Sport studies

In sport studies, ākonga investigate and critically appraise the educative value of sport and consider the effects of sport from social, cultural, and scientific perspectives. Sports programmes can be developed in partnership with clubs and other community groups and may involve interschool and club competitions.

Organised school sports programmes should neither be seen as substitutes for sport studies in this curriculum nor as the specific domain of physical education teachers.

During sport studies ākonga should be able to:

• participate to the highest level of their interest and ability
• experience enjoyment and achievement
• become competent and enthusiastic participants
• practise fair play (in the widest interpretation of the term) in all situations
• experience and manage competition.

Ākonga require a range of structured, sequenced, and developmentally appropriate learning opportunities in sport studies. These include opportunities to develop:

• skills for participating in diverse sporting roles such as playing, coaching, officiating, and administrating
• skills for identifying and critiquing the contributions that science, technology, and the environment make to sporting performances
• the skills to identify and discuss the social and cultural significance that sport has for individuals and for society, for example, in relation to attitudes, values, specific practices and their effects, and media influences.

The underlying concepts are woven through learning in this area in the following ways:

The study of sport involves identifying ways that all aspects of hauora are influenced by sporting experiences.

In the sport studies key area, ākonga are given the opportunity to develop constructive attitudes, values, and behaviours that will help them to manage cooperative and competitive sports environments.

Ākonga will come to understand the social, cultural, economic, and environmental factors that influence attitudes, beliefs, and practices associated with sport. They will critically examine sport from their personal viewpoint and from the viewpoints of the school and society as a whole.

Schools have an important role in promoting sport through the co-curricular programmes they offer, allowing ākonga to extend and apply the knowledge, skills, and attitudes they develop in the school's physical education curriculum.

The effective promotion and organisation of school sport should reflect the needs of ākonga, and emphasise the social nature of sport and its importance for health and wellbeing.