Analysing Australia’s senior secondary physical education

In Australia, senior secondary physical education (SSPE) curriculum is often an under-explored part of the overall Health and Physical Education (HPE) landscape. The Foundation to Year 10 curriculum has often had a greater focus on uniformity and moderating influences, such as the national curriculum agenda of the 1990’s (Curriculum Corporation, 1994) and 2010’s (Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA), 2010, 2012, 2014). Yet the elective dimension of the SSPE syllabus has been exposed to less coverage. Brown and Penney (2013) describe SSPE syllabus as vital, because unpacking the key determinants in SSPE performance impacts future prospects such as employment, higher education and training. Therefore, the SSPE curriculum is a platform especially for future Health and Physical Education (HPE) professionals. Moreover, there is a strong demand from students to enter SSPE over the past decade (Green, 2001; MacPhail, 2004; Thorburn, 2007), as SSPE has been revealed as a favourite choice for those pursuing ‘post-compulsory’ education.