Who is responsible for student learning?

When it comes to the breakdown of individual student learning I believe that there is a huge difference depending on the maturity and school level of the students in question. There is no doubt about it that there is a great variation of skills, knowledge, and ability between students of all age levels in the elementary, early secondary and secondary physical education. This plays an important role in determining exactly who is responsible for the student learning.


In the early years of a student, the student is starting off learning a lot of the basic skills and motor patterns that they haven’t really had any prior knowledge of or practice with. For really young students K-5th grade parents and teachers play a major role in determining how a student learns. They have to offer specific instruction on how to complete a task by giving both verbal and physical cues. The students in turn are mostly learning off copying and following what others are telling them to do. They don’t really have the abilities to analyze and understand why some actions need to be in certain sequences or are necessary for success.

In the Early secondary education, 6-8th grade, the focus of responsibility starts to shift more off of the parents and teachers and onto the students themselves. They begin to refine their skills and abilities to process why each action must take place in order to succeed. Teachers are still a main factor though because they do spend more time helping to introduce students to more complex skills and activities they can use. They also can challenge those students who are more skilled to reach newer levels and think through their actions as they complete them.

In the Later Secondary Education, 9-12th grades, the focus shifts even further towards the students’ responsibility to control their own learning. At this point, they have learned all the basic skills and activities that many P.E. programs offer and now look to master specific skills that catch their interest. Students have the ability to really focus in on a few activities that they really enjoy and are able to transfer skills from one activity that is similar to another. Also, because they are in a very socially influential point in their lives, peer influence also plays a significant role in the responsibility of learning of students.

All in all, the responsibility for student learning shifts quite a bit throughout the student’s lifetime and progression through the stages of Physical Education.

My overall Break Downs would be:

Elementary

Parents – 50%
Teachers – 40%
Students – 10%

Early Secondary

Parents - 20%
Teachers – 45%
Students – 35%

Later Secondary

Parents – 5%
Teachers – 20%
Students 60%
Peers – 15%