Who Is Actually Teaching PE in NSW Primary Schools?

Ask a NSW primary teacher when PE happened this week and you will often get a pause.

It rained. Sport got bumped for a numeracy block. The casual took them out for Dodgeball. My own daughters once came home from a PE lesson with the librarian and told me they had learnt about recycling.

None of this is because teachers don't care. It's because NSW runs a generalist model for K-6 PDHPE and most generalist teachers were never shown how to teach it.

This week on The PDHPE & CAFS Podcast I spoke with Rhett McDonald, a Victorian-trained primary PE specialist who moved to northern NSW and was told primary PE specialists don't exist in all schools here. Victoria has had a specialist in most primary schools since the early 1990s. That difference is the whole conversation.

Sport is not PE

When PE is a game on the oval, the kids who already have the skills dominate. The kids who can't catch, throw or land a jump drift to the back and stay there.

By Year 7 the gap is obvious. Every 7-10 PDHPE teacher sees it. Students who can't catch, can't throw and have never been taught how to land.

What a K-6 PDHPE program should be building:

• Fundamental movement skills first, sport-specific skills later
• Landing before jumping. Teach the last part of a skill first so kids are not getting hurt
• Most fundamental movement skills mastered by Stage 2 so Stage 3 and high school can build on them
• Every lesson tied to a skill, not just a game

Generalists can't be experts in everything

Literacy and numeracy carry the weight of NAPLAN. That is where the time and the professional learning go. Ask most NSW primary schools how many PD hours went to PE last year and the answer is close to zero.

So teachers teach what they're confident in. A netballer teaches netball. A rugby player teaches rugby. Which teacher a child gets that year decides what PE they get.

What schools can do without a specialist:

• Give teachers half an hour of PE-specific PD each term
• Use a sequenced K-6 fundamental movement skills program rather than starting from scratch
• Plan a wet weather option so movement doesn't get skipped
• Check the K-6 PDHPE syllabus before buying a wellbeing program.
  You are already be teaching it

If you can teach a child to read, you can teach a child to move. You just need a plan you trust.

Listen to the full episode: thelearnnet.com/189

Ready to teach K-6 PDHPE with confidence? Join the K-6 Primary PDHPE Membership: thelearnnet.com/primary

Kelly Bell is the founder of The Learning Network and host of The PDHPE & CAFS Podcast. She has 22 years in education and supports NSW teachers across K-6 PDHPE, 7-10 PDHPE, Health and Movement Science and Community and Family Studies.