education is shaped by 5 propositions that are informed by a strong and diverse research base for a futures-oriented curriculum. These propositions are:
- focus on educative purposes
- take a strengths-based approach
- value movement
- develop health literacy
- include a critical inquiry approach.
These interrelated propositions provide a framework for exploring the learning described in Health and Physical Education in a way that will create relevance and meaning for all students. Individually and collectively the propositions should guide program planning and pedagogy.
Health and Physical Education emphasises the importance of learning opportunities that explicitly teach the knowledge, understanding and skills described in the standards and content through authentic and meaningful learning contexts. Teachers should be able to articulate what knowledge, understanding and skills they are developing, reinforcing and/or applying during a lesson, unit or assessment.
When this proposition is considered as part of the planning process, classroom programs:
- include purposeful learning experiences
- are developmentally appropriate and clearly articulate how the learning is aligned to achievement standards and content.
This proposition guides teachers to focus on the explicit learning driven by the content descriptions and achievement standards, and offers a check point when reviewing programs. If a learning activity or assessment task cannot be explicitly linked to the achievement standards and learning area content, then it may need to be reviewed or removed from the program.
A strengths-based approach recognises that students have varying levels of access to personal skills, strengths, assets and community resources to maintain and promote their own and others’ wellbeing. Health and Physical Education recognises that contextual factors impact peoples’ decisions and behaviours in relation to their health, safety, wellbeing and participation in physical activity.
This proposition focuses on personal skills and community resources that can build students’ agency in various health and movement contexts. It recognises that the skills, resources and capacities each student has available to them will differ immensely. However, all students, no matter what their background or life situation, have capacities that can be drawn on to support them to make healthy, safe and active choices. Applying a strengths-based approach requires teachers to view health and physical activity participation as processes that students need to make sense of for themselves, rather than a single outcome students need to achieve.
When this proposition is considered as part of the planning process, classroom programs:
- support students to find solutions and plans of action that work for them as individuals rather than promoting a “one-size-fits-all” approach to being healthy, safe or active
- explore strategies to access community resources and the role individuals play in contributing to the health, safety and wellbeing of their families and communities.
Valuing movement promotes appreciation of how movement in all its forms is central to daily life. Movement meets functional requirements and provides opportunities for active living. Valuing movement means acknowledging participation in physical activity and sport as significant social practices. Health and Physical Education develops physical literacy through meaningful movement experiences to support ongoing participation in physical activity across the lifespan. It emphasises the development, transfer and adaptation of movement skills and understandings within and across different movement contexts. When planning movement experiences, teachers must consider how their decisions may value some movement skills and contexts over others and unintentionally privilege or marginalise some students in the process.
When this proposition is considered as part of the planning process:
- movement is identified not only as content to be taught, but also as a context for learning
- programs explore and value diverse ways of moving and reasons for moving
- programs engage and challenge all students.
Health literacy is an individual’s ability to access, understand, interrogate and use health information and services to promote their own and others’ health and wellbeing. Consistent with a strengths-based approach, health literacy is a personal and community asset to be developed, evaluated, enriched and communicated. Health and Physical Education focuses on developing knowledge, understanding and skills related to 3 dimensions of health literacy – functional, interactive and critical. The curriculum promotes the progressive development of health literacy skills. First, students can access and apply information to respond to a health-related question. Then, they can independently apply new information to changing health circumstances. Finally, they can selectively access, analyse, evaluate and synthesise health information from a variety of sources to actively promote their own and others’ health and wellbeing.
When this proposition is considered as part of the planning process, classroom programs:
- help students become critical consumers of health information, able to critique the reliability of published content from traditional and less-traditional sources
- provide opportunities to access, critique and use relevant and meaningful health information and support networks
- encourage students to apply their health knowledge and skills in a variety of complex and meaningful contexts.
