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Objectives: Increasing childhood health literacy (HL) is a crucial means of improving health outcomes and reducing preventable deaths globally. Understanding how to best support children's HL development in schools is essential. However, identifying pedagogical strategies that develop children's HL relies on a fit-for-purpose measure. Currently, no universally accepted approach for measuring HL among children exists. The purpose of this paper was to propose and discuss how a curricular approach to assessing children's HL could provide a means to overcoming the challenges with existing children HL measures. Design/Methods: The discussion is framed by the key components of assessment -- outcome of interest, and collection, analysis and interpretation of data -- and is underpinned by contemporary HL and educational research. Setting: The Australian Curriculum is used to discuss the approach in practice. Results: A curricular approach to HL assessment suggests that HL assessment may work best when it is relevant to the child and their context, is integrated with other areas of the curriculum, allows children to demonstrate a wide range of HL skills and contains an element of open-endedness. Measurement could be guided by a rubric (underpinned by a taxonomy), and interpretation of scores consistently aligned with the learning intentions outlined in the curriculum. Conclusion: A curricular approach provides a contextually adaptive framework from which HL assessment tools for children can be developed

Objectives: Among Aboriginal children, the year between birth and 1 year of age has the highest mortality rate compared with any other age. Prompt administration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) leads to better outcomes and a lower likelihood of ongoing sequalae. Current education on infant CPR is not provided to parents except in certain circumstances in a neonatal intensive care unit. Currently, there are no identified CPR education courses specifically available for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, meaning that current infant CPR education courses are not culturally responsive. Design: Partnering with an Aboriginal community from the Bindjareb region of the Western Australian Noongar nation, the researchers used a co-design approach and an Aboriginal Participatory Action Research (APAR) design to explore how to deliver culturally safe and responsive infant CPR community education. This resulted in the development of the Koolangka Infant Life Saving Education Framework (KILSEF), which can be used to guide future planning and delivery of culturally safe and responsive community level infant CPR education. Results: The study findings identified that members of the Aboriginal community were very interested in receiving infant CPR education, but the barriers identified from mainstream CPR course delivery need to be removed for the community to benefit from culturally responsive ways of learning. Culturally responsive community CPR education should be provided in culturally safe places and the focus of learning should be on the practical applications of CPR and less on the academic pre-reading and written requirements. Explanations should be provided in lay terms and patience is required to communicate ideas in ways that facilitate understanding, and the course may need to be delivered over several days to accommodate community participant availability. Conclusion: Addressing Aboriginal community concerns and barriers allowed for the implementation of culturally responsive infant resuscitation education which was highly valued by community members and led to increased community confidence and participation in CPR education.

The age of the onset of menstruation, termed menarche, has been declining for decades worldwide. Approximately 12% of Australian girls reach menarche between eight to 11 years of age. Current health and physical education subject guidelines from the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority state that puberty education should be introduced to students between year levels five to six (ages 10-12) when many have already begun puberty. To explore how girls experiencing early menarche are currently supported in Australian primary schools, semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 15 primary school staff from separate schools, including teachers, principals, a school services officer, and a school counsellor. Thematic analysis identified three main themes, (1) the prevalence of deficit models of early menarche and children's capacity to know; (2) gendered gatekeeping of menstruation knowledge; and (3) systemic barriers and inconsistencies in menstruation education. Our analysis complements but extends recent calls for improvements to menstruation education in Australian schools. Affirmative menstrual support practices and facilities are needed in primary schools to normalise and encourage conversations with students about menarche and menstruation irrespective of age, gender, class or culture.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to cause global upheaval. It had a significant impact on the field of education, with multiple lockdowns changing the nature of teaching. This has been particularly challenging for early career academics (ECA) who already experience heightened stresses in the field of academia. This article explores the impact of COVID-19 on three ECAs who are Health, Outdoor and Physical Education (HOPE) teacher educators. Using poetic inquiry, this article explores our experiences of teaching experiential content in an online environment during an extended lockdown. Engaging in this process highlighted the personal and professional challenges we faced, including work-life balance, teaching online, and staying up to date with research and leadership commitments. It also highlighted significant opportunities, including affirming good pedagogy and building a sense of community. Ultimately, engaging in this process highlighted a sense of hope and provided an opportunity for the three authors to grow as educators.

COVID-19 has caused a revelation of change across the world. Higher education leaders faced significant challenges during the unprecedented crisis, particularly in the early stage of the pandemic. We examined the University of Sydney's response to the pandemic using key informant interviews with leaders at different levels of the university structure to fill the crisis management gap in Australia's higher education sector. Key themes that emerged from the interviews focused on the importance of communication strategies in crisis, how the level of collaboration affected the pandemic response efforts and that adaptability to change was essential for engagement and communication in a time where face-to-face contact was limited. We applied the thematic analysis results from the interviews to Mitroff and Pearson's crisis management model to reflect on the University's response. We identified several recommendations from the experiences for future public health crisis responses.

Background: Physical literacy (PL) has generated substantial international interest across sport, health and education sectors. Teachers play a crucial role in supporting children's PL growth. Despite PL featuring in several physical education curricular texts, research into teacher understanding and perception of the concept is scarce. This study aimed to explore the understanding and perception of PL among Australian teachers of health and physical education (including generalists and specialists). Methods: Utilizing an explanatory sequential mixed-methods study design, the first phase involved an online survey of 174 Australian teachers. The survey, developed from relevant literature, aimed to elicit an understanding of teachers' awareness, understanding, and perceptions of PL, and comprised a combination of open-ended, yes/no, Likert, and multiple-choice response options. The second phase involved semi-structured telephone interviews with nine survey participants, to build on survey responses. Interviews lasting on average 37 (range 28-58) minutes were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. For quantitative data, bivariate comparisons were made using chi-square tests to examine the relationships between teacher training (generalist versus specialist), age group, years of teaching experience, and teacher PL understanding. Interview data were analyzed using an inductive thematic approach to identify emergent theme clusters. Results: Respondents (n = 122, male 48.4%) were mostly specialist trained teachers, with 10-14 years of teaching experience. Quantitative findings revealed that while most teachers were aware of PL, many only partially understood the concept, often interpreting it as an understanding of bodily movements and/or the benefits of physical activity participation. There were no differences in PL understanding by teacher training, age group, or years of teaching experience. Two main themes, identified from qualitative interviews, which provided further explanation of teachers' understanding and perception of PL were: (a) 'physical literacy has been a bit of a buzzword': perceptions of the PL concept and (b) 'It's a concept that needs to be ingrained': implementing PL in schools. Teachers acknowledged the potential importance and applicability of PL, however, expressed scepticism (e.g. buzzword) about the concept. Narrow understanding of the concept persisted during interviews. In terms of its implementation within schools, teachers highlighted the need for curriculum alignment, provision of resources and professional development opportunities, and policy changes. In recognizing these implementation strategies, teachers further noted potential barriers that could hinder PL implementation including time constraints, workload and busyness, and the lack of prioritization of physical education (PE) within schools. Conclusion: Study findings revealed the urgent need to clarify the concept of PL for teachers given their critical role in ensuring effective and successful translation of research into educational practice. Resources, professional dialogue, and continuing professional development opportunities can support teachers' overall understanding and implementation of PL. This is important for potentially maximizing children's PL development across the lifespan.

