Primary physical education: a complex learning journey for children and teachers

Abstract

Primary physical education (PPE) is increasingly being recognised for the role it can potentially play in setting a foundation for lifelong engagement in physical activity. However, the majority of the literature continues to focus on the negative features of the subject within the primary context. Whilst acknowledging the existence of these barriers, this paper sets out to take a proactive approach by presenting a conceptual framework for PPE that seeks to support a renewed and positive vision for the future. Based on ideas from complexity thinking, the framework represents a move beyond the more positivist and linear approaches that have long been reported to dominate practices in PPE and recognises learners as active agents engaged in a learning process that is collaborative, non-linear and uncertain. While acknowledging the contested nature of the complexity field, the paper explores how key principles, including self-organisation, emergence, similarity, diversity, connectedness, nestedness, ambiguous bounding, recursive elaboration and edge of chaos, offer a lens that views PPE as a complex system. With the children's learning positioned as the focus of PPE in the educational setting, the paper discusses how complexity principles interweave with the ecological components to help us better understand and more creatively engage with the complex nature of PPE developments. Specifically, these components are identified as PPE learning experiences and their associated pedagogy, teachers and their PPE professional learning and key environmental factors that include the physical environment and key stakeholders who influence developments across the different levels of the education system. The paper concludes by suggesting that this complexity-informed PPE framework represents an open invitation for the all those involved in PPE to engage in a collective process of exploration and negotiation to positively influence developments in PPE.

Keywords:

• Complexity thinking
• Ecological perspectives
• Primary physical education
• Curriculum
• Pedagogy
• Professional learning

Notes

1. The concept of boundaries is also termed constraints in much of the literature (e.g. Chow et al., 2013; Newell, 1986). To avoid confusion and repetition, we will use the term boundaries throughout this paper.

2. As children have already been introduced and discussed in the introduction to the paper they will not be discussed in this brief overview.

3. From a learning perspective, we acknowledge children's PE learning also takes place across and beyond the primary school curriculum in other subject areas, interdisciplinary projects, playtime activities, extra-curricular clubs and in experiences outside the school. However, for this paper the focus will specifically be on the curriculum and pedagogy experiences during scheduled PPE curriculum time.