Over the years, a steady shift has been taking place in health and physical education classes across the province with more and more educators adopting a broader, more balanced approach to Health and Physical Education—something that is reflected in the revised curriculum and in the new Ophea support resources that will help schools and communities deliver it.

Introducing the new curriculum...

The revised elementary curriculum, released on January 18, 2010, and the secondary curriculum, set to be released later in 2010, are based on the vision that the knowledge and skills acquired in the program will benefit students throughout their lives and help them to thrive in an ever-changing world by enabling them to acquire physical and health literacy, and to develop the comprehension, capacity, and commitment needed to lead healthy, active lives and to promote the benefits of healthy, active living.

"Ophea fully supports the vision of the revised H&PE Curriculum and looks forward to supporting educators, administrators, public health, sport and recreation and other community leaders in its implementation," says Mark Seaton, president of Ophea's Board of Directors.

Helping students to build physical literacy (the ability to move with competence in a variety of physical activities) and health literacy (the skills needed to get, understand and use information to make good decisions for health) is key to the curriculum but, more simply put, "The curriculum is about helping students develop the skills needed to make healthy choices," says Chris Markham, Ophea's executive director and CEO. "This policy stands to be the most significant health promotion initiative the province has ever seen, affecting 2.1 million students and their families."

How was the curriculum developed?

The revised curriculum was developed by the Ministry of Education with input from many education and health promotion organizations, including Ophea. It was put together through an extensive review, consultation, writing and revision process which began in 2007. This process involved feedback from numerous professional organizations, as well as teachers, students and other stakeholders. Together, these groups and individuals examined the 1998 curriculum, preserving the best parts of it while making recommendations for change.

What's new about it?

The revised H&PE curriculum is made up of three distinct but related strands: Healthy Living, Active Living, and Movement Competence: Skills, Concepts and Strategies. A further set of expectations related to Living Skills – personal, interpersonal and critical and creative thinking skills – are included at the beginning of each grade and are taught and evaluated in conjunction with the learning in the three strands. The approach to Healthy Living has changed in the revised curriculum, and focuses on helping students to use their understanding of health concepts to make healthy choices and to understand the connection between their personal health and well-being and that of others and of the world around them. The Movement Competence strand (formerly called the Fundamental Movement Skills strand) focuses on developing movement skills, concepts and strategies that prepare students to participate in lifelong physical activity. And the Active Living strand (formerly called the Active Participation strand) focuses on teaching students about the joy of physical activity while developing personal fitness and responsibility for safe participation in physical activity. A strong emphasis is placed on teaching the Living Skills (i.e., personal skills, interpersonal skills, and critical and creative processes) across all strands.

"OASPHE (Ontario Association for the Supervision of Physical and Health Education) is excited that when fully implemented, the revised H&PE curriculum will provide students with the opportunity to develop the skills and attitudes needed to make a lifelong commitment to physical activity and healthy life choices," says Lara Paterson, president of OASPHE.

The curriculum as a whole is based on more of a continuum, helping students to build on the skills they've acquired as they move through the elementary grades and on to secondary education. To help achieve this continuum, topics have been shifted between grades and levels to improve developmental appropriateness and ensure that students have the opportunity to learn and practice skills before they are required to apply them.

Specific updates have also been made to the content in order to reflect current health topics (e.g., healthy eating, personal safety and injury prevention, substance use, addictions and related behaviours and human development and sexual health. Mental health and emotional well-being is addressed across all topic areas.)

The shifts in approach are reflected in the five fundamental principles on which the curriculum is based:

1 – Health and Physical Education programs are most effective when students' learning is supported by school staff, families and communities.

The most effective way to validate and reinforce what students are learning in H&PE classes is to have these same values and healthy habits reflected in school policies, at home and in their communities. Achieving this takes a concerted, consistent effort on the part of all school community members.

"The revised Health and Physical Education curriculum is best implemented as one of the four pillars of Healthy Schools," explains Heather Gardner, Ophea's H&PE curriculum consultant, referring to the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health Promotion's Foundations for a Healthy School. This policy provides a philosophy and framework for Healthy Schools in Ontario, in four areas: 1. High Quality Instruction and Programs, 2. A Healthy Physical Environment, 3. A Supportive Social Environment, and 4. Community Partnerships.

"The revised elementary curriculum directly connects to high quality instruction and programs," comments Gardner, "but its vision cannot be fully achieved unless it is delivered within a healthy school and healthy community."

2 – Physical activity is the key vehicle for student learning.

This principle refers to the fact that students should learn about healthy activities by doing them. This way, not only will they discover the joy of movement but they will develop skills that will lead to a lifetime of healthy active living. They will also come to understand how to apply the skills and principles they've learned to other things.

