Wellbeing, Health and Physical Education (EDUC91090)

This subject prepares the Teacher Candidates to use evidence-informed approaches to understanding and advancing the factors that contribute to student health, wellbeing and engagement. This includes teaching Health and Physical Education, promoting social and emotional learning, enhancing healthy active lifestyles, and supporting wellbeing for students as members of schools, families and communities. The subject includes a focus on effective pedagogies for wellbeing education; strategies to cultivate positive teacher-student relationships; and use of proactive policies, practices and partnerships to advance student wellbeing. This subject references the Australian/Victorian Curricula.  This subject aims to explore how the Health and Physical Education curricula can be designed to help students understand health as a crucial enabler for learning and development from Foundation to Year Six.

Teacher Candidates will learn to plan and teach lessons informed by the understanding that children’s wellbeing from birth is both a prerequisite for and an outcome of learning. Emphasis will be placed on effective teaching and learning practices and partnerships in Health and Physical Education with a particular focus on student agency, questioning, critical thinking and communication strategies that foster supportive relationships and active skill building for children, as well as adults in their family and community are central to children’s wellbeing. Teacher Candidates will consider how the wellbeing can be embedded with other curriculum areas and in contexts beyond the school classroom. They will explore the important role digital technologies play in transforming, restoring and sustaining their communities and will look at strategies for supporting themselves and their students to be healthy, active and well.

Intended learning outcomes

On completion of this subject, Teacher Candidates should be able to:

• Plan, structure, sequence, assess and evaluate evidence-informed learning programs for Wellbeing, Health and Physical Education to support student participation and their physical, social and intellectual development.
• Select content and use resources, for teaching wellbeing, health and physical education, with an understanding how students learn at different developmental stages from Foundation to Year Six.
• Use effective teaching strategies informed by curriculum and/ or approved learning frameworks for content in the areas of Health and Physical Education, and for the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT.
• Appraise and interpret student data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice.
• Formulate explicit plans with challenging learning goals for developing and sustaining respectful relationships with students, colleagues, and for engaging parents and carers and community agencies informed by a Health Promoting Schools Framework.

Generic skills