Health and Physical Education promotes a critical inquiry approach to examining information, ideas and views that are commonly expressed in the media and society. Health and Physical Education recognises that contextual factors, which are often out of individuals’ control, influence decision-making, behaviours and actions in relation to health and wellbeing. This proposition encourages the development of skills in researching, analysing, applying and appraising knowledge to investigate meaningful, “real-life” situations and problems, and respond with creative solutions or alternatives. A critical inquiry approach develops and refines the skills needed to make sense of social, cultural and political issues from personal perspectives based on lived experiences.
When this proposition is considered as part of the planning process, classroom programs:
- provide frequent opportunities for students to challenge, question and interrogate knowledge and assumptions in the health and movement fields
- encourage students to use a critical lens when interrogating information and ideas commonly expressed in society
- recognise that being and staying healthy, safe, well and active are shaped by a range of contextual factors, some of which are out of an individual’s control.
Meeting the needs of diverse learners
The Australian Curriculum values diversity by providing for multiple means of representation, action, expression and engagement, and allows schools the flexibility to respond to the diversity of learners within their community.
All schools have a responsibility when implementing the Australian Curriculum to ensure that students’ learning is inclusive, and relevant to their experiences, abilities and talents.
For some students with diverse languages, cultures, abilities and talents it may be necessary to provide a range of curriculum adjustments so they can access age-equivalent content in the Australian Curriculum and participate in learning on the same basis as their peers.
Some students may require adjustments to support how they see, hear, and/or process information or instructions in Health and Physical Education. Students may require access to a wide range of approaches including, and not limited to:
- auditory, visual and kinaesthetic methods of instruction
- simultaneous learning channels such as combinations of listening, speaking, reading, viewing and writing
- peer-assisted learning
- challenging individual and group extension activities.
Adjustments to the practical delivery of movement-based lessons will be necessary to ensure that some students with physical disability can access learning, participate fully and achieve on the same basis as their peers. These adjustments could include but are not limited to:
- adjustment to teaching styles and delivery of instructions
- negotiated changes to rules of games
- access to modified equipment
- changes to the learning environment to ensure accessibility and safety.
As with other areas of student diversity, it is crucial to acknowledge and affirm diversity in relation to sexuality and gender in Health and Physical Education. Inclusive Health and Physical Education programs that affirm sexuality and gender diversity acknowledge the impact of diversity on students’ social worlds. They acknowledge and respond to the needs of all students, and provide more meaningful and relevant learning opportunities for all students. All school communities have a responsibility when implementing the Health and Physical Education curriculum to ensure that teaching is inclusive and relevant to the lived experiences of all students. This is particularly important when teaching about reproduction and sexual health. Schools must ensure that the needs of all students are met, including students who may be same-sex attracted, gender diverse or intersex.
Protocols for engaging First Nations Australians
When planning teaching activities involving engagement with First Nations Australians, teachers should follow protocols that describe principles, procedures and behaviours for recognising and respecting First Nations Australians and their intellectual property. Teachers should use approved resources such as those that may be provided by their state or territory school system, or First Nations Australian education consultative groups, or other protocols accredited by First Nations Australians.
While the Australian Curriculum uses the terms “First Nations Australians” and “Australian First Nations Peoples”, there may be other terms that First Nations Australians of a particular area or location prefer. It is important to use the terms preferred in a particular area or location.
Importance of a healthy school environment
It has long been recognised that the broader school environment can enhance the delivery of the Health and Physical Education curriculum. Learning in Health and Physical Education supports students to make informed decisions about their health, wellbeing, safety and physical activity participation. If the messages learnt in Health and Physical Education are reflected across the school and wider school community, this learning is validated and reinforced.
A healthy and supportive school environment may be enriched through health-promoting and equitable school policies and processes, and partnerships with parents, community organisations and specialist services. These whole-of-school approaches are particularly important for the implementation of teaching and learning on key issues, such as child safety and abuse prevention, alcohol and other drug use, sexual health and sexuality education, respectful relationships education and consent education. When implementing programs around these issues, schools should work in partnership with parents and the wider school community to ensure the learning is evidence based and appropriate for their local school context.
