A Spring in their Steps? Possibilities for Professional Renewal through Sport Education in Australian Schools

We report on three projects and an accompanying critical research agenda designed to establish and evaluate a new pedagogy in Australian physical education based on the sport education curriculum model first published by Siedentop et al. [Siedentop, D., Mand, C. & Taggart, A. (1986) Physical Education: Teaching and Curriculum Strategies for Grades 5‐12 (Palo Alto, Mayfield]. The projects, involving over 80 schools throughout Australia, are set in a context featuring an amalgam of postmodern youth culture, governmental inquiries and reports and the continuing difficulties facing physical educators in their workplaces. Against a backdrop of subject marginatyia, the projects’ findings have lent support to the proposition that it is dysfunctional programme structures (rather that deficits in teaching skills) that are most to blame in denying teachers access to significant subject matter learning targets. Our work presents evidence that the student‐centred, extended‐unit sport education curriculum model has the potential to be responsive to these challenges. It is conducive to ongoing school‐based professional and curriculum development, has led to widespread programme restructuring, has improved outcomes for many lower skilled students and has generally produced positive results for aspects of students’ social development. However girls tend still to be dominated by boys in particular sports. The model is positively affecting the career expectations of pre‐service students. As the model is already diffusing rapidly in Australian schools, there is a need to identify issues and chart an educational course for any further development.