Lifestyle risk behaviours--physical inactivity, poor diet, poor sleep, recreational screen time, and alcohol and tobacco use--collectively known as the "Big 6" emerge during adolescence and significantly contribute to chronic disease development into adulthood. To address this issue, the Health4Life program targeted the Big 6 risk behaviours simultaneously via a co-designed eHealth school-based multiple health behaviour change (MHBC) intervention. This study used multiple causal mediation analysis to investigate some potential mediators of Health4Life's effects on the Big 6 primary outcomes from a cluster randomised controlled trial of Health4Life among Australian school children. Mediators of knowledge, behavioural intentions, self-efficacy, and self-control were assessed. The results revealed a complex pattern of mediation effects across different outcomes. Whilst there was a direct effect of the intervention on reducing moderate-to-vigorous physical activity risk, the impact on sleep duration appeared to occur indirectly through the hypothesised mediators. Conversely, for alcohol and tobacco use, both direct and indirect effects were observed in opposite directions cancelling out the total effect (competitive partial mediation). The intervention's effects on alcohol and tobacco use highlighted complexities, suggesting the involvement of additional undetected mediators. However, little evidence supported mediation for screen time and sugar-sweetened beverage intake risk. These findings emphasise the need for tailored approaches when addressing different risk behaviours and designing effective interventions to target multiple health risk behaviours. The trial was pre-registered with the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12619000431123.

People from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds in Australia generally experience poorer health outcomes, explained in part by low levels of health literacy. We conducted a systematic review to examine the development and evaluation of health education resources designed for CaLD populations. Five electronic databases were searched for English language, peer-reviewed studies published between 1980 and 2020. Thirty-four studies met the inclusion criteria. Twenty-four different health education resources were described and broadly categorized into four types: media campaigns (n = 10), text-based materials (n = 5), films (n = 8) and radio (n = 1). Studies were assessed against domains adapted from a health literacy guideline incorporating: need, collaboration, audience, health literacy, theory, test and process and impact evaluation. All but one study met the majority of the domains. All studies reported positive evaluation outcomes; this may be due to studies involving community early in resource design and including health literacy considerations in their design. Reporting resource design and evaluation against standard practice controls is recommended to build a more robust evidence base for developing effective health education resources for use by audiences from CaLD backgrounds.

This paper documents historical and contemporary evidence of the HPE field's honouring Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing -- and argues that much more needs to be done. Underpinning this is our philosophical belief that honouring Indigenous knowledges ultimately contributes to planetary health. We begin the paper with the positioning of ourselves within the context of this work. Extrapolating this, we introduce our particular contexts, to help convey the complexity of socio-historical and political influences. Following this, we document a series of events in our field of HPE that convey working towards honouring Indigenous knowledges and illustrate examples of Indigenous ways in educational institutions. The final section introduces the other papers of this special issue. The issue captures a moment in time where practices associated with racism, specifically towards First Peoples, at systemic, institutional, embodied and epistemic levels, are being challenged and countered, yet still require further dismantling. We regard the movement towards obligations of not just acknowledging, but also engaging with and for First Peoples, as still not strong enough to claim our field is inclusive or honouring. Such movements signal important opportunities not just for HPE curricula, but also for the pedagogies, topics, partnerships and research for planetary health more widely.

Assessment underpins students' learning in higher education and provides evidence of knowledge and skills. Program-level planning refocuses the assessment from being content and siloed at the course level to being program oriented with alignment to program learning outcomes and graduate attributes. Program-level assessment has been gaining momentum and shown to create positive assessment practices that support the quality agenda driving the higher education sector; despite this, program-level assessment is not widely adopted in Australian universities. This article explores the factors that academics in health and science programs identify as enablers and barriers to adopting program-level assessment. Grounded Theory was the methodological approach used to construct the semi-structured interviews with 18 Associate Deans and Program Directors from seven universities. Thematic analysis revealed the enablers and barriers to participants' undertaking program-level assessment. The enablers of program-level assessment included having a shared responsibility through whole-team collaboration, effective leadership, and professional development. Conversely, barriers included resource constraints, ownership issues, and siloed practices, a lack of assessment literacy and university policies. The identification of these enablers and mitigating the barriers can help facilitate program-level assessment planning to enhance the assessment experience and drive students' purpose of assessment within a university program.

Calls have been made for a public pedagogy that works at the intersection of education and politics to enact a concern for "publicness." These are calls for pedagogy that values plurality in human togetherness and educational conditions in which all young people can flourish. In this paper my specific focus is exploring how "publicness of education" can be conceived in relation to encouraging inclusive, equitable and decolonial 'ways of being doing and knowing' in HPE. I adopt a genealogical approach to explore 'conditions of possibility' that have contributed to durability of a 'white' Eurocentric norm for HPE. Selected reports, curriculum documents, newspaper and reference articles are drawn on to illuminate discourses, and power relations implicated in this dominant framing. This paper represents an attempt to disrupt common sense understandings and practices of HPE founded settler-colonialism and new forms of neo-liberal colonialism. Approaches premised on activist, culturally responsive pedagogies as well as affective, embodied, relational dimensions of human togetherness are suggested. I propose that questioning 'why' 'how' and 'what' is taught in HPE is critical for reframing 'thinking and feeling' required for pedagogical and curricular practices that can enhance educational justice for Indigenous students.

