The contribution of physical education towards integrated learning : a programme of work for 7-year-olds

Abstract

Due to the fact that physical education is not given its due importance in the curriculum, a study by means of a questionnaire is carried out with Year 3 State Primary School teachers in order to clarify this issue. Moreover, the study will look into the curriculum of a Year 3 class that is, 7-year-old children, to show how the physical education lesson can be used as a spring-board to other subjects. As the topic approach is child centred and an effective teaching method, hence a programme to include some lessons is drawn up to serve as a guideline to teachers of this year group. The scale of the research involves 160 Year 3 teachers from 53 schools, which are from different regions of Malta. The authors' findings suggest that although teachers regard physical education as an important subject, few are those who implement it daily in their timetable. In the conclusive chapter, suggestions and recommendations will be given to show that a programme of physical education once well planned and organised, can be used as the main link with .all other subjects taught.