Introduction
My name is [Insert Name] and I am currently studying to become a secondary PDHPE teacher in Australian. This subject matter interested me most because of my passion towards health, physical activity and students. From my own school experience, I was the most open, comfortable and proactive in PDHPE class, and from several sources I realized how significant the influence of positive attitudes from PDHPE teacher to students. That is why I am now seeking to make the kind of impact on the future students similar to the one I could have made in my practice.
I chose secondary teaching because I find it rewarding to help adolescents go through a crucial period in their lives in terms of personal, physical, and emotional development. PDHPE provides essential avenues for change and development in relation to the promotion of healthy lifestyles, the fostering of personal and group resilience, and the development of the skills and understanding required to work cooperatively through movement and an understanding and appreciation of health.
In my teaching degree, I have so far done two professional practice in secondary schools. My first class with which I interacted was a Year 8 PDHPE and I assisted the teacher in teaching lessons on body systems, as well as conducting the warm up activities during practical lessons. During my second lesson, I provided a lesson to a Year 10 group regarding mental health, respecting relationships, and healthy body fitness. These placements assisted me in developing better lesson plans, ways of communicating orally and managing students’ behaviours particularly in physical activities. These experiences also helped me to understand that it is necessary to be ethical, to build and sustain the professional relationships and to be a positive role model. Since I plan to teach in secondary school, I will ensure that my classroom is safe, friendly, and acceptant of all students.
Code of Conduct Info graphic
Rationale and Reflection
As for the most important principles, which form the basis of the professional code of conduct in my future occupation as a secondary PDHPE teacher, there are four values: respect, responsibility, care, and integrity. These are consistent with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers and the Code of Ethics applicable to teachers in South Australia (AITSL, 2011). The PDHPE teachers are in a unique position of offering students guidance, a healthy lifestyle and life skills. For this reason, my code of conduct is an indication of how I embrace fairness, safety, ethical decision making and conflict free relationships (Teachers Registration Board of South Australia, 2020). I try to be a role model to the students when it comes to the manner in which they should behave, speak the truth, and avoid gossip, working in groups, and being polite.
This code was informed by professional literature, legal requirements as framed in the child protection legislation and the policy documents like the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). It makes me recall that the students’ welfare and ethical practice should be the focus of every action I undertake (Adoniou & Gallagher, 2017). The experiences that I have gone through in Self-audit and Placement has assisted me to realize some of my strong points and areas that needs to be developed. This reflection is important in fostering the professional formation of the kind of PDHPE teacher that I need to be as a graduate (Barry, 2021).
Reflection on Strengths and Learning Needs
| Professional Knowledge (APST 1 & 2) | |
| Key strength | As for one of my strengths, I realise that I possess a strong conceptual knowledge of how adolescents learn in the context of PDHPE (APST 1.2). For a Year 10 health class, I taught a lesson on respect in relationships and facilitated the activity that involved discussing real-life cases through the use of several cards. The students were alert and elegantly eager to contribute during the discussions. In order to make the lesson informative for all the participants, I modified the lesson for different levels of literacy and used graphic support (Killen & O’Toole, 2023). |
| Learning need | The specific area I wish to focus on in this domain is to progress my understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures (APST 2.4). But I still have some dilemma on how I can incorporate Indigenous perspective effectively in PDHPE units in areas such as sport and identity or community health. |
| Evidence | The personal analysis as well as the feedback from my mentor both showed that while I incorporated a lot of content related to culture, I did not dwell much on Indigenous matters. I also had chances to connect traditional games or Indigenous health analysis into a lesson and failed to seize them (Reconciliation Australia, 2024) |
| Action | Thus, I will use the Narragunnawali professional learning platform, as well as the 8 Ways of Learning framework. The following resources will assist me in knowledge development on the integration of Indigenous knowledge into Health and Physical education learning area. I also intend to monitor how some of the senior PDHPE teachers incorporate Aboriginal perspectives into the lessons and I will adapt them into my approach to teaching. |
| Professional Practice (APST 3, 4 & 5) | |
| Key strength | I am competent in the design of coherent, meaningful learning activities in both health and movement subject matter (APST 3.2, 3.3). For instance, whilst teaching fitness during a Year 8 fitness unit, I designed fitness stations that incorporated students’ ability and goal levels. Students began strength exercises, followed by agility and coordination and also took their everyday individual statistics. I also had reflective health journal tasks that referred to the relationship between physical activity and mental health (Killen & O’Toole, 2023). |
| Learning need | A particularly difficult area is behaviour management especially in dynamic practical setting (APST 4.3). Though I do not have any difficulties when teaching within formal classroom settings, I sometimes lack proper concentration and safety precautions when teaching in the other areas such as compound or playground. |
| Evidence | From the mentor feedback, I was informed that I have not been very effective in setting expectations and transitions in practical setting. I too, actively scold students and due to my reflections, discovered that I did not have a structured approach to dealing with group behavior or noise levels during working tasks (Ellis & Tod, 2018). |
| Action | To this effect, I will explore behaviour management techniques specifically related to active learning; Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL). I will also turn warm-up activities into structures, use timers that will be visible to the students, and assign roles to students to organize equipment. |
| Professional Engagement (APST 6 & 7) | |
| Key strength | This creates good reflective practice that I have embraced and ensure I look for ways to enhance my teaching (APST 6.3). During my placements, I took time to write a reflection on lesson conducted and the many things that transpired success, failure, and measures to enhance on the next lesson. For instance, observing the subsequent group task on mental health, I noticed some of my students hesitating in terms of their duties (Gore et al., 2024) |
| Learning need | One of the areas I need to develop further is legal and ethical responsibilities in the context of a secondary school (APST 7.1, 7.2). It also incorporates issues such as, the privacy of the students, consent in physical education, and how to communicate with the parents specifically when teaching such aspects like sexual health or mental health. |
| Evidence | I have placed this particular area as ‘developing’. I have not had a chance to conduct parent-teacher meetings or deal with particular concerns in educating under the rules of law. I have also had little interaction with some of the policies of the school like mandatory reporting, risk management of physical activities, and handling of health information (Barry, 2021). |
| Action | I propose to undertake online courses on child protection and mandatory reporting through my university portal. For my next placement, I would like to try to join professional discussions with parents and carers for some time and also study the corresponding school policies. |
Readiness for Graduation and Next Steps
Overall I have embraced personal growth as a professional teacher across the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, where I can confidently teach secondery PDHPE. It is evident that I possess the skills in the lesson planning especially of effective and creative lessons that involve students’ and teamwork activities. But I acknowledge that teaching is a learning process that goes on and on (AITSL, 2011). Nevertheless, there are a number of skills and experiences in which I believe that I am still developing to become fully prepared for graduate level teaching. Specifically, they are, standing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledge throughout the PDHPE curriculum, enhancing my approaches for managing behaviours in practical environments, and developing the knowledge for legal and ethical obligations while working with adolescents and their families (Gore et al., 2024).
For this growth to be achieved, I will utilize my final professional placement in the following manner in order to apply strategies in the aforementioned areas. I will consult with my mentors, attend any professional development sessions that would relate to my teaching practice, and gather evidence for my portfolio (Killen and O’Toole, 2023). My future plans involve further development into a professional and moral teacher as well as discrete responsible educator who can ensure security and interest to all students and teach them in the field of health and physical activity (Adoniou and Gallagher, 2017).
Completed Self-audit Template
| APST Domain | Strength | Learning Need | Evidence | Action/Goal |
| Professional Knowledge | Adolescent learning strategies | Indigenous perspectives in PDHPE | Lesson reflections | Use 8 Ways and Narragunnawali resources (Biddle, 2022). |
| Professional Practice | Differentiated practical tasks | Managing behaviour in outdoor spaces | Mentor feedback | Apply PBL and establish routines ((Ellis and Tod, 2018). |
| Professional Engagement | Reflective teaching practice | Legal and ethical responses in health topics | Self-audit, mentor advice | Complete training and observe mentors ((Killen and Toole, 2023) |
Professional Conversation
““My mentor teacher also stressed the fact that the behaviour management in the practical lessons depends on expectations and routines. She also suggested that use of Aboriginal games in PE is a worthwhile approach to part of Aboriginal contribution. Some of the measures include the use of visual prompts, and the assignment of roles for group tasks to encourage the students to be more responsible.”
SMART Goals
| Goal | Strategy | Timeline | Evidence |
| Embed Aboriginal perspectives | Use 8 Ways and Narragunnawali resources | Final placement | Lesson plans and reflections (Teachers Registration Board of South Australia, 2024) |
| Improve behaviour management | Use PBL framework, visual cues, and routines | 6 weeks | Student feedback and mentor notes |
| Understand legal/ethical responsibilities | Complete child protection and wellbeing training | Before next placement | Training certificates and reflections (Reconciliation Australia, 2024). |
References
Adoniou, M., & Gallagher, M. (2017). Professional standards for teachers—what are they good for?.Oxford review of education, 43(1), 109-126.
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.(2011). Australian professional standards for teachers.https://www.aitsl.edu.au/standards
Barry, D. (2021). The value of the australian professional standards for teachers as an evaluation tool to enhance teacher quality.
Ellis, S., &Tod, J. (2018).Behaviour for learning: Promoting positive relationships in the classroom. Routledge.
Geitz, G., Joosten-ten Brinke, D., &Kirschner, P. A. (2016). Changing learning behaviour: Self-efficacy and goal orientation in PBL groups in higher education. International Journal of Educational Research, 75, 146-158.
Gore, J., Rosser, B., Jaremus, F., Miller, A., & Harris, J. (2024).Fresh evidence on the relationship between years of experience and teaching quality.The Australian educational researcher, 51(2), 547-570.
Killen, R., & O’Toole, M. (2023).Effective teaching strategies 8e.Cengage AU.
Nicholas, B. (2022). Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education.
NSW Department of Education.(2024). Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL).https://education.nsw.gov.au/schooling/school-community/attendance-behaviour-and-engagement/positive-behaviour-for-learning
Reconciliation Australia. (2024). Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in education. https://www.reconciliation.org.au/our-work/narragunnawali-reconciliation-in-education/
Teachers Registration Board of South Australia. (2020). Code of ethics for the teaching profession in South Australia.https://www.trb.sa.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0010/1059229/TRBSA-Code-of-Ethics_Final.pdf
United Nations General Assembly. (1989). Convention on the Rights of the Child.https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-rights-child
