Newtown Public Primary Physical Education Class

This week I observed a gym class at the primary school I volunteer at every week called Newtown Public. Because of the integral role sport plays in the lives of Australians I expected the class to be much different from the gym classes I partook in during elementary school in America. The class I observed had a session on gymnastics in which the kids were required to do handstands and walk on balance beams. In my schooling experience gymnastics was not a part of the physical education curriculum but only a sport practiced outside of school by those who had enough money to participate. I found it incredibly interesting that gymnastics are practiced in Australian physical education classes not only because it has never been a part of American physical education but also because it is not one of the sports Australians pride themselves on. Another difference I noted between Australian and American physical education by talking with the teacher after class was that Newtown Public School does not have a separate physical educator but instead the classroom teachers run physical education for their individual classes, a trend becoming common in Australian schools. Light (2011) emphasizes this point by stating that “there had been a significant decline in the content and quality of physical education and sport in schools linked to a reduction in the number of specialist physical education teachers” (Light, 2011, p. 61) in the late 1980s. In this article Light (2011) further describes how physical education has become less effective in the past few generations because it is now packed into a stacked curriculum that emphasizes academics. This same problem has recently occurred in the United States, as limited budgets have cut back on physical education and at times cut physical education out of the curriculum entirely. I believe that physical education proves crucial to child development and helps combat childhood obesity, and therefore think that both Australia and the United States need to maintain strong physical education programs in all elementary schools.