Internationally, recent research has indicated that the health and physical education (HPE) curriculum has become at least to some extent "an open market", with rapid growth in the number of external providers and diversity of resources targeted towards schools and teachers. This research acknowledges that the programmes and instruction…

Despite extensive critique, the teaching of Health and Physical Education (HPE) continues to be characterised by individualised and performative ideologies which are reflected in part by a continued focus upon fitness testing. There has been little attempt, however, to explore Australian HPE teachers' thoughts and reasoning for its privileged…

This paper was developed at the request of the Organising Committee for the 27th Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation International Conference, in Melbourne, 2013. Its genesis was as a feature forum, wherein a panel of curriculum experts were bought together to discuss the emergence of the Australian Health and Physical…

The teaching of health literacy in school-based health education (SBHE) is of international interest, yet there is less ready access to how conceptions of health literacy can be operationalised in school programmes. More specifically, while articulated in curriculum documents such as the incoming Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical…

The development of health literacies, in relation to health, well-being, safety and physical activity, is a key pillar of the "Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education". Implications, therefore, arise for teachers of health and physical education (HPE) and their pedagogical practices. These practices of HPE inform ways of…

The commercial media is an influential sociocultural force and transmitter of health information especially for adolescents. Instruction in critical media health literacy, a combination of concepts from critical health literacy and critical media literacy, is a potentially effective means of raising adolescents' awareness about commercial…

Health education is largely informed by psychological theories and practices that pursue reductionist views of people learning. However, critical attention is moving to understand health in ways that reconsider relationships to context and the forms of life within which everyday living takes place. This shift is apparent in theoretical…

This paper critically analyzes a community collaborative approach for implementing Health and Physical Education (HPE) lessons within Gippsland primary schools (Victoria, Australia). The rural community collaborations reflected upon are embedded within the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) "School…

In March 2012, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) released for public consultation the Shape Paper for the Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (HPE) that was finalized for publication in August 2012. This paper set out the key propositions for a "futures-oriented" curriculum suggesting…

The draft Australian Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2012c) takes a strengths-based approach that emphasizes questions such as "What keeps me healthy and active?" rather than "What risks, diseases and behaviours should I learn to avoid?". This…

This paper will propose and privilege "educative outcomes" in Health and Physical Education (HPE), reflecting that one of the five propositions in the "Draft Shape of Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education" (Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2012a) can be regarded as the bonding…

The concept of "health literacy" is becoming increasingly prominent internationally, and it has been identified as one of the five key propositions that underpin the forthcoming Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (ACHPE). The ACHPE is one of few national curricula to explicitly refer to health literacy, identifying it…

A critical inquiry approach is one of five key characteristics that have shaped the development of the new Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (AC: HPE). However, what this means is open to interpretation. In the various documents leading to the consultation draft AC: HPE and in this document itself, critical inquiry is used in…

This paper draws on concepts from contemporary education policy sociology to explore the prospective interpretation, contextualisation and enactment of Health and Physical Education in the Australian Curriculum. Analysis examines the dynamic between characteristics of official texts and the contexts in which responses will be made. The paper…

Often labelled as "problematic" within health and physical education (HPE) and sporting literature, young Muslim women's participation is frequently understood through both cultural and religious limitations seen to be placed upon them. Although these factors are negotiated by many young Muslim women, and contribute to the way in which some will…