Movement Education is an approach to teaching physical education that focuses on developing fundamental movement skills. There are three stages of skill development - initial, formative, and mature. Students must progress through the initial and formative stages to master skills like skipping, catching, throwing, and dodging. Mastering these fundamental movement skills through Movement Education contributes to children's physical, cognitive, and social development and allows them to adopt active lifestyles. Using Movement Education in the classroom provides an opportunity for students to improve skills and health outcomes.

1. Movement Education
An approach to teaching
Primary Physical Education in 4C

2. Movement Education
Movement Education refers to learning through movement,
encompassing the overall development of the Fundamental
Movement Skills (FMS) (Georgakis & Wilson, 2012).
There are Three Developmental Stages of Movement Skills
Development which work as a continuum to measure the FMS as
shown below (NSW Department of Education and Training,
2000).
Initial
Formative
Mature

3. Movement Education
In order to enjoy a wider range of physical
activities and sports, students need to work
through the initial and formative development
stages to master Fundamental Movement
Skills (FMS) (Wright & Burrows, 2006).
The FMS shown on this slide are considered to
be the building blocks of movement
(Achterstraat, 2012)
Skip
Catch
Side Gallop
Overarm Throw
Dodge

4. Movement Education
Implementing Movement Education and developing
the mastery of the FMS contributes positively to
children’s physical, cognitive and social development.
Thus, when Movement Education is taught effectively,
it creates the necessary foundation for students to
lead active lifestyles (Lubans, Morgan, Cliff, Barnett, &
Okely, 2010).

5. Movement Education as a Teaching
Approach
Using Movement Education in our class will provide the
students in 4C with the opportunity to improve FMS
proficiency which has vital positive health implications,
such as high aerobic fitness and lower body weight
(Achterstraat, 2012). Movement Education also supports
the student development in three key PDHPE Strands
(Board of Studies, 2007) including:
Active Lifestyle
Games and Sports Personal Health Choices

6. Movement Education as a Teaching Approach
Failing to teach Movement Education can result in
students experiencing difficultly participating in
physical activities both as students and later in life
(Lubans et al., 2010).
In NSW alone, less than 40% of Year 4 students
have a mastery of FMS (Achterstraat, 2012). This
potentially limits students’ ability to participate in
physical activities, consequently also limiting their
ability to adopt an active lifestyle and develop
fundamental movement patterns and skills that
enable action for better health as per the NSW
PDHPE Syllabus Rationale (Board of Studies, 2007).
It takes ten instructional hours for most students
to master one FMS.

7. Movement Education as a Teaching
Approach
The paramount message from this presentation is
that using Movement Education as a teaching
approach in 4C will provide our children with the
greatest opportunity to lead healthy, active lives
through the successful and enjoyable participation
in physical activities, aligning with the NSW PDHPE
Syllabus Rationale (Board of Studies, 2007).

8. References
Achterstraat, P. (2012). Physical activity in government primary schools. Sydney,
Australia: Audit Office of New South Wales, Department of Education and
Communities.
Board of Studies, NSW. (2007). Personal development, health and physical education
K-6: Syllabus. Sydney, Australia: Author.
Georgakis, S., & Wilson, R. (2012). Australian Physical Education and School Sport: An
Exploration into Contemporary Assessment. Asian Journal of Exercise &
Sports Science, 9(1).
Lubans, D. R., Morgan, P. J., Cliff, D. P., Barnett, L. M., & Okely, A. D. (2010).
Fundamental movement skills in children and adolescents: Review of
associated health benefits. Sports Medicine, 40(12), 1019-1035.
NSW Department of Education and Training. (2000). Get skilled: Get active: A K-6
resource to support the teaching of fundamental movement skills. Ryde,
Australia: Author
Wright, J., & Burrows, L. (2006). Re-conceiving ability in physical education: a social
analysis. Sport, Education and Society, 11(3), 275-291.