The content and the setting of learning in Health and Physical Education (H&PE) requires meaningful opportunities where everyone feels valued, respected, and engaged in their learning. Educators need to engage in critical dialogue about how identities and differences contribute to the framework for a well-planned, inclusive, and high-quality H&PE program. Taking the time to understand the landscape in which students live allows educators to be more caring and open to creating a space where students’ voices are heard. This section provides educators with the opportunity to address the Fundamental Principles in H&PE found in the H&PE curriculum with a Culturally Responsive and Relevant Pedagogy (CRRP) lens. This includes questions to help educators develop strategies in their ongoing learning whereby cultural differences are recognized, embraced, and woven into the curricular and instructional approaches in H&PE.
School, Family, and Community Support
- How are students’ families and/or caregivers engaged in the learning in H&PE? (e.g., provide opportunities for students, their families and/or caregivers to engage in a variety of ways where they can share their child’s strengths and how their child learns best; when using visuals such as images or videos in H&PE, consider representing the different cultures, abilities, and racial backgrounds of your students; create opportunities for students to share their experiences and perspectives on how they feel included in their own learning within H&PE.)
- How do I foster community engagement in discussions about geography, culturally based values, beliefs and practices, ceremonies, celebrations, and clothing? (e.g., create partnerships with experts, and people with lived experiences to share their knowledge in various H&PE topic areas; be mindful of religious accommodations and dates of significance to ensure the physical and emotional safety of students.)
Physical Activity as the Vehicle for Learning
- How do I provide every student with opportunities to be active and engaged in their learning? (e.g., talk to the students about their experiences in the H&PE settings and ask them what role they would like to have when planning, learning, and participating in H&PE.)
- How do I provide opportunities for students to take part in purposeful kinesthetic experiences that help them learn and embrace their bodies and the joy of movement? (e.g., co-creating success criteria that is individualized for the student and their abilities; asking students what accommodations they need to support their learning style.)
Physical and Emotional Safety
- How is instruction designed to ensure a positive experience in a safe, inclusive, and supportive environment for every student? (e.g., using gender-neutral language that validate students’ identities to help them feel valued about who they are, and how they want to be seen, ensuring that physical spaces such as bathrooms and changerooms are accessible and welcoming for all genders and abilities.)
- What intentional approaches are being taken to build healthy relationships and respect for the diversity and differences among others? (e.g., teaching about disability through Parasport games, opportunities for students to be in mixed groupings, recognizing and acknowledging cultural differences.)
- How is physical activity presented as a positive and healthy experience? (e.g., not using exercise as punishment; opportunities for movement exploration in a skill and/or concept being taught.)
- How are students’ diverse backgrounds and abilities considered when health topics are introduced, to ensure discussions have personal relevance? (e.g., teachers practising dismantling the white narrative and colonial practices within H&PE by providing students with opportunities to learn in ways familiar to them, and options to accommodate different learning styles and intelligences.)
Student-Centred, Skill-Based Learning
- How are program activities and instruction differentiated to provide all students with relevant and engaging learning experiences so that all students experience success? (e.g., when teaching students with disabilities, take the time to learn about their identification to determine how to accommodate and/or modify the expectations to meet their learning needs; understand that there are many factors that are and are not in the students’ control and respect that their families and/or caregivers may have different perspectives in the H&PE topics you address.)
- How do I embed student choice and voice to provide meaning and relevancy? (e.g., talk to students about their preferences for approaches to learning and take the time to learn about how their home and culture influences their participation and perspectives in H&PE.)
- How do I use questioning techniques to encourage student engagement, reflection, and sense of responsibility for learning? (e.g., provide choice of activities through various centres; allow students for reciprocal teaching where students observe and provide constructive feedback to each other.)
Balanced, Integrated Learning with Relevance to Students’ Lives
- How does my instruction incorporate culturally relevant and responsive real-life examples? (e.g., examine the H&PE curriculum to see what voices are missing and find places to expand the diversity such as learning about the origin of a cultural game and the evolvement of how it is played today.)
- How does the program integrate learning in health education and learning in physical education in a way that helps students understand that both are essential for healthy active living? (e.g., supporting students to develop healthier eating habits given the factors within their control, and the knowledge that healthy eating patterns are developed over time; helping students make connections between the value of physical activity and healthier eating to fuel activity.)
- When understanding my students’ cultural landscapes, how do I challenge the systemic barriers in education to provide a supportive learning climate that is meaningful and relevant to students' cultural experiences and perspectives into H&PE? (e.g., listening to families and/or caregivers, community leaders, and people with lived experiences to articulate what learning in the various H&PE topic areas present in their culture; creating spaces and opportunities for authentic and respectful relationships with Indigenous communities and learning how to embed the learning into H&PE meaningfully.)