Health and physical education (HPE) is a discursively white, Western learning domain. Despite minor disruptions through radical scholarship in HPE research and teacher education (often referred to as PETE), and the implementation of curricular devices and/or models-based practices promoting inclusion in HPE teaching, more radical work to honour Indigenous knowledges (IK) is needed. Since all HPE curricular encounters in Australia occur upon stolen and unceded lands and waters, and ongoing possession is justified through racially constructed educational narratives of Western superiority, the suppressed histories, Indigenous languages, and Indigenous knowledges have a fundamental role to play. In this paper, we argue that Australian HPE educators must (1) develop a greater depth of knowledge about our entwined Indigenous and non-Indigenous histories and present, (2) acquire tools to develop racial literacy from a coalition of critical Indigenous studies and Critical Race Theory (CRT), before (3) turning towards IK in HPE. These theoretical tools are not typical in PETE and require educators and researchers to acquire an initial criticality and to invest in ever-evolving racial literacies. We provide some examples of radical scholarship and suggest what conditions are necessary to address the historical and recurring epistemic violence in Australian HPE.

Hygiene education is becoming increasingly popular and is now addressed in both formal and informal education systems. Examining hygiene education research and developing a vision for the future will lead to creating a roadmap for future research as well as an analysis of past research. Research on hygiene education encompasses a variety of subtopics. It is critical for future researchers and thematic studies in this area to determine if there is a pattern to these concerns that cover a wide range of topics. The purpose of this study is to examine the topic of hygiene education using bibliometric analysis. From the Scope Database, 503 records remain for bibliometric analysis. This results in an average number of 5.02 publications per year. 1973 people contributed to the study. Among the top 10, most influential sources in terms of the number of articles are four websites related to dental hygiene. The United States leads the world in both the number of publications and a total number of citations, followed by Canada and China. Most of the research was related to oral hygiene education.

Most massive open online courses (MOOCs) are offered in English, including those offered by non-English speaking universities. The study investigated an identified English language dementia MOOC's accessibility and effectiveness in improving the dementia knowledge of non-native English speaker participants. A total of 6,389 enrolees (age range 18--82 years; 88.4% female) from 67 countries was included in analyses. Dementia knowledge was measured by the Dementia Knowledge Assessment Scale (DKAS) before and after the MOOC completion. Rates of completion were also compared. Native English speakers (n = 5,320) were older, more likely to be female, less likely to be employed, and had lower educational attainment than non-native English speakers (n = 1025). Native English speakers were also more likely to care for or have cared for a family member or friend living with dementia than were non-native English speakers. Native English speakers had a significantly higher DKAS score both pre- (M = 33.0, SD = 9.3) and post-MOOC (M = 44.2, SD = 5.5) than did non-native English speakers (M = 31.7, SD = 9.1; and M = 40.7, SD = 7.7 for pre- and post-MOOC, respectively). Non-native English speakers with low pre-MOOC dementia knowledge scores gained significantly less dementia knowledge following course completion than did native English speakers (p <.001, adjusted for age and education). There was no significant difference between the two groups in their likelihood of completing the MOOC. Our findings suggest that non-native English speakers are motivated and able to complete the MOOC at similar rates to native English speakers, but the MOOC is a more effective educational intervention for native English speakers with low dementia knowledge.

The impact of Australian disability policy reform, known as the National Disability Insurance Scheme, on the capacity of rural health and human service organizations to facilitate higher education has been poorly investigated. This study explored how health professionals perceive the impact of the National Disability Insurance Scheme on nursing and allied health work-integrated learning (WIL) in rural host organizations during the scheme's implementation in Victoria, Australia. Data collected from 20 health professionals across rural Victoria were thematically analyzed and mapped onto WIL dimensions. This process revealed themes relating to shifts in WIL purpose, context, nature and responsibilities. The findings suggest the National Disability Insurance Scheme may have limited rural organizational capacity to host students undertaking WIL, and in turn, contributed to a decline in rural health education during the implementation phase. Thus, WIL partners may need to pay greater attention to the policy framework surrounding rural WIL opportunities.

Schools are an ideal setting to base mental health literacy programs as the learning environment is already established. Mental health literacy represents how to obtain and maintain good mental health and should be incorporated into the school curriculum. Collaboration with key stakeholders in youth mental health, such as school staff and allied health professionals, is critical in ensuring needs are addressed, and programs are sustainable. This study aimed to understand the perspectives of school staff and allied health professionals towards mental health literacy within Australian schools. An exploratory qualitative and quantitative survey was completed by 88 participants across Australia. Results indicated that school staff feel less competent to deliver mental health literacy content and perceive their training did not address mental health education compared to allied health professionals. Most mental health programs reported to be implemented within schools were social and emotional learning programs. School staff viewed mental health programs to strengthen academic performance less than allied health professionals. Thematic analysis of qualitative data identified that participants viewed mental health knowledge, where and how to seek help, and coping skills as vital content to cover in a school-based mental health literacy program. This study reveals that school staff need sufficient training and resources to address youth mental health literacy. Though mental health literacy is lacking in the Australian school system, the perspectives of school staff and allied health professionals in this study provide key ideas and considerations for the future development of school-based mental health literacy programs for youth.

When teachers help students see connections between mathematical concepts and real life it can increase students' interest and learning in mathematics. Physical activity is also a part of daily life; therefore, Health and Physical Education (HPE) is a particularly rich subject area that mathematics teachers can capitalise on to show students how mathematics connects to the real world. This article is written for teachers of mathematics (including out-of-field teachers) in the secondary years who may be unaccustomed with the HPE curriculum. Specifically, a discovery and problem-based pedagogical method is used that enables students to explore a task that demonstrates the richness and variety possible when an integrated curriculum approach is taken. In this paper the authors explain how mathematics complements HPE and discuss the tangible learning, real-world outcomes and opportunities available. Specifically, the authors present an example problem from the pedagogical program STEMfit, which provides a pathway for students to learn STEM subjects by using and analysing personally obtained data in different physical activity contexts to encourage mathematical learning. Innovative approaches to mathematics lessons can help students understand how to use mathematical language so that they can connect ideas logically.

Increasing levels of student diversity, and inequality, frame the conditions of schooling in the contemporary moment. Initial teacher education has also been criticised for falling short in adequately preparing pre-service teachers who can cater for the needs of diverse student learners. This paper enters this discursive field and takes a specific focus on decolonising approaches to curriculum and pedagogical practices of health and physical education (HPE) of initial teacher education. My specific focus is the implementation of a range of strategies in a fourth-year Primary/Middle (years 3-9) HPE course within a Bachelor of Education program. I first provide a contextual overview and examine furthering an understanding of settler/colonialism in initial teacher education. In the remaining sections of the paper, I report on strategies designed to build cultural confidence, competence and respect. I conclude in arguing that if pre-service teachers are to develop pedagogical practices that are responsive to the diverse cultural, linguistic and embodied practices of all students, we too, as HPE teacher educators, need to confront our own assumptions about valued knowledge and practices.

