Integrated Approach in Teaching Physical Education

Abstract

The last years aiming at the reform of quality of education, integration constituted the central axis in the syntax of the curriculum from the Pedagogic Institute in Greece. The cross-thematic integration refers to the integration of two or more subject areas with the goal of fostering enhanced learning in each area. It is supported that the integrated approach in teaching leads to holistic and real knowledge, which connects with the reality, turn to advantage in the daily life. The integrated approach in teaching differentiated from the traditional way of teaching as for the content but also as for the methods. For the evaluation of students in the integrated approach, alternative methods are employed that include concrete criteria as students’ portfolios, projects, observation and self-assessment. As for the application of integrated approach in the Physical Education (PE) two forms of integration have been proposed by the experts, internal (within the field of PA) and external (integration with other subject matter). For the implementation of integrated approaches in various subjects and in PA, theoretical models have been developed by the experts. However because of the difficulty in the experimental implementation and evaluation of such models, the data that support the assumptions for positive effects in education from the application of integrated programs are not convincing. Future research should be directed toward examining the implementation and the evaluation of integrated interventions and their effects in the cognitive, emotional and behavioural domain of students in different contexts (e.g., school, sport, family) and in different domains of human action (e.g., achievement, responsibility, healthy behaviours).