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Health and physical activity are important contributors to children’s development, learning and overall wellbeing. International and Australian policy frameworks acknowledge the importance of physical activity, active play and fundamental movement skills to children’s health, development and future outcomes. They also recognise the role of parents, government and community stakeholders, and service providers in maintaining a national vision for Australian children as ‘healthy, safe and thriving’. Early childhood educators have significant responsibility for planning learning environments and experiences that are responsive to children’s physical development needs, and that facilitate opportunities for healthy, safe, active play. They are also uniquely placed to work together with parents to guide children’s physical awareness and learning about the importance of personal health, safety and physical activity.

This course provides an overview of the role of health and physical activity in the multisensory and motor development of young children. It considers the interrelationships between physical health, wellbeing and identity, and the significance of these to longer-term learning and health outcomes. Contextual, familial and environmental factors that affect health and physical activity, safety and wellbeing are considered, particularly as they relate to the design of learning environments and physical activities. The course explores ways to promote children's physical and health literacies, to facilitate children's independence and competence in effectively communicating and managing their physical needs, and to extend children's confidence in their multisensory and motor abilities. Pre-service educators will also consider ways of working in partnership with families to support children's learning about health, physical activity and wellbeing.

The course objectives define the student learning outcomes for a course in accordance with the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s (AITSL) Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST). On successful completion of this course pre-service educators should be able to:

1. define physical developmental stages and key health considerations for children birth to eight (APST 1.1);
2. describe the significance of active play and fundamental movement skills for children’s health, learning and wellbeing and implications for teaching (APST 1.1, 1.2);
3. design learning activities and active play environments that provide developmentally appropriate learning goals and achievable challenges for young children (APST 2.1, 3.1);
4. describe strategies for modifying and differentiating learning activities to support inclusive practice that meets the learning needs of children across a range of abilities (APST 1.5);
5. describe strategies for working in partnership with families to facilitate children’s learning about health, physical activity and wellbeing (APST 3.7).