Initial Teacher Education (ITE) is a critical arena for advancing inclusion in Health and Physical Education (HPE). This paper reports research that is engaging with the diversity of the HPE profession and practitioners. It centres on a unique case study that critically explored the school-based professional experience of an Australian secondary HPE Pre-service Teacher (PsT) who has a hearing impairment. Specifically, to enable PST success in HPE professional experiences as defined by the professional standards for teachers in Australia and to which, PSTs' must evidence to graduate and attain teacher registration. Drawing on documentary and interview data the paper focuses on tensions identified between the bureaucratic environment of ITE and the legislation of 'reasonable adjustments' for students with additional needs. Discussion highlights the expertise that PsTs with additional needs can bring to inform institutional and sector-wide work to advance equity and inclusion in ITE. Our research shows that graduate employability of peoples with additional needs in HPE teacher education relies on the inclusive interpretation and application of the professional standards for teachers. We advocate further research to increase knowledge(s) supporting (i) the representation of people with additional needs in HPE teaching and (ii) inclusive practice in HPE ITE courses.

In this paper we report on a teacher education co-design project that explored Australian pre-service primary generalist teachers' ideations of the pedagogical links between health education and nature. As part of their coursework in a Master of Teaching degree at an Australian University, students were invited to design a Victorian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (VC:HPE) activity that connected primary curriculum (F-6) with nature. We conducted a 3-hour suite of online learning activities and prompts using Zoom, Padlet and Moodle. The data consists of the students' curriculum design artefacts as well as recordings of the group discussions and non-assessment-based presentations of their work. Drawing on theories of child-nature interaction, we present an analysis of the ways in which n = 72 pre-service teachers across 18 groups of 4-5 educators conceptualised links between 'nature' and HPE across their activity designs. Prior to the workshop, the majority of pre-service teachers had not previously considered links between the HPE learning area and nature. Through the activities of the co-design workshop, students were surprised with the variety of pedagogical possibilities that were able to be made. There was much student discussion about the possibilities and limitations of balancing safety and risk in their nature-based activity designs. We present a thematic analysis of the quality of student-nature interactions in the groups' learning designs through: (i) exploration; (ii) embodiment; (iii) cultivation; (iv) appropriation; and (v) representation. The analysis and discussion has implications for the way quality health education is linked to nature-based learning environments, teacher education and contemporary curriculum enactment that incorporates nature and the environment as part of the learning design.

The purpose of this paper, is to invite health educators to see children as Country--to listen to, learn from and see the child spirit often not observed in academia. We do this by asking, 'What can we as academics and adults learn from Australian Aboriginal children's talk about culture?' To do this, we examine photos taken by Aboriginal children on what culture means to them. We also draw on interview data of the children speaking about their chosen photos. The data reported on in this paper is drawn from a multi-community (co-created) pre-test/post-test feasibility study (ACTRN12619001224112) of the 'Strong Culture, Healthy Lifestyles' afterschool cultural activity programme held on Yuin Country. In focusing on the children's spirit, perspectives, talk and photos about the place of culture in their lives, we aim to look, listen, and see Country [Harrison, M. D., & McConchie, P. (2009). "My People's Dreaming: An Aboriginal Elder speaks on life, land, spirit and forgiveness." Finch Publishing; McKnight, A. (2017). "Singing up Country in academia: Teacher education academics and preservice teachers' experience with Yuin Country" [PhD thesis]., University of Wollongong.]. In observing the photographs, it seems that care and connection are important dimensions to the place of culture in the lives of the children. For some of the children, there is a sense of pride and wonder in what they already know about the importance of family; what they learnt from the programme led by their own community members, the mentors; and the re-triggering of learning through Country. This demonstrates the power of learning/knowing/living/talking about/engaging with culture and Country through cultural programs such as the 'Strong Culture, Healthy Lifestyle programme'. It also demonstrates the importance of nourishing the curiosity of spirit in/with the children, through their (and your own) cultural journey with culture and Country.

Politics and pragmatics are central and inseparable features of curriculum reform. In a federated system like Australia, many individuals and organisations are invested in reform at the national and jurisdictional level. This paper focuses on the policy work and roles of key actors positioned at the interface of national and state-based curriculum development, and at the juncture of curriculum policy and pedagogic practice. These were individuals formally identified as 'curriculum leaders' in the enactment of the Australian Curriculum in Health and Physical Education (ACHPE). The paper centres on data collected from eight (n = 8) curriculum leaders via semi-structured interviews. All were prospectively influential figures in shaping the path of the ACHPE. Our research explored the nature of their enactment work and how they were variously positioned and positioned themselves in relation to key ACHPE discourses. Analysis uses the policy actor/policy work framework as a starting point for deeper, Foucauldian informed analysis which provides insights into the complex nature of curriculum leadership by considering the additional (in)formal work and roles of these high-ranking policy actors. Data and discussion extends understanding of curriculum enactment as a process that spans policy networks and reveals the nuanced nature of curriculum leadership associated with curriculum reform.

Background: Healthy eating (HE) and physical activity (PA) are essential for children's health and well-being. Innovative approaches, informed by formative research, are crucial to promoting these behaviors. Experiential learning, involving active, hands-on approaches, may be an effective way to encourage healthy behaviors in children. Children's museums could contribute to health education by providing a variety of educational opportunities. Purpose: To inform the design of an experiential learning Healthy Living program for children at an Australian children's museum. Methods: A qualitative study involving focus group discussions with 23 caregivers and in-depth interviews with 6 staff were conducted to explore perceptions of caregivers and staff working in an Australian children's museum (Discovery Space) relating to potentially effective experiential learning strategies for promoting children's healthy behaviors. Data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed in NVivo 12. Results: Key considerations for promoting HE and PA children through experiential learning activities include involving caregivers, engaging children through processes such as providing choice and stimulating curiosity, and selecting appropriate activity types such as simple, engaging, fun, hands-on, sensory play, and music-based activities. Translation to Health Education Practice: Experiential learning activities that address these key considerations can promote HE and PA in children and should be studied in future studies. Competencies and sub-competencies in two areas of responsibility, (I) Assessment of Needs and Capacity and (V) Advocacy, were addressed.

