Health‐Related Exercise, Effort Perception and Physical Education

Abstract

Since the early 1980s, the health benefits of exercise have become an increasingly regular and significant inclusion in physical education (PE). The incorporation of health as a permeating theme in the revised National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) of 1995 and the proposals to integrate health‐related exercise (HRE) requirements into all programmes of study in the current revision of NCPE (Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), 1999), provide substantial evidence of the constraints upon teachers to deliver HRE to ‘all corners’ of the PE curriculum. At the same time, it is evident that PE teachers have experienced difficulties extending HRE beyond gym‐based, fitness‐oriented activities to the range of NCPE activity areas.

In this paper, we attempt to relate the fairly recent expansion of interest in effort perceptionamong paediatric exercise scientists to HRE in PE. We argue that, inasmuch as it represents a potential building block for the self‐monitoring of health‐related activity on the part of the autonomous young adult, effort perception appears a dimension with obvious potential utility for pupils and teachers alike. It is a line of enquiry in tune with recent guidelines on HRE (Harris, 1998a) and curriculum proposals (QCA, 1999) and, thus one which is well worth pursuing.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ken Green

Ken Green and Kevin Lamb are with the Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, Chester College, UK.