Janice Atkin - Professional Learning Officer, ACHPER NSW

If anyone has ever seen an episode of The Office you would know that most scenes are steeped in many hilarious and rich interactions between colleagues, often within small confines such as around the water cooler or photocopier. Whilst the show offers an over the top view of the myriad of smaller discussions that consistently […]

As the end of the term draws to a close, you probably have one eye glued to the calendar as you will yourself into the holidays. Often at this stage of the year, fatigue is battling with the seemingly never ending lists of tasks to be completed – you’ve been working hard on reports, registers,

As #CAFS NSW students begin to think about preparing for their HSC trials, it is timely to discuss what they can do to give the exams their best shot. 1. Know the syllabus This goes without saying. Knowing the syllabus intimately is a key component to achieving good results in CAFS (and for any other

As earlier stated, digital amputation is not a solution. Teaching our kids healthy media habits is critical. This requires action on behalf of schools, parents and health professionals, which in turn requires learning and upskilling because parents and educators are the first generation of raising and working with digital natives. Put simply, you don’t know

// Mind-wandering mode Time unplugged and in nature allows our students’ brains to enter what neuroscientists call ‘mind wandering mode’ which is also considered the ‘default mode’ of thinking. When our students are outdoors, they’re away from their screens (hopefully) and therefore they’re not processing the multitude of sensory input that screens offer (sounds, animations,

Our kids are experiencing digitalised childhoods. Their plugged-in childhoods are impacting their health, development and even the ways that they want and expect to learn. Technology is changing so many things about childhood and adolescence. For example, we now know that today’s kids are leading more sedentary lives and one of the reasons (it’s certainly

Although the health benefits of participating in regular physical activity are extensive, the majority of young Australians are not sufficiently active. The pandemic of ‘physical inactivity’ is not only influencing our health, but also our hip pocket, with global estimates suggesting in excess of US$50 billion is being spent on health care related to inactivity.

Improving performance in both PDHPE and CAFS (and any other subject area) involves adopting a variety of different strategies to support and grow student learning. These strategies can be based around learning activities, groupings, types of assessment tasks, exam techniques or even feedback provided to students. Student feedback has been recognised as one of the

To some, PDHPE and literacy in the same sentence may only be used as a reference to a ticked box in a programme for compliance. To others, it may be something that has become an important focus of their professional learning and professional reading, which is clearly evident within their PDHPE classroom. Without become confused

At the beginning of a new school year it is timely for PDHPE teachers (and all teachers in education, including those who teach Community and Family Studies, Exploring Early Childhood and Child Studies!) to think about how they are going to create positive relationships with their students. PDHPE teachers all know too well about the

Any parent of a teenager or adolescent child will tell you that trying to prise them away from a screen when they are mid-flight in sending a life changing message or viewing ‘just one more’ image on Instagram is nigh on impossible. The language can be enough to make your hair curl and the conviction

Staff were also encouraged to take part in a 30 day challenge, where they were required to do something to improve their health for 30 days straight. A whopping 42 out of approximately 70 staff took up the challenge and gave up things like soft drink and lollies, while some committed to exercising three times

Social networking sites such as Facebook have become a popular way for people to source health information, specifically relating to diet and exercise. However many adolescents are unable to differentiate between the credibility and accuracy of the health advice offered. The results of a study by Stephanie Jong of Flinders University draws on two of

Quality health and physical education: why we need it in Australia? UNESCO recently released their report “Quality Physical Education: Guidelines for policy makers”. This global report provides a robust, evidence based framework and guidelines for the development and delivery of quality physical education programs to all children and young people. Given Australia is moving from

This Position Statement has been developed in ACHPER’s role as the leading professional association for the purpose of contributing to discourse on the importance of the Health and Physical Education learning area in schools. It is part of ACHPER’s responsibility to present its position for the benefit of members as well as for productive, ongoing