Indigenous games and sports (IG&S) form a mandated part of the Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning area of the Australian National Curriculum and to encourage the adoption of IG&S, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (ACARA), the independent statutory authority responsible for the development of a national curriculum, a national assessment program, and a national data collection and reporting program that supports learning for Australian students, developed resources to support teachers. The promotion of IG&S was also assisted by numerous commentators, educators, and academics who advocated for the educational and social benefits of their inclusion. Since their inclusion in the National Curriculum in 2015, their teaching has been minimal and sporadic.

Research shows that athletes across levels and sports have been subjected to maltreatment with non-sexualised forms such as psychological abuse and neglect found to be the most common. With the normalisation of many of these forms of abuse occurring in sports, researchers have called for the 'safeguarding' of athletes to focus on prevention through evidence-based education. Yet evidence-based education that teaches about abuse remains limited in the research literature. Further, an examination of educational theory, design considerations and the implications of such applications when applied to learning contexts in sport remains scarce. This paper is the first generated from a project where an online athlete-and coach-led abuse education program was designed, implemented, and evaluated with the purpose of teaching children through to adults (coaches, athletes) about non-sexualised types of abuse, along with the effects of such maltreatment. This paper provides an overview of the educational theory and design considerations, namely Ivor Goodson and Scherto "Gill's" narrative pedagogy and the use of culturally responsive and culturally relevant content, with challenges and possibilities of these applications outlined. Recommendations are then made, based on facilitator and participant feedback which may assist sporting organisations and child protection agencies worldwide when designing, developing, revising, or implementing their own education programs to teach about abuse.

Policy classifies and shapes people/subjects in particular kinds of ways. Focusing on the context of Health and Physical Education (HPE), this paper analyses policy documents from Australia, the United States of America (USA) and Wales. We pay particular attention to how learners are represented within and across the three policy documents, and we apply Bacchi's 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' approach to guide the analysis. For us, problematization is a fruitful and positive process that enables educators to engage with a critical dialogue regarding the policies they are expected to enact. Our analysis highlighted that common across the policies were overlapping discourses of idealism, neoliberalism, healthism, and individualism, which serve to reinforce deficit language and a focus on what learners 'lack'. The problem of 'learner as lacking' is represented within the policies via at least three subject positions: 'the sedentary learner', 'the un-educated learner' and 'the naïve learner'. The findings suggest that the three policies were producing an ideal and perhaps impossible learner (subject) whilst at the same time representing the learner as a problem that the policy could 'fix'. This paper is important because it: (i) demonstrates how certain discourses and voices are amplified and silenced within curriculum policy documents and policy work more broadly; (ii) makes educational and health politics visible; and (iii) creates space for the profession to develop greater critical consciousness related to policy. In terms of future directions, we urge curriculum policy writers and other stakeholders to carefully consider how learners are categorised, represented and governed in and through policy. If curriculum policies, by their very nature, need to produce problems -- in this case, the (im)possible subject - we invite educators to engage in critical conversations regarding the policies they are expected to enact.

Internationally many health professions courses require the inclusion of Indigenous health curricula and skilled educators are vital to achieving this. In this Australian qualitative study, 20 non-Indigenous nursing and allied health educators teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's health were interviewed on perspectives of teaching Indigenous health. Inductive thematic analysis identified three areas relating to perceptions of what to teach, how to teach and student experiences. Educators described teaching mostly novice-level knowledge concepts with a greater focus on Indigenous cultures rather than understanding power, race and settler colonial processes. Teaching was often informed by educators' personal and professional experiences. However, there was little critical reflexivity about whether these experiences may have modelled culturally unsafe practices or privileged settler colonial paradigms. Hence, despite good intentions of educators, teaching sometimes promoted paternalism, assimilation, stereotyping and ill-informed assumptions about Indigenous labour. Study findings indicate an imperative for theory-informed educator strengthening to understand recommended teaching approaches, impacts of settler colonialism and strategies for disrupting settler colonial cycles in education. Until institutional structures decentre colonial norms and implement cultural safety in learning and teaching practice, efforts to improve Aboriginal health equity will fall short.

This paper presents a heuristic tool that can be used to analyse and reflect on the inclusion of digital competences in Health and Physical Education Teacher Education (HPETE) programs. The tool is used to identify and compare how HPETE programs in three Southern Hemisphere countries address digital competency as an aspect of learning to teach Health and Physical Education (HPE). The results reveal that the tool provides an effective way of analysing the development of digital technologies through HPETE. While these programs are concerned with the need for technology education, they do not rely on suggested international frameworks and have a different focus related to future teachers' digital competences. The lack of a systematic policy to improve digital skills in our data suggests that technology education has emerged from localised efforts. We suggest that our heuristic tool can support educators to refine the inclusion of digital competences in HPETE programs.

The enactment of the Australian Curriculum for Health and Physical Education (AC:HPE) is intended to be informed by five 'propositions' or Key Ideas, one of which is 'Develop Health Literacy'. Our study occurred at four Tasmanian primary schools and was conducted by a research team consisting of public health and education academics. This team composition reflects the nature of the HealthLit4Kids program as a university and community grant-funded study intervention. We examined inter-dependent networks, of teachers and children, to investigate Health Literacy (HL) teaching. Data were collected from 30 primary teacher participants and figurational sociology was our theoretical framework. While our program increased teacher awareness about health education, participants demonstrated limited HL knowledge with their teaching largely informed by 'everyday philosophies'. While increasing health awareness is a welcome first step with the potential to broadly influence students' adult behaviours, the teachers' ideas about HL were largely fantastical. This finding was supported by a latent data theme showing a restricted connection between teacher HL knowledge and the AC:HPE.

Menstrual health literacy has a direct impact on young peoples' quality of life, health, academic and professional performance. In Australia, the key learning area of Health and Physical Education [HPE] provides opportunities for students to develop menstrual health literacy. This paper reports on the findings of a survey of 5007 young Australian women aged 13-25 on their experiences of menstruation, dysmenorrhea and education. The discussion herein relates to the qualitative component that asked the question 'What was the most useful information about menstruation received in HPE [Health and Physical Education] class?' Applying a thematic analysis to the data, three key themes emerged. These include: (a) it's all just biology; (b) the cause but not the effect, and; (c) too little, too late. The findings suggest limitations in educational approaches taken by teachers potentially resulting in poor menstrual health literacy portending long-term negative health consequences for some individuals.

