Personal development, health and physical education (PDHPE) is mandatory for all students Kindergarten to Year 6. Students participate in PDHPE for 1.5 to 2.5 hours each week.

Current syllabus

PDHPE K-10 Syllabus (2018)

Teaching and learning programs

Teaching and learning programs must meet NESA syllabus and NSW Department of Education requirements.

To meet these requirements schools should:

• plan comprehensive and sequential units of learning and programs to ensure that learning in PDHPE is relevant and meaningful for all students.
• allow for the progressive development of student knowledge, understanding and skills through programs and units of learning.
• ensure teaching and learning strategies provide students with sufficient opportunities to learn content across many contexts for learning and use their skills to apply this content.
• enable students to demonstrate their achievement of syllabus outcomes.

Use the K-6 PDHPE program evaluation tool (DOCX 35 KB) to critique your whole school PDHPE scope and sequence, and current units of learning. Perform this critique as part of the teaching and learning cycle to reflect on your existing practice, recognise and build on strengths and identify opportunities to refine and change practice.

Creating scope and sequences

A scope and sequence is an important step in the design of effective teaching and learning programs.

Use the following questions as a guide when creating a scope and sequence in PDHPE.

• Is PDHPE timetabled for 1.5-2.5 hours per each week to meet the NESA K-6 curriculum requirements?
• Are all outcomes addressed across each stage of learning? (listed in the syllabus on pages 14-19)
• Are all strands are addressed each year? (listed in the syllabus on pages 25-26)
• Is at least one skill from each skill domain addressed each year? (listed in the syllabus on pages 27-30)
• Are child protection, road safety and drug education addressed in each stage of learning?
• Does the stage-based scope and sequence reflect the school context, available resources, school calendar and address contemporary health issues and contexts that are relevant to students needs and interests?
• Are there opportunities to contribute to 150 minutes of planned physical activity per week to meet the Department’s Sport and Physical Activity policy requirements?
• Does the stage-based scope and sequence incorporate a wide range of contexts for learning embedded throughout the PDHPE K-10 Syllabus? (listed in the syllabus on page 26)
• Is a spiral curriculum promoted where knowledge, understanding and skills are introduced, revisited and built on in each stage of learning?
• Are there various opportunities for the application of all three categories of movement skills across various physical activity contexts and situations across K-10? (listed in the syllabus on pages 29-30)

Units

Use the following questions as a guide when creating a unit in PDHPE.

• Are appropriate syllabus outcomes and content for each stage clearly identified?
• Does the teaching program correspond with the scope and sequence for the stage of learning?
• Is relevant and purposeful formative and summative assessment, related to key concepts and skills, planned and integrated appropriately across the year?
• Are there opportunities for timely, effective and appropriate feedback about student achievement relative to their learning?
• Does the stage-based scope and sequence reflect the holistic nature of health and wellbeing – physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual health and wellbeing?
• Do learning experiences recognise and reflect the needs, interests and broad continuum of student experiences to connect to life outside of school and in the future?
• Do students have input into the learning experiences they undertake, including assessment?
• Are there meaningful opportunities to address and develop skills related to learning across the curriculum content? This includes cross-curriculum priorities, general capabilities and areas identified in NESA syllabuses as important learning for all students. (listed in the syllabus on page 9)
• Do learning experiences incorporate interactive learning approaches to develop understanding, reflect on values, attitudes and behaviours and practise skills?
• Are knowledge, understanding and skills integrated from each strand and within syllabus strands in a meaningful manner?

Sample units

Outcomes mapping grid

Use the K-6 PDHPE outcomes mapping grids as a comprehensive outcomes checklist tool for the NSW PDHPE K-10 Syllabus.

They are designed to:

• assist you to identify and map the K-6 PDHPE outcomes to new and existing units of work
• identify where outcomes are not addressed through units of work to avoid gaps.

Implementing the PDHPE K-10 syllabus in K-6 (DOCX 77 KB) is a suggested plan for schools to follow as start implementing the latest syllabus.

Staff self-assessment (DOCX 61KB) and Interpreting student data in PDHPE (DOCX 51 KB) provide further support for schools when engaging in the implementation process. Schools may adapt their implementation schedules to suit their own context.

Playing for life resources include the activity cards containing a variety of games designed to develop the skills of a range of physical activities. Cards can be filtered and searched based on the Stage of learning, the movement skill in focus or the category of game.

Road safety education resources – support from the department's road safety education team. Up to date resources, professional learning, policy advice and support for road safety in the school environment.