Global perspectives and quality physical education (QPE): Stagnation or new paradigms?

Abstract

Despite high-level advocacy for physical education (PE) at global forums and through international consensus on the value of PE in education systems, there are indications of significant gaps between policy and practice. Worldwide surveys on PE in schools, national situation analyses and scholarly articles generated enough evidence to suggest considerable concern about the state and status of PE on a global scale. This paper presents perspectives on the global status of PE to conclude whether the delivery of PE is stagnating or adapting new paradigms to capitalise on the claimed cross-cutting benefits of the subject in schools. Although some countries showed positive developments, stagnation is apparent in global PE delivery. Current ways of thinking about PE do not yield the desired outcomes set in the standards of QPE. The proverbial clock for QPE in schools is positioned on one minute before midnight. There is no more time for global surveys, conferences, and meetings. Because the world is quite intimately connected through technology and is poised on the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), new paradigms for PE in schools must be developed and implemented to create environments aligning with the new reality, or we can start writing PE’s obituary globally.