The topic 'Health' in PETE in Bavaria, Germany – cooperative planning and changes in attitudes and mindsets

Introduction Health education plays a central role in German physical education curricula. In PE pupils should acquire sport-related health competence (SRHC), which enables them to maintain and restore health by physical... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction

Health education plays a central role in German physical education curricula. In PE pupils should acquire sport-related health competence (SRHC), which enables them to maintain and restore health by physical activity in own responsibilty (Töpfer, 2017). The presentation focuses on how PE teacher educators attitudes and mindsets change by a specific intervention.

Methods

Cooperative planning groups (cf. Bergmann et al. 2012) consisting of scientists, university lecturers, seminar-school teachers and students worked together to agree upon a common understanding of health and health competencies. From this common ground the groups elaborated new contents for their teaching. 12 teacher educators from 2 institutes of sports science (1^st phase of teacher education) and 4 seminar-schools (2^nd phase of teacher education) were surveyed by video observation and problem-centred and stimulated recall interviews pre and post. The data was transcribed and interpreted by content analysis.

Results

The exchange between the stake holders was considered to be extremely helpful. All stake holders dealt more consciously with the topic health in their respective setting. Thus, cooperative planning groups might be a good tool for changing reality. The data analysis is still ongoing. Preliminary insights indicate that the dichotomy of developing SRHC on the one hand and movement time on the other hand remains a core challenge for modern PE lessons.

Conclusion

In the next three years of the project (health.edu+) the focus will be on the implementation and evaluation of newly developed lesson plans in the school setting. The challenge will be to bridge the gap between conveying SRHC and the demand for „enough“ movement time in PE lessons.

References

Bergmann, M. et al. (2012): Methods for Transdisciplinary Research. A Primer for Practice. Frankfurt/New York: Campus Verlag

Töpfer, C. (2017). Sportbezogene Gesundheitskompetenz: Kompetenzmodellierung und Testentwicklung für den Sportunterricht. Erlangen: OPUS FAU.