Identifies various challenges faced by physical educators and offers solutions for overcoming them.

Physical inactivity is a key determinant of health across the lifespan. A lack of activity increases the risk of heart disease, colon and breast cancer, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, osteoporosis, anxiety and depression and others diseases. Emerging literature has suggested that in terms of mortality, the global population health burden of physical inactivity approaches that of cigarette smoking. The prevalence and substantial disease risk associated with physical inactivity has been described as a pandemic. The prevalence, health impact, and evidence of changeability all have resulted in calls for action to increase physical activity across the lifespan. In response to the need to find ways to make physical activity a health priority for youth, the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Physical Activity and Physical Education in the School Environment was formed. Its purpose was to review the current status of physical activity and physical education in the school environment, including before, during, and after school, and examine the influences of physical activity and physical education on the short and long term physical, cognitive and brain, and psychosocial health and development of children and adolescents. Educating the Student Body makes recommendations about approaches for strengthening and improving programs and policies for physical activity and physical education in the school environment. This report lays out a set of guiding principles to guide its work on these tasks. These included: recognizing the benefits of instilling life-long physical activity habits in children; the value of using systems thinking in improving physical activity and physical education in the school environment; the recognition of current disparities in opportunities and the need to achieve equity in physical activity and physical education; the importance of considering all types of school environments; the need to take into consideration the diversity of students as recommendations are developed. This report will be of interest to local and national policymakers, school officials, teachers, and the education community, researchers, professional organizations, and parents interested in physical activity, physical education, and health for school-aged children and adolescents.

The purpose of this project analysis is to identify lessons learned from the policy revision process as well as lessons to enhance the anticipated outcomes of physical education (PE) in future for the purpose of sharing these experiences with UNESCO Member States. The findings show that - besides specific results in the pilot countries, which also have implications for PE globally - the quality physical education (QPE) initiative was successful in bringing a policy focus to PE in other countries where other priorities have overshadowed the rightful place of PE in the curricula. In the opinion of the evaluators, therefore, the QPE project and the QPE policy guidelines have played a major role in advocating PE and ensuring that PE has been placed on the agenda of decision makers worldwide.

Sustainable development star ts with safe, healthy, well-educated children. Par ticipation in qualit y physical education (QPE), as par t of a rounded syllabus, enhances young peoples' civic engagement, decreases violence and negative pat terns of behaviour, and improves health awareness. Despite evidence highlighting the impor tance of QPE to child development, the world is witnessing a global decline in its delivery and a parallel rise in deaths associated with physical inactivit y.

This joint UNESCO-NWCPEA Project comprised a World-wide physical education survey to inform the development of benchmark indicators on Quality Physical Education (QPE) in schools and Quality Physical Education Teacher Education/Training (QPETE/T) in provider institutions as well as principles of a physical education basic needs model. The survey adopted a multi-method/pluralistic approach to data generation from a range of sources including a specifically designed structured survey questionnaire translated into officially used UNESCO and several other languages seeking quantitative and qualitative data, as well as information derived from recent and current international, continental regional and national physical education-related studies.

This book outlines an approach to teaching and learning in physical education that prioritises meaningful experiences for pupils, using case studies to illustrate how practitioners have implemented this approach across international contexts. Prioritising the idea of meaningfulness positions movement as a primary way to enrich the quality of young people’s lives, shifting the focus of physical education programs to better suit the needs of contemporary young learners and resist the utilitarian health-oriented views of physical education that currently predominate in many schools and policy documents. The book draws on the philosophy of physical education to articulate the main rationale for prioritising meaningful experiences, before identifying potential and desired outcomes for participants. It highlights the distinct characteristics of meaningful physical education and its content, and outlines teaching and learning principles and strategies, supported by pedagogical cases that show what meaningful physical education can look like in school-based teaching and in higher education-based teacher education. With an emphasis on good pedagogical practice, this is essential reading for all pre-service and in-service physical education teachers or coaches working in youth sport.

Developing and promoting quality physical education is part inspiration, part tool kit, and part textbook. A wealth of examples of assessments, lesson plans, curricula, and more to use as advocacy tools. Plenty of ready-to-use worksheets, handouts, reproducibles, and key links.