PE_Guidelines_english0

Looking at children’s work
Section 5 Approaches and methodologies
Children’s work
Throughout the physical education
lesson, the teacher is involved in
various forms of assessment of
children’s work as a natural part of
teaching and learning activities. Each
form helps the teacher to ensure that
on-going achievements are recognised,
areas of learning difficulty and high
achievement are identified, the progress
of a child is recorded and
communicated to other teachers and
parents and the next stages of learning
are planned.
A number of tools can be used to
gather information about a child’s
progress.
Teacher observation
Teachers continually observe children
as they engage in activities within the
physical education lesson. The response
of children to teacher questions and
suggestions or the responses the child
makes when set a task provide much
valuable information about the child’s
learning. Information can be gathered
on the child’s level of skill, interaction
within the class or group and level of
understanding, for example. While
questioning a child is an obvious means
of examining his/her understanding, it
is often useful to observe the child, for
instance as a game is played. This
situation provides not only an indication
of the understanding of the child but
also information on his/her skill level
and interaction with a group. Such
observation can indicate how he/she
applies skills in the context of a game:
the child may be able to adapt the skill
for use in a variety of situations in the
game (striking a ball in a defensive
position while being challenged by an
opponent, striking the ball to score a
goal from a number of angles) or may
be limited to performing the skill in a
restricted situation (striking the ball
over a short distance, unchallenged by
an opponent). This activity also
provides useful information on the
depth of understanding displayed
(whether the child chooses the most
appropriate means of attacking when
he/she is challenged by an opponent)
and on the interaction of the child
within the group (how he/she supports
team members in a defensive situation).
Talking to children individually or in
groups and listening carefully to what
they say as they plan or discuss their
own work or the work of others helps
the teacher to collect information.
Looking at children as they practise
skills can often result in more detailed
information than testing a child to
determine whether he/she has
mastered the skills. Observing a child
explore an idea for a dance as part of a
group provides a range of information
related to his/her creative development,
social development in the form of
interaction within a group and physical
skills which can be assessed in the
performance of the dance.
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