Flinders Uni expert seeks national debate on adding movement and skills tests to NAPLAN

Australia’s “movement crisis” demands a national debate on adding physical skills tests to NAPLAN, a Flinders University expert says.

Australia’s “movement crisis” demands a national debate on adding physical skills tests to NAPLAN, a Flinders University expert says.

Associate Professor Shane Pill says the need for primary schools to have specialist physical education teachers must also be explored as a preventive health measure.

Prof Pill has reviewed Australian and foreign studies of children’s “movement competence” going back 20 years.

They show “a clear picture of general decline” in skills such as throwing and catching a tennis ball, jumping, hopping, balancing, hitting a tee-ball, kicking a soccer ball and running technique, that should be acquired by Year 4.

Professor Shane Pills reviewed Australian and foreign studies of children’s “movement competence” going back 20 years.

Australia studies the issue more than other nations, but our kids are “starting to fall behind” other countries.

Prof Pill says Australia’s view of itself as a sporting nation is “a myth”, as many kids are not becoming active teens and adults because they leave primary school without the “confidence and competence” in basic skills. Urban infill and time-poor parents means they don’t get those skills at home.

“If you are unable to throw a tennis ball, you are going to struggle to do a tennis serve … or a volleyball spike,” he says.

The Australian Curriculum guideline is for 80 hours a year of PE, or two hours a week, but Prof Pill says there is anecdotal evidence it is sidelined by schools’ “preoccupation with literacy and numeracy scores”.

Professor Shane Pill

PE is often taught by general class teachers with limited training in the area, and PE time is being squeezed even in schools with a specialist teacher in the subject, he says.

Prof Pill says adding movement skills to NAPLAN would create a national dataset so resources could be targeted to where they are needed most, such as extra funding for specialist PE teachers.

Adding to NAPLAN would require the agreement of the Education Council of Australia’s nine education ministers.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority says there are “no plans” to add fitness tests.

The SA Education Department advises schools to include two hours a week of PE. Public high and area schools, and some primary schools, have specialist PE teachers.

Whether general or specialist, teachers report students’ progress against Australian curriculum achievement standards, it says.

Many previous studies have linked physical activity with academic success. A survey of SA parents in 2016 found nearly half backed fitness tests being added to NAPLAN.

Originally published as Flinders Uni expert seeks national debate on adding movement and skills tests to NAPLAN