Organisation of learning
Schools will organise and deliver learning experiences depending on local needs, resource availability and timetabling structures. In secondary settings in particular, the content from Health and Physical Education can be organised and delivered in a range of ways and through several different school subjects, such as home economics and outdoor education.
Home economics develops students’ capacity to make decisions, solve problems and respond critically and creatively to practical concerns of individuals, families and communities in local and global contexts. Elements of learning in home economics draws from content in both Health and Physical Education and Technologies in the Australian Curriculum.
The primary content drawn from the Health and Physical Education curriculum is in relation to food and nutrition, growth and development, identity and connecting to others. The Health and Physical Education curriculum focuses on developing knowledge, understanding and skills needed to make healthy choices about food and nutrition. Students learn about this by exploring the influences on these choices and developing skills to access and assess nutritional information to support healthy choices. In Health and Physical Education, students learn about different stages of life and take increasing responsibility for their own growth and development. They explore and learn how to manage the many different factors that influence their identities. They also develop a practical understanding of how connections to other people influence health and wellbeing.
Visit the ‘Food and wellbeing’ page of the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 website for more information.
Outdoor education engages students in practical and active learning experiences in natural environments and outdoor settings typically beyond the school boundary. In these environments, students develop knowledge, understanding and skills to move safely and competently while valuing a positive relationship with and promoting the sustainable use of these environments. Learning in outdoor education draws on content from across the Australian Curriculum, including Health and Physical Education, Geography and Science. The primary content drawn from Health and Physical Education is in the areas of outdoor recreation, challenge and adventure activities, and the influence spending time outdoors and in nature has on health and wellbeing.
Outdoor education provides opportunities to learn about interacting with others, connecting to the environment, teamwork and leadership. The outdoors provides a valid and important environment for developing movement competence, promoting a sense of wellbeing, enhancing personal and social skills, and understanding the concept of risk versus challenge. Outdoor recreation is typically associated with physical activity in outdoor, natural or semi-natural settings. These activities provide opportunities to connect individually, in small groups or as a community to the outdoor environment. They contribute to health and wellbeing through direct personal experiences and promote lifelong physical activity. Depending on how outdoor learning is planned and delivered, there is scope to link to focus areas such as challenge and adventure activities, safety, health benefits of physical activity, food and nutrition, mental health and wellbeing, and lifelong physical activities.
Visit the ‘Outdoor learning’ page of the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0 website for more information.
Key connections
General capabilities
General capabilities equip young Australians with the knowledge, skills, behaviours and dispositions to live and work successfully. General capabilities support and deepen student engagement with learning area content and are best developed within the context of learning areas.
Opportunities to develop general capabilities in learning area content vary. In addition to Literacy and Numeracy, which are fundamental to all learning areas, all the other general capabilities have relevance and application to Health and Physical Education. The general capabilities are identified in content descriptions when they are developed or applied through the Health and Physical Education content. They are also identified in content elaborations when they offer opportunities to add depth and richness to student learning.
Health and Physical Education develops literacy by introducing specific terminology used in health and physical activity contexts. Students understand the language used to describe health status, products, information and services. They become critical consumers able to access, interpret, analyse, evaluate and challenge the changing knowledge base in health and physical education.
Students also learn to comprehend and compose texts related to Health and Physical Education. This includes learning to communicate effectively to different audiences for a variety of purposes. Students learn to express their ideas, evaluate others’ viewpoints and express their emotions appropriately in different social and physical activity contexts.
As students engage with learning experiences in Health and Physical Education, they select and apply relevant numeracy knowledge and skills. Students use calculation, estimation and measurement to collect and interpret information related to nutrition, fitness, navigation or skill performances. They use spatial reasoning in movement activities and in developing concepts and strategies for individual and team sports or recreational pursuits. Students interpret and analyse health and physical activity information using statistical reasoning. They identify patterns and relationships in data to consider trends, draw conclusions, make predictions and inform health behaviour and practices.