It is well-documented that schools fail to adequately engage with contemporary content about intersex awareness and education or inclusion of people with intersex variations. Where sexuality and relationships education are the remit of Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculum in countries such as Australia, the learning area shows little obligation/response-ability towards the needs of students with intersex variations. It also fails to pay nuanced attention to non-dominant issues, knowledge, or people with respect to sex, gender and sexuality. Similarly, the normative endosex nature/focus of HPE/PE/sport and related professional education bodies (e.g. in teaching and coaching) ignore the need for relevant and affirming content about intersex bodies. A recent project reported here, created a collective narrative addressing how such HPE bodies of learning and teaching can advocate for and enact approaches that are inclusive, affirming, visible, and supportive in promoting and upholding the human rights and health needs of students with intersex variations. The research question driving the project was: What part can HPE bodies of learning and teaching play concerning intersex awareness and education? This original empirical research draws on the methodology and theory of narrative inquiry. The narrative was created between artefacts from a cohort of second year Australian pre-service HPE teacher education students in dialogue with teacher/researcher/expert/author bodies. The paper employs a recently developed Strategic Framework for intersex inclusion that promotes a positive whole-school approach, for educational institutions to be more inclusive, humane, safe and educationally relevant for people with intersex variations. This framework assists critical reflection on project findings. We argue that such engagement, as illustrated in this project's scope, promotes a positive and diverse understanding about intersex in educational spaces, curriculum and pedagogies, guidelines, and policies, and ultimately reflect Australian Human Rights Commission recommendations and Australian anti-discrimination legislation.

The inclusion of First Nations health curricula in programs is critical for the development of culturally safe graduates, however, less is known about how to embed content into curriculum in ways that reflect best practice and pedagogy. The aim of this scoping review was to describe methods and processes of First Nations health curriculum development in nursing, medical, dentistry, and allied health entry-level programs in international peer-reviewed journals. Systematic searches of databases were completed including CINAHL, Proquest, Medline, and Informit; with additional searches in Google Scholar and First Nations-led journals. A total of 104 articles met inclusion criteria; the majority relating to medicine (n = 38) and nursing/midwifery (n = 17) student cohorts. Methods and processes for embedding First Nations health content are described, including First Nations-led development and co-leadership, resulting in a suggested model for curriculum development. Evidence-informed curriculum development is critical to ensure effective methods and processes are adopted and cultural safety learning outcomes are achieved.

The use of non-academic sources of health information is popular among both the public and exercise professionals. However, the quality of this information varies and without the application of critical thinking skills, may lead to misconceptions forming. This research aimed to compare the knowledge, presence of misconceptions, and critical thinking ability of vocational education and training (VET) fitness students at the beginning and end of their training, and qualified personal trainers (PTs). It also examines differences in the sources of information used by students and professionals. An Exercise Science Knowledge Survey was developed to assess knowledge and misconceptions about ten areas of exercise and nutrition. VET students were assessed at the beginning and end of a personal training qualification and PTs were surveyed once. Though VET students' knowledge improved and misconceptions decreased from pre- to post training, PTs did not differ from post-VET students in knowledge, misconceptions, or critical thinking ability. PTs reported using more varied sources of information and were more likely to trust reliable sources. Critical thinking ability correlated with higher knowledge scores and lower misconception scores. Instruction in critical thinking should be embedded at lower levels of VET, and exercise professionals should be encouraged to undertake higher levels of study.

The development of healthy eating habits in adolescents is challenging. Resultantly, health educators are turning to digital devices to engage young people in nutrition education. This paper focuses on the development and evaluation of a computer game (Test Game B) to support healthier food choices. Test Game B was developed at an Australian university and trialled with 72 tertiary student volunteers along with a control game (Control Game A). Both games provided information related to the progression of food along the digestive tract with knowledge of digestion, nutrition, a healthy diet and attitudes to food choice measured before and after game use. Change in these indicator variables assessed game effectiveness. The study found that the transformational aspects of problem-based learning within a digital context can support healthier food choices in young people, whilst pre-service health education teachers may require learning in food digestion to support nutrition education in schools.

Background: In rural and regional areas, older Australians have poorer health outcomes and higher rates of potentially preventable hospital admissions than their metropolitan counterparts. Paramedics may be uniquely placed to improve health outcomes of rural-dwelling older adults through involvement in primary and preventive healthcare, health promotion and health education. However, the feasibility and acceptability of this remains unexplored. Aim: To investigate the utility, feasibility and acceptability of paramedic involvement in health education initiatives aimed at rural-dwelling older people. Methods: Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with key stakeholders between July and September 2021. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and reflexive thematic analysis was undertaken. Findings: Participants (older people and their carers, n = 3; health service representatives, n = 4; and ambulance service representatives, n = 3) linked acceptability to the position of trust and visibility paramedics held within the community. The coverage provided by ambulance services in rural and regional areas, and the enhanced skills and collaborative relationships that rural paramedics develop, were seen as enabling factors to expanded roles. Conclusion: Key stakeholders' perspectives on the role of paramedics in health education for rural-dwelling older people highlighted the trust placed in paramedics. Meeting identified needs without competing with established health initiatives was seen as important with respect to paramedic engagement in broader primary health care opportunities.

This study examined secondary (high) school teachers' experiences of online delivery of health and physical education (HPE) during Covid-19 suppression measures in one Australian state in 2020. Research has noted the use of blended learning and flipped classrooms in HPE, yet little is known about the delivery of fully online school HPE. Semi-structured interviews occurred with eight high school HPE specialist teachers, providing qualitative data for analysis. The analysis of teachers' experiences indicated that in most cases HPE did not happen; rather, physical activity provision was initiated, or HPE was marginalised to a movement break between subjects with perceived higher status and priority. Additionally, teachers found that providing HPE online was challenging, and struggled to connect with, engage and provide equitable opportunities for their students online. The results showed that the move to online provision of HPE resulted in diminished educative purpose.

Background: Health promotion programs and interventions are designed to encourage behavioral changes in children, encouraging them to make safe and healthy life choices. This systematic review seeks to examine how social impact is measured in primary school health promotion interventions. Method: A systematic search and review process was used to identify and examine primary school health promotion interventions. The PRISMA guidelines were followed to source articles from 6 electronic databases reporting school health promotion programs or interventions in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or the United Kingdom. Results: A total of 77 studies were located, representing 55 health promotion interventions delivered in primary school settings. Of these interventions, only 8 (15%) measured or attempted to measure social impact, whereas another 8 (15%) alluded to social impact. The predominant theories reported were social based theories (theories which examine the social influences on people, environments, and behaviors) (n = 17, 59%), with almost a third not informed by an overt health promotion framework or model (n = 34, 59%). A systematic rating system identified some level of stakeholder engagement (n = 30, 53%). Conclusions: This systematic review highlights the need for social impact measurement within health promotion to illuminate the role of school programs in delivering lasting change.

