Addressing the NSW Quality Teaching Framework in physical education : is game sense the answer?

![CDATA[The introduction of the ‘NSW Quality Teaching Framework’ (2003a) has had a very significant impact upon teaching and learning in NSW (New South Wales) public schools. In NSW the Department of Education and Training (2003c) argues that recent developments in educational research have shed light on what constitutes quality teaching and have consequently established a new model for pedagogy in NSW schools based upon the idea of providing quality teaching (NSW Department of Education and Training, 2003b). The NSW model of pedagogy focuses on the teaching practices that research indicates can make the most difference when it comes to improving student learning outcomes. The emphasis on providing intellectual quality, a quality learning environment and making the significance of learning explicit to students provides valuable framework within which teachers can strive to deliver quality teaching. It does, however, provide a challenge for the teaching of physical education in a subject area that has a long history of neglecting the intellectual dimensions of games, sport and other movement (Light, 2002). While many PDHPE teachers may struggle to deliver quality physical education teaching within this framework we suggest, as others have (Pearson, Webb & McKeen, 20005), that Game Sense pedagogy provides an ideal means through which PDHPE teachers in NSW can address the Quality Teaching Framework in the teaching of games and sport. In this paper we address the rationale and main ideas of the quality teaching framework and provide an overview of the Game Sense approach to games teaching. We then specifically address the three central concerns of the Quality Teaching Framework, intellectual quality, providing a quality learning environment and making the significance of learning explicit to students showing how game Sense addresses each of these.]]