While Personal and Social capability is fundamental to engaging in any learning environment, it is core to Health and Physical Education. Through the 2 content strands, students develop interpersonal skills such as communication, negotiation, teamwork and leadership, and an appreciation of diverse perspectives. These skills allow students to explore their identity and understand influences that form their sense of identity. They learn how to recognise, understand, validate and respond appropriately to their emotions, strengths and values.
In Health and Physical Education, students develop logical, critical and creative thinking in response to health and movement issues. Students learn how to evaluate evidence and media messages related to Health and Physical Education topics for bias and reliability. They engage in learning experiences that encourage them to develop questions and seek creative solutions to health and movement situations. Students critique and challenge societal factors that negatively influence their own and others’ health and wellbeing, such as stereotypes, biases, prejudices and discrimination.
Health and Physical Education enhances digital literacy by helping students to safely access online information and services to manage their health and wellbeing. Students develop understanding of the role digital tools play in their lives and relationships. They explore the nature of digital tools and the implications for establishing and managing relationships.
Students learn about ethical online behaviour, including protocols and practices for using digital tools for respectful communication. Students use digital tools for communicating, collaborating, creating content, seeking help, accessing information and analysing movement performances. They use a range of digital tools to analyse, measure and enhance movement performances. Students access and critically evaluate health information, products and services using digital tools. They also use digital tools to develop personalised plans for nutrition and physical activity participation.
Health and Physical Education develops students’ ethical understanding as they learn the importance of treating others with integrity, fairness and compassion. They also learn to value and respect diversity and equality. Students examine ethical concepts and codes of practice appropriate to different contexts, such as at school, at home, in the community, in relationships, on the sporting field and in outdoor settings. As students explore fair play, equitable participation, empathy, consent and respect in relationships, they learn to make ethical decisions and understand the consequences of their actions. They also develop the capacity to apply these skills in everyday situations and movement-based contexts.
Health and Physical Education informs students that cultural beliefs and perspectives may affect how some people make food and health choices, or how they are able to participate in physical activities. Students examine stereotypical representations of cultural groups and the impact these can have on an individual’s health, wellbeing and sense of belonging. In doing so, students understand how culture shapes personal and social perspectives and interactions. Students also understand what is valued in terms of health and physical activity within their families, social groups and institutions, and within other cultures in the broader community. They explore how this affects the development of their self-identity.
Cross-curriculum priorities
Cross-curriculum priorities support the Australian Curriculum to be a relevant, contemporary and engaging curriculum that reflects national, regional and global contexts. Cross-curriculum priorities are incorporated through learning area content; they are not separate learning areas or subjects. They provide opportunities to enrich the content of the learning areas, where most appropriate and authentic, allowing students to engage with and better understand their world.
Opportunities to apply cross-curriculum priorities to learning area content vary. All 3 cross-curriculum priorities are of relevance and meaning to the Health and Physical Education curriculum. These cross-curriculum priorities are identified in content elaborations where they can offer opportunities to add depth and richness to student learning in Health and Physical Education.
In Health and Physical Education, students can explore the roles identity and connection play in the health and wellbeing of the oldest continuous living cultures in the world. Students have opportunities to investigate the lived experiences of First Nations Australians and their impact on identities, connection to Country/Place, and the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. Students gain insights into the impact systemic racism and discrimination have had on Australian First Nations Peoples. They can investigate strategies that promote truth-telling and build cultural awareness to develop empathy and respectful relationships.
Students appreciate how family and kinship structures maintain and promote health, safety, relationships and wellbeing within First Nations Australian communities. They can learn how the sharing of cultural knowledge is aligned to ceremonies and roles within their communities. Students explore how First Nations Australians have long successfully developed complete diets that meet nutritional requirements. They see how foods were and continue to be used for medicinal purposes. Students also investigate the origins, purpose and history of traditional and contemporary First Nations Australian games. There are also opportunities for them to explore the significant contributions First Nations Australians have made to the health and sporting fields.
