Presentation of findings for Australian government schools - a synthesis for the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) - How are primary education health and physical education (HPE) teachers best prepared?

Health and Physical Education (HPE) as an Australian curriculum learning area is associated with holistic lifelong health and wellbeing. Research suggests that the optimum time for children to learn and refine their motor skills and to be introduced to positive HPE experiences is during preschool and early primary school years. This report presents the key findings of an investigation into primary school principals’ perceptions of a university pre-service teacher education course where the graduate teacher is qualified as both a generalist primary classroom teacher and a HPE specialist.