Impact PE by miMove is intended to support practitioners and subject leaders to deliver on a version of PE that helps young people enjoy better lives.
Everything is driven by a clear focus on the end goal. For a number of years I have shamelessly turned to the following definition by MacAllister (2013) of a physically educated person to inform my decision making:
“physically educated persons should be defined as those who have learned to arrange their lives in such a way that the physical activities they freely engage in make a distinctive contribution to their long-term flourishing”
This should be read hand in hand with this straightforward statement from Quinnerstedt,
“The only real sustainable aim for PE is more PE” to which I would humbly replace the final E for Education with an A for Activity. Physical Activity (PA) will be used interchangeably with Movement to refer to any embodied and deliberate activity experience that is considered to be meaningful and of value to the young person who is doing it.
The purpose is to equip young people with all they need to reap the benefits of the multiple claims that are made as to how moving more, or being physically active contributes to one's life. These claims are highly contentious. However (for once) I will not be interrogating the claims. One fact seems to be beyond dispute; if a young person does not find a place for physical activity in their life, they reap none of the supposed benefits, be they related to health, wellbeing, academic performance, life/social skill development etc.
Underpinning principles
- Inclusion and equity are at the epicentre of every decision. Asking who may or may not benefit from any particular policy or practice is integral to Impact PE.
- Impact PE is primarily concerned with the quality of young people's movement experiences and what needs to be taught and learnt to improve this.
- The young person is the only person who can find and judge meaning and value, and they should be supported in developing the self awareness that allows them to articulate that.
- The approach is streamlined and straightforward. It encourages teachers to teach drawing upon the skills and knowledge they have rather than branch off into other roles like health professionals, fitness professionals, nutritionists, counsellors etc.
- Everything should be evaluated and evidenced primarily through the impact it has on participation. After all, as mentioned above, this is the overriding goal. In light of this, participation is success and the essential starting point for progress. Impact PE recommends teachers use OKRs to chart progress.
The bulk of the content explores decision making in and around the three areas that teachers can control:
- Curriculum - what is taught
- Pedagogy - how it is taught
- Ethos - how we take underpinning principles such as inclusion and equity and bring them to life through our behaviour and our communication.
Many of the resources will be open access here for all schools. Schools using miMove will have access to the complete package including units of work and suggested lesson plans; there will be no additional cost for this. Impact PE will grow organically. It will support PE in both primary and secondary schools.
We would love your feedback as we go. Feel free to post comments here or email team@mimoveapp.com.
Click here to receive a free taste of what’s to come - a resource that gives a single unit overview for Strike-Fielding activities (Rounders, Cricket, Baseball, Softball etc).
References
MacAllister, J. (2013) The ‘Physically Educated’ Person: Physical education in the philosophy of Reid, Peters and Aristotle Educational Philosophy and Theory, Vol. 45, No. 9, 908–920,
Quinnerstedt, M (2018) Physical education and the art of teaching: Transformative learning and teaching in physical education and sports pedagogy. Sport, Education and Society, 24(6), 611-623