In Health and Physical Education, the priority of Asia and Australia’s Engagement with Asia provides opportunities for students to engage with diverse cultures, traditions and belief systems of the Asia region. They develop empathy, respect and interpersonal skills that reflect cultural understanding. Students can examine the diversity of cultural beliefs, practices and experiences across the cultures of the Asia region. They are able to explore the influence these have on identities, interactions and relationships.
In Health and Physical Education, students explore how they can interact with natural and outdoor settings, and with people in their social networks and wider communities. They consider the role of these connections in supporting the wellbeing of individuals and the community now and into the future. Students develop their world view by exploring diversity, social justice and consumerism as they relate to the promotion and maintenance of health and wellbeing. Through movement experiences, students participate in physical activity in a range of settings, including natural and outdoor settings. They appreciate the interdependence of the wellbeing of people and the environments they live within.
Learning areas
Health and Physical Education provides opportunities to integrate and connect content to other learning areas; in particular, Science, The Arts, Technologies, English, Humanities and Social Sciences and Mathematics.
Health and Physical Education and Science examine how systems work together to produce energy and movement through activities that explore body responses to exercise and activity. Health and Physical Education includes understanding the importance of food and nutrition to the human body. Health and Physical Education also has links to content in the Physical sciences sub-strand of the Science curriculum. Students use tools, techniques and processes to investigate movement performance in a practical context while exploring force, motion, speed and effort. Some skills central to Health and Physical Education, such as communicating, problem-solving, comprehending and using existing resources to develop new ideas, also reinforce learning in Science.
Dance is a key movement medium in Health and Physical Education and is identified in The Arts learning area as one of 5 art forms. Health and Physical Education focuses on dance as a lifelong physical activity and teaching movement skills, concepts and patterns associated with dance. Dance and Drama enable students to develop personal and social skills, and appraise cultural and social factors that shape their own identities and communities as well as developing movement competence and confidence.
In the Technologies learning area, students learn how to apply nutrition knowledge through the preparation of food. Students learn practical food-preparation skills through the food technologies context in the Design and Technologies curriculum. Food and nutrition is one of the focus areas in the Health and Physical Education curriculum. This focus area enables students to develop and apply knowledge, understanding and skills to make healthier choices in relation to food and nutrition. They also learn to understand the range of social, cultural and contextual factors that shape what we eat and drink.
In Digital Technologies, students learn skills in digital privacy, online safety (seeking help and engaging respectfully) and giving or denying consent as they expand their communication and collaboration experience into online and networked environments.
English and Health and Physical Education share a focus on examining, analysing, interpreting and evaluating spoken, written and multimodal texts. They also consider the ways in which purpose and audience shape messages. These skills help students to assess health and physical activity texts for accuracy and reliability, and to deconstruct the subtleties of health messaging. They also support the development of health literacy, which is a key proposition of the Health and Physical Education curriculum. Both learning areas help students to understand context and its influence on perspectives and personal responses.
The skills of the Humanities and Social Sciences curriculum link strongly with key skills developed in Health and Physical Education. In both learning areas, students develop the ability to question, think critically, solve problems, communicate effectively, make decisions and adapt to change. In Humanities and Social Sciences and Health and Physical Education, students study human behaviours and interactions in social and cultural contexts. They learn how to respond to issues that require an understanding of the range of social factors to be considered. Students explore how people can learn about their community, connect with natural and outdoor settings, and enhance their identity and sense of belonging.
In Health and Physical Education and Mathematics, students examine relationships between time, space and rhythm through a variety of movement forms and composition ideas. In both learning areas, students learn about size, scale, shape, pattern, proportion and orientation. There are also strong links to mathematical concepts (data, graphical representations, measurement, rates, ratios, percentages and proportions) in the analysis of nutritional information, movement and health- and skill-related fitness components.
Resources
Curriculum documents including understanding the learning area, curriculum content in F–6 and 7–10, a scope and sequence representation, the glossary, and comparative information about Version 8.4 and Version 9.0 are available on the download page.
Focus area descriptions
There is a document providing descriptions of each focus area. The content descriptions in Health and Physical Education must be taught through the 12 focus areas. This document is available on the download page.