‘Perhaps a Bit Different to What We Did Twenty Years Ago’: Senior Teachers’ Perceptions of Outdoor Adventure within Primary Education in England
Chris Webber *
and Ashley Hardwell *
and Ashley Hardwell *
School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds LS6 3QS, UK
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Sports 2019, 7(4), 92; https://doi.org/10.3390/sports7040092
Received: 18 March 2019 / Revised: 10 April 2019 / Accepted: 17 April 2019 / Published: 19 April 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Health and Wellbeing in an Outdoor and Adventure Sports Context)
Abstract
Outdoor and adventurous activities (OAA) are now a compulsory component of the primary education curriculum in England, with senior leadership teams exerting significant influence on its delivery in schools. This study considers senior teachers’ perceptions and value of the OAA strand of the Physical Education (PE) National Curriculum (NC) in primary education. Six senior teachers from across a large northern city took part in semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed using an interpretivist paradigm incorporating a multistage thematic coding process. Findings centred on the lack of guidance given by the NC within OAA and ensuing issues for experienced and less confident teachers of the subject. Different interpretations of OAA were prevalent from traditional skills-based activities to personal and social development through basic activities delivered outside the classroom. Finally, all senior staff highly regarded OAA and offered a strong rationale for its inclusion within curriculum time. The full potential of OAA as a cross-curricular approach to learning in primary education is not being realised and can be partially mitigated by more purposeful integration within teacher education programmes. View Full-TextKeywords:
physical education; national curriculum
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MDPI and ACS Style
Webber, C.; Hardwell, A. ‘Perhaps a Bit Different to What We Did Twenty Years Ago’: Senior Teachers’ Perceptions of Outdoor Adventure within Primary Education in England. Sports 2019, 7, 92.
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