"The idea of teaching transferable skills and strategies was especially important to accommodate the growing number of sports, games and activities from other cultures that are becoming popular in Ontario," says Andrea Pivetta, a primary/junior teacher from York Region District School Board who has worked as a writer for the new Ophea H&PE Curriculum Support Resources (Grade 1-8).

3 – Physical and emotional safety is a precondition for effective learning in Health and Physical Education.

This principle relates once again to the Healthy Schools framework (i.e., the need for a supportive social environment). It recognizes that children participating in H&PE are taking part in activities that involve inherent risk and that they're doing so in a space where their peers can see them explore, succeed and make mistakes. For this reason, a focus on safety and inclusivity is essential and the program aims to accommodate the strengths, needs and interests of all students.

4 – Learning in Health and Physical Education is student-centred and skill-based.

The revised curriculum recognizes that the physical and emotional development of students will vary widely. For this reason, the curriculum has shifted from a content-focused approach to a more skill-based approach which allows for differentiation of instruction—guiding teachers by way of the examples and teaching prompts to modify lessons according to a student's readiness, interest and learning preference, ultimately, helping them to reach their full potential. This shift is intended to help students acquire and practice the skills needed to develop physical and health literacy, and to lead healthy active lives. The curriculum has also been developed in such a way that students of all backgrounds and abilities (including First Nations, Métis and Inuit students; students from a variety of cultures; students who are learning English and students with special needs) should be able to see themselves reflected in its content.

5 – Learning in Health and Physical Education is balanced, integrated and connected to real life.

Learning in the revised H&PE curriculum is balanced in that it addresses physical, cognitive and social needs. It is integrated because connections between all strands of the curriculum— Healthy Living, Active Living and Movement Competence: Skills, Concepts and Strategies - and between the content of the strands and the Living Skills are made whenever possible. And, finally, "topics covered are meant to reflect the situations students face and the choices they have to make in today's world," says Pivetta, explaining how the program is connected to real life.

How has the format and structure changed?

Changes to the format and structure of the curriculum will make the program easier to implement for all teachers—both specialists and generalists. They include more detailed examples; teacher prompts and sample student responses, expanded front matter and the addition of division overviews and appendices. The organization of expectations is by grade instead of by strand and specific expectations are clearly connected to overall expectations (upon which the students will be evaluated). With evaluation, the focus is on the quality instead of the frequency of a student's demonstration of a skill.

How can you get help implementing the revised curriculum?

"In my objective opinion as an elementary school teacher at a school that believes in generalist teachers teaching their class all subjects, the Ophea H&PE support documents are the most valuable resource to which I have ever had access," says Pivetta, referring to the "Ophea binders", which have been helping teachers to deliver the 1998 H&PE curriculum for the last 10 years. "The Ophea documents offer suggestions for long-range plans and unit plans. The individual lesson plans provide detailed information for all components of a lesson including, assessment tools and resources."

The new Ophea H&PE Curriculum Support Resources (Grade 1–8), set to be released in fall 2010 to coincide with the mandatory implementation of the revised curriculum, will do all of this and more. They will help teachers make a smooth transition to the revised curriculum and provide a one-stop-shop for all educators, particularly generalist teachers, to access high quality, grade-specific support.

Ophea is working in partnership with OASPHE (Ontario Association for the Supervision of Physical and Health Education) and various other partners including school boards, public health units, sport and recreation organizations across the province, as well as provincial government and non-government organizations to develop and review the new Ophea H&PE Curriculum Support Resources (Grade 1-8) that will reflect the changes in the revised H&PE Curriculum. The resources will encompass all strands of the revised curriculum and include approximately 120 lesson plans for each grade level.

"The revised resources meet the needs of all students of varying abilities," says Gardner. "They contain current instructional strategies such as think- pair-share, free exploration, think aloud, and conferencing, as well as current assessment practices such as checklists, rubrics and anecdotal notes. Daily Physical Activity (DPA) has been integrated into the Movement Competence and Active Living lessons."

Changes we can all get excited about...

In short, the revised curriculum and the new Ophea resources that will be available to support educators in implementing it are definitely cause for optimism—not only when it comes to the health of Ontario's kids, but to the health of families and communities as well. "The curriculum as a whole focuses on skills that can be transferred from the context of Health and Physical Education to healthy active living outside of the gym and the school," says Pivetta.

The revised H&PE Curriculum Grades 1-8 will energize Ontario's education system by bringing schools and communities together in support of healthy active children and youth. Effective implementation is a shared responsibility and requires collaboration between educators, administrators, public health, sport and recreation and provincial government and non-government organizations. Ophea looks forward to helping ensure that all students are provided with the knowledge and skills necessary to live and promote a healthy active lifestyle.