Health and Physical Education in the Australian Curriculum

The learning area of Health and Physical Education is designed to help students acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills they need to lead healthy, safe and active lives. Informed by a strong, multidisciplinary evidence base, the subject is intended to help students to be comfortable in their own skin to know who they are, why they are the person they are, what they stand for and what factors contribute to making them the person they are. Health and Physical Education also plays a part in making students aware of the people around them, able to celebrate the diversity in their community and to respect difference and challenge discrimination whenever they encounter it. The new Health and Physical Education curriculum has now been published on the Australian Curriculum website and made available for use. The current article looks at the rationale for the curriculum, its structure, and how it was developed.