Ontario Association for the Support of Physical and Health Educators

  • Advocates for the development of quality Health and Physical Education Curriculum
  • Advocates for the delivery of quality Health and Physical Education
  • Provides support and leadership for Health and Physical Education Leaders

Getting Started with Learning Outside of the Classroom: Health & Physical Education

OASPHE Members,

In these unprecedented times, the OASPHE Executive is sharing a resource that we hope anticipates some of the diverse needs of its members so that students in this province can continue to learn and succeed in the best way possible.

This isn’t business as usual so we have curated a collection of material, including videos and sites that we hope you find helpful as you navigate and prepare for student learning at home.

The various activities outlined in each document (Elementary and Secondary) are designed for teachers to support their students in ways to engage in physical activity to continue to develop their personal fitness through activity participation in a variety of activities to support their health and well-being. These alone will not meet the varied expectations of the HPE curriculum but might offer students an opportunity to engage in learning about themselves, and to continue to explore healthy concepts to support their health and well-being.

Please feel free to share these resources.

We are

“Educators who provide a strong voice to lobby, advocate and support the development and delivery of quality curriculum in Health and Physical Education.”

What’s New

September 11th, 2019

OASPHE is encouraged by our initial review of the 2019 Elementary HPE Curriculum document. As an Education Partner to the Ministry of Education and provincial subject association with Ophea, we are happy to see the feedback we provided in May reflected in this newly released curriculum document. Our Core Executive met to determine our next steps for Advocacy moving forward with implementation.

One of our Association’s main goals is to advocate for and support quality implementation of the 2019 Health and Physical Education curriculum. Effective implementation requires that teachers have access to professional learning and up to date resources to build their confidence and competence to design and implement quality Health and Physical Education lessons. This will, in turn, provide rich opportunities for all students to develop the comprehension, capacity and commitment to lead a healthy active life across their lifespan. Given this, the focus of our advocacy during the 2019-2020 year to support educators responsible for teaching