Transitioning to university can be challenging for many first-year students. This study focusses on a Health and Physical Education (HPE) subject delivered at an Australian regional university and designed to support first-year preservice teachers training to teach in primary schools. The aim of this mixed-methods research was to investigate if a purposely structured first-year HPE subject could support primary preservice teachers' confidence to (1) be part of a community of learners; (2) promote success and retention at university; and (3) develop the skills for teaching HPE, specifically, Fundamental Movement Skills. Survey results indicated 90 per cent or more of the preservice teachers' self-reported confidence across the three areas being investigated. Interview responses highlighted the importance of well-structured coursework and real-world learning experiences in developing confidence for teaching HPE.

Skin cancers are the most common malignancy in Australia. Regular sunscreen use can reduce the incidence of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas and actinic keratoses and has been associated with reducing the incidence of basal cell carcinomas and melanomas. However, sunscreen effectiveness is limited by the failure of the population to use it routinely. Interventions that promote the daily application of sunscreen may reduce the morbidity, mortality, and economic burden associated with skin malignancies. We reviewed the literature that examines the effectiveness of interventions to increase routine sunscreen use and found that no one strategy has been shown to be clearly effective in adults and that relatively few studies have aimed to increase routine use in groups at extreme skin cancer risk. Future research should consider how interventions can be best designed and how sunscreen use is measured so that cost-effective, feasible strategies that result in improved sunscreen use in adults can be established.

While the known health impacts of sedentary lifestyles have focused attention on children's outdoor activity, the development of their physical literacy -- the physiological, social, cultural, cognitive, expressive, and psychological dimensions of their physicality -- is much less in focus. Developing children's physical literacy is embedded in the Early Years Learning Framework and Primary curriculum: Health and Physical Education, and the performing arts subjects within The Arts. This study asks "How well prepared are pre-service teachers to implement a program that contributes to developing children's physical literacy?" This mixed methods study includes an environmental scan of BEd courses at 12 Australian universities; and at one university, a content analysis of units, a review of 227 students' practicum records, and an online survey of 57 pre-service teachers. The study finds that pre-service teachers are generally well-informed, committed and confident but have limited diagnostic and practical pedagogical skills to effectively develop children's physical literacy.

The advent of Web 2.0 technologies such as Twitter are reflective of an improved capacity for global educative collaboration. Yet there is an absence of research determining the potential of social media within Health and Physical Education Teacher Education (HPETE). The aim of this paper was to therefore determine pre-service teachers' (PSTs) perceptions of the potential of using Twitter within H-PETE training. The study was underpinned by a constructivist online learning framework. PSTs (n=35) enrolled at a regional Australian university were recruited to participate via online survey. Themes revealed PSTs perceived Twitter could be valuable during HPETE for facilitating learning, technology engagement, capturing international insight, enhancing collaboration and communication. In contrast, PSTs described potential barriers to using Twitter relating to receiving adequate training, privacy, excessive technology use, determining Twitter's functionality and application across educational contexts. Unpacking PSTs' perceptions of the potential of Twitter within H-PETE can contribute to the pedagogical decisions made by teacher educators to improve social media uptake in PSTs.

Over the past three decades, a body of research has highlighted the benefits and challenges of what might collectively be referred to as critical pedagogical approaches to Health and Physical Education Teacher Education (HPETE). This research shows that praxis facilitated through critical pedagogies can challenge dominant accountability regimes in HPETE, by animating the discourse of democracy and interrogating and denaturalizing the conditions of oppression. The aim of this study was to explore the (im)possibilities of praxis when the lead author attempted to transition to online teaching. Theoretically, we are guided by the work of bell hooks, and specifically her 'engaged pedagogy'. Participatory action research framed this study. Participants included the lead author (a teacher educator), a critical friend, and two additional teacher educators. Data collected included: (a) lead researcher observations; (b) collaborative group meetings between the lead author and the two other teacher educators; (c) meetings between the lead author and the critical friend; (d) teacher educator focus group; and (e) artefacts. Findings are discussed under two themes. First, "building relationships as a foundation to cultivating a learning community"; this theme relates to the challenges and facilitators to getting to know our 'faceless students' and building an interactive relationship with them in an online environment. The second theme constructed from the data was "commitment to a process of self-actualization that promotes teachers' and students' wellbeing"; under this theme we describe and interrogate how mutual participation, vulnerability and risk taking were cultivated in challenging university and pedagogical contexts.

The Australian Curriculum is a policy document that directly influences the lived realities of millions of students and teachers. However, navigating and understanding the Australian Curriculum can be confusing due to discipline-specific meta-language. This poses problems when attempting to access the Curriculum in research that extends beyond the Education discipline. In response, this paper proposes a novel model that facilitates the analysis of curriculum documents for those outside the Education discipline. To illustrate the method, the paper provides an example of how and where community gardens align with the content descriptions of the Australian Curriculum. A word frequency analysis suggests that community gardens are most closely aligned with the Humanities and Social Science's (HASS) and Health and Physical Education (HPE) learning areas. A word tree analysis thematically groups content descriptions and discusses how community gardens can support classroom implementation of both HASS and HPE. The method presented will benefit scholars outside the Education discipline who seek to engage with the curriculum. It also extends discussions surrounding how to best integrate gardens in schools.

Relationships and sexual health education is an accepted part of the school curriculum to support adolescent development. In recent years, the nature of this education has expanded to include topics encompassing a social model of health (e.g. with a focus on gender roles). There has, however, been limited exploration of student views about the inclusion of these topics. This paper presents student feedback on South Australia's Relationships and Sexual Health Programme, a state-wide curriculum produced by the state's major sexual and reproductive health organisation. The findings are drawn from an annual survey conducted from 2006 to 2017, involving 29,533 secondary school students aged 12-16 years. Regression analyses were used to assess the relationship between the year the survey was conducted and student ratings of the programme ('good/excellent' vs 'poor/satisfactory') and, separately, the individual topics students' considered most important. There was a positive association between survey year and rating the programme as 'good/excellent' with regard to providing a 'safe and supportive classroom environment', and a small negative association between survey year and 'overall rating' as 'good/excellent'. Over time, there was an increase in the number of students selecting the topic 'consent' as the most important. These findings demonstrate student support for the inclusion of a range of social health topics in relationships and sexual health education.

Digital technologies are increasingly used in many areas of sport, exercise and health, including in schools. In this article, I engage with sociomaterial theory, and particularly concepts drawn from feminist new materialism, to address the question of how health and physical education (HPE) teachers in the context of the Australian education system are engaging with digital technologies. A set of six case studies were developed from interviews with a diverse range of Australian HPE teachers to identify how they use digital technologies in their classes. This in-depth approach configured a detailed overview of the contexts in which the teachers were using digital technologies, highlighting the complexity of teachers' feelings about and embodied experiences of digitised HPE pedagogies. These case studies demonstrate the interplay of materiality, spatiality, affective forces, relational connections and agential capacities in the teachers' accounts of their digitised HPE practices and experiences. They identify the role played by the colleagues, students and parents with whom the teachers engaged, the socioeconomic attributes and policy settings of the school in which they were working, and the geographical region in which the school was located. In short, the case studies highlight not only the more-than-human elements of these assemblages, but the more-than-digital elements, demonstrating that the incorporation of digital technologies into pedagogical practices -- and how they come to matter -- always takes place in a broader sociomaterial environment of human and nonhuman relationships.

Health and wellness influencers are often criticised as dubious and unqualified sources of health education, presenting highly curated, commercialised lifestyles via social media platforms such as Instagram. While these critiques are important, they also present a narrow reading of complex digital cultures. In this paper, we examine a digital ethnographic case study of Australian entrepreneur and health influencer, Ashy Bines. We argue that Bines' pedagogical expertise is made possible through her seemingly contradictory media practices and messages, whereby she cultivates an 'authentic' personal experience for her followers. We frame these productive tensions in her social media practices as a form of 'influencer pedagogy' -- the indirect, mediated processes of education produced through relatable interactions between influencers and their followers on social media platforms. We do not assess whether influencer pedagogy is 'good' or 'appropriate' but instead explore how influencers like Bines cultivate authenticity and expertise, and thus pedagogical potential.

Purpose: There are growing expectations that students graduating from health courses and current health professionals have some proficiency in using telehealth. However, there is limited accessibility to multidisciplinary-based material to meet this need. This paper describes the development of an online telehealth education resource using a co-design approach and the strengths and challenges of embedding authentic learning principles in an open-access online course with a broad target audience. Design/methodology/approach: The authors first describe the co-design process of the course and discuss the pedagogy underpinning the course design. Then learner enrolment data is discussed to evidence uptake across key characteristics. Finally, the authors assess the efficacy of the co-design approach by analysing feedback collected from learners at the end of the course. Findings: The course is structured across four modules and comprises interactive content, reflective tasks, case studies and purposefully developed digital material. Responses from the working group and from learner feedback indicate that the course is an authentic and relevant introduction to telehealth practice for both health students and current health professionals, despite some limitations. Originality/value: This case study demonstrates the value of a co-design process and key learning design choices in online course development to meet the educational needs of learners from broad disciplinary backgrounds, in various stages of learning/understanding of telehealth and/or requiring a practice-based resource in the context of a rapidly changing policy environment.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to "forced innovation" in the health education industry. High-quality training of the future rural health workforce is crucial to ensure a pipeline of rural health practitioners to meet the needs of rural communities. This paper describes the implementation of an online multidisciplinary teaching program focusing on integrated care and the needs of rural communities. Design/methodology/approach: A multidisciplinary teaching program was adapted to allow students from various disciplines and universities to learn together during the COVID-19 pandemic. Contemporary issues such as the National Aged Care Advocacy Program for Residential Aged Care COVID-19 Project were explored during the program. Findings: This case study describes how the program was adopted, how learning needs were met, practical examples (e.g. the Hand Hygiene Advocacy within a Rural School Setting Project), the challenges faced and solutions developed to address these challenges. Guidelines are proposed for remote multidisciplinary learning among health professional students, including those in medical, nursing, pharmacy, dentistry, and allied health disciplines. Originality/value: The originality of this program centers around students from multiple universities and disciplines and various year levels learning together in a rural area over an extended period of time. Collaboration among universities assists educators in rural areas to achieve critical mass to teach students. In addition it provides experiences and guidance for the work integrated learning sector, rural health workforce practitioners, rural clinical schools, universities, policy makers, and educators who wish to expand rural online multidisciplinary learning.

Purpose: The forced shift to online teaching delivery during COVID-19 suppression measures in 2020 was a complex challenge for Australian teachers. Teachers were given very little time to prepare online content and very little professional development to teach online. Their experiences prompted discussion about the abilities of pre-service teachers (PST) to adapt content to online delivery if another pandemic occurred while they were teaching in the future. Design/methodology/approach: PST majoring in Health and Physical Education were required to adapt a 4-weeks high school health education unit for online delivery. This study analysed data from PST personal reflections and focus groups to gain a better understanding of their perceptions about teaching health education online and their confidence to adapt tasks and activities from face-to-face delivery or develop unique online tasks. Findings: PST reported varied confidence and competence to plan for and engage in online health education teaching. PST were concerned about student learning and engagement online, and unsure how to best differentiate activities to ensure all student could meet the intended outcomes. Originality/value: Little is known about the confidence and competence of PST to deliver fully online school health education. It is important to know more about this phenomenon to inform teacher education and teacher professional development to ensure teachers are better prepared for online delivery in the future.

This paper explores Health and Physical Education (HPE) students' understanding of Civics and Citizenship Education (CCE) and discusses some of the links that connect HPE, sport and CCE in Australia. A brief overview of CCE key features is provided. Second- and third-year HPE pre-service teachers at an Australian regional university were surveyed to gauge what the baseline of knowledge and understanding of CCE amongst beginning teachers might be. Shared learning opportunities between HPE and CCE are discussed in different parts of the paper in relation to fair play; ethical debates and dilemmas; community involvement; identity; and respect for inclusivity. Linking to the pre-service teacher responses, the paper provides suggestions for some practical ways in which Australian HPE educators might make connections between the CCE curriculum and inter-connected HPE learning contexts for Year 3 to Year 8 students, the years for which a Civics and Citizenship curriculum is specified in the Australian Curriculum.