The movement for quality physical education and

significance in life development of students

Walter Ho

University of Macau

The need for physical activities is an important ingredient for healthy development and personal growth in children and young people. There is the call to review the learning experiences of physical education and essential components in achieving the educational goals. The work on quality physical education has received substantial attention when UNESCO adopts the International Charter of Physical Education since 1978. Various developments in this topic are accomplished with expectation to have quality work of physical education in schools. Although there is the anticipation of these developments in physical education, the progress of works is criticized due to the unenthusiastic attitude in planning. Hardman (2008) used the word ‘mixed message’ to describe the physical education development with evidence of legislative commitment in nations but slow to transform it with proper actions for quality delivery. The National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) raised the concern in 2004 in requesting the suitable development of meaningful curriculum contents in learning, appropriate methods in teaching, and experiences in exercises. Nevertheless, the successful implementation of quality arrangement in physical education requires proper support and flexibility in arrangement. The 2015 UNESCO Quality Physical Education (QPE) Guidelines for Policy Makers highlight the needs of diversified attention to different dimension in attaining the goals of quality growth for physical education. The policy guidelines open the discussion of the actual components when quality physical education is mentioned. The four international sports associations of ISCPES, FIEP, AIFAP, and IAPESGW anticipated such development in 2009 when there was a meeting in Brisbane to discuss the quality works of physical education in school. The research idea of Quality Physical Education (QPE) was initiated and the team from Macau decided to launch the QPE study from 2010 to the present. The study in QPE helps to identify 8 dimensions that are seen as essential criteria in measuring the progress of QPE development. The QPE team makes use of the identified items and launches the research project of ‘Global Index of QPE (GIQPE)’ in late 2019 to study the developmental progress of QPE in regions. The data collecting process for the GIQPE study completes in 2021 and 5911 professionals spanning from 87 cities returns the questionnaire for analysis. The data indicates a preferred choice in the components for QPE development and the practice may portray a particular experience for life development through physical activities. This presentation expects to share the components identified from the GIQPE study and its implications for the understanding of students’ learning in physical education.