MOVING BEYOND THE CRISES IN SECONDARY PHYSICAL-EDUCATION - AN AUSTRALIAN INITIATIVE

Recent literature suggests that secondary school physical education is in crisis due to uncertainties about focus, status, and accountabilit y. After providing some background discussion to the crises, two curri culum approaches, one current and the other in trial, to secondary phy sical education in an Australian context are reviewed. Drawing upon em pirical research, the various strengths and weaknesses of each approac h are highlighted. The paper concludes with proposals that the movemen t-centered conceptualization of physical education in the trial approa ch offers a defensible physical education for secondary school student s.