Changing Secondary School Physical Education

Abstract

Evidence suggests that many secondary school physical education programs fail to achieve their objectives. A disturbing number of students report associating required attendance with strong negative feelings about the class, physical activity, and themselves. Teachers report that workplace conditions do not allow any serious effort to provide instruction. The nature of these problems is such that neither improving instruction nor upgrading the present curriculum will suffice. I argue that replacing the dominant program model is the only course of action that can save a place for physical education in secondary schools. Toward that end, a number of conventional ideas about school change must be reconsidered in the light of recent research. Problems are identified that may be particularly troublesome for physical education teachers who undertake program replacement, along with potentially helpful resources in the school change literature.