A new Approach to Physical Education

by: Alessandra Fazioa, Emanuele Isidoria , Óscar Chiva Bartoll

CLIL method is based on the reconstruction of the subject according to four basic aspects which facilitate the work and development of linguistic competence (content, communication, culture and cognition, the so-called “4Cs”), in PE, these four points can be used to enhance the critical aspect of the teaching-learning process.

"Content" refers to the selection and handling of the subject content. In accordance with Fernández-Balboa and Sicilia (2005), for PE we suggest the selection of contents that highlight social and intellectual aspects. This would replace the too technical Anglo-Saxon approach which has gradually been implemented in PE.

As regards "communication", we suggest increasing STT (Student Talking Time) at the expense of TTT (Teacher Talking Time). This measure, applied to the "language of learning", the "language for learning" and the "learning through language" contributes positively to the successful implementation of CLIL (Coral, 2012: 30). It also helps optimize learning in an active and participatory way.

The "culture" aspect provides an excellent opportunity for discussing the practical content of the subject, especially when it comes to ideological preconceptions and myths related to PE and sport. Thus, through a rational process of deconstruction of contents that have been accepted in an uncritical way, students will be ready to form their own independent opinions about each content. In this way they will be able to integrate and connect their acquired knowledge with the real world.

Finally, we must consider the aspect of "cognition", rooted in the cognitive domain of Bloom's taxonomy (1956), or even more specifically in the review published by Anderson & Krathwohl (2000), which proposes the following continuum of skills and thought processes involved in learning tasks: remember, understand, apply, analyze, evaluate and create. CLIL methodology requires high levels of cognitive involvement in which cognitive activities of analysis, evaluation and creation are put into practice.

Four steps should be clearly held in mind when redesigning the teaching-learning process, as can be seen in the following concept of CLIL based on Critical Pedagogy:

• "What": selection of content and objectives.
• "When": sequencing the contents.
• "How": choice of methodological strategies and teaching styles.
• "What, how and when to assess".

The 4Cs framework fits perfectly with the objectives, content and evaluation criteria for a PE model based on critical pedagogy. Below, we suggest how these elements can be used to integrate CLIL and Critical Pedagogy.

Learning objectives and assessment criteria

The definition of educational objectives is one of the most difficult tasks for teachers. Rather than teaching by objectives so that PE becomes a mere tool, the correct approach according to López-Pastor (2002) and Rodríguez Rojo (1997) should concentrate on purpose, values and actions.

As seen in the previous sections, Critical Pedagogy focuses on the emancipatory interests of knowledge from a critical point of view (Habermas, 1982). Here we focus on clarifying the specific teaching/learning objectives that teachers must take into account when designing their CLIL syllabus based on critical pedagogy.

Many taxonomies have been applied to PE objectives (Simpson, 1966; Harrow, 1972; Castañer & Camerino, 1991). To achieve the requirements of CLIL using a critical pedagogy approach, we suggest organising learning objectives that take into account both the cognitive domain and psychomotor skills. In both cases they should follow an ordered sequence in terms of complexity and increased autonomy in the implementation of the tasks. Therefore, we opt for a number of objectives that, in relation to each of the selected contents, takes into account the following phases: perceiving and becoming familiar with the content, creating basic patterns, adapting and modifying the patterns to contextual needs, optimizing the decision-making-process and finally creating new responses on the basis of a critical and independent analysis of the acquired knowledge.

Given the open and flexible nature of the learning goals, the assessment criteria must be carefully correlated. Furthermore, the emancipatory approach should be followed, since in most PE tasks there can be several valid ways of achieving the same goal.

Review of contents

Educational contents are defined as the set of cultural forms and knowledge selected to make up a subject. In PE, cultural manifestations evolve over time, so a new analysis of contents must be made periodically (Contreras, 1998).

We must not forget that PE is made up of both scientific and social elements that should be given equal importance. As the desire to turn PE into a scientific discipline has prevailed, its humanistic contents have been left aside in order to promote a more scientific and technical profile.

It is our belief that the social and humanistic aspects of PE need to be reestablished by means of Critical Pedagogy. Some examples of how this can be achieved are illustrated in Table 1.

 

Methodological Approach

The methodology we propose for implementing CLIL in conjunction with critical pedagogy in PE must incorporate a teaching style that encourages student participation and, above all, develops the 4Cs framework.

Among the numerous trends and methodologies for teaching PE, Mosston & Ashworth (1999) have to be mentioned. Their book ‘Teaching Physical Education’ suggest a number of teaching styles that represent a continuum in the evolutionary process of teaching guiding students towards autonomy and creativity. Out of the eight styles they propose, those that best fit CLIL and Critical Pedagogy are those that elicit a state of cognitive dissonance in students:

• Guided Discovery
• Troubleshooting
• Creativity and autonomy.

All these styles provide a methodological option that establishes a clear relationship between PE and cognitive processes, favoring the emancipation of students and the development of their decision-making capacity.

All of them, in accordance with the requirements of both CLIL and Critical Pedagogy make use of processes and tasks such as: comparing, contrasting, planning, developing, classifying, hypothesizing, summarising, exploring, creating, inventing, reflecting etc.