Competence-Orientation in Teaching Physical Education

In recent years, curriculum development has shifted to competence-oriented approaches in many European countries and beyond. Contents of the respective competence-oriented curricula may vary depending on the specific cultural, social and political background, and accordingly also on the individual decision-makers. They may however comprehensively be defined as “a curriculum that emphasizes the complex outcomes of a learning process (i.e. knowledge, skills and attitudes to be applied by learners), rather than mainly focused on what learners are expected to learn about in terms of traditionally defined content” (UNESCO-International Bureau of Education, 2012). Competence-based curricula are thus criteria-based and goals-oriented, flexible and adaptive to students’ and school contexts. They have in common that learning outcomes are considered as an essential evidence of having acquired competencies. Further, they attest to the effectiveness of education systems at delivering quality education and effective learning. What learners can acquire, however, depends not only on a clear definition of intended competencies and learning outcomes. It is also related to questions like how the learning contents are packaged and presented, how they are taught, where they are taught and acquired, how learners are facilitated, and also how their acquisition is verified (UNESCO-International Bureau of Education, 2012). National and regional policies and curricula thus only pave the way to competence-oriented teaching. They can however only be successful if they are accepted and well implemented by the teacher and if they take place in a positive learning environment (UNESCO-International Bureau of Education, 2012). Accordingly, subject didactics in physical education like in any other subject have to cover two roles: contributing to determine educational standards and developing concepts for competence-oriented teaching (Gogoll & Kurz, 2013). Having this double mission in mind, this chapter is opening by exploring what competence-orientation means, first in general and secondly, more specifically, in physical education classes. It continues by transferring the theoretical knowledge into the practical implementation of competence-oriented tasks. To conclude, a critical glance is thrown on the concept of competence-orientation in physical education