IN this years teaching syllabus there is an increased amount emphasis placed on PDHPE. Is this really necessary in primary children. Shouldn't these skills be developed later after the basic lierary skills have been perfected in primary years. Basically the question is 'why is there so much PDHPE in the new syllabus and why is it necessary?'.

Yours sincerely Ric.

-- Ric Jarvis (chook_9@hotmail.com), May 02, 2000

Answers

What you may in fact be arguing is against the relevance of one of the six mandatory KLA's in the Primary curriculum. Literacy can be taught in any subject; PDHPE has as demanding literacy skills required as any other syllabus. What you have noted with the increasing focus on PDHPE is not a sudden upsurge in this area (not an olympic-related hype), but is rather a levelling of the playing field.

Would you argue tha same point for the new HSIE syllabus??? Or the forthcoming Creative Arts Syllabus - which is currently in Primary Schools in draft form - and has been there for three years now??

As to your point over perfecting basic literacy skills in the early years, the NSW Govt. commissioned a survey of student fitness and skills-related fitness in 1997. The results are seen in a document called Student Fitness and Physical Activity and this was sent to every govt. school in 1997. One of the key recommendations was that students need to address identified deficiencies in basic motor skills - running, jumping, skipping, leaping, catching and throwing, etc. A document should arrive in all DET Primary Schools shortly called "Get Skilled. Get Active" this will hopefully assist teachers in addressing these deficiencies - which could be attributed to a lack of structured, age-appropriate physical activity lessons for students in the early years of their schooling.

Schooling should focus on the total education of the child - including social, physical and emotional aspects. Reading and writing is important, but not so much as another aspect is ignored or put off as not important enough. Think of the self - esteem of a student who cannot read well - but they may be able to perform a skill such as throwing successfully. At the end of the day, where is the positive??

feel free to contact me and continue this chat.

Regards,

Craig Maher

-- Craig Maher (Craig_and_Michelle@bigpond.com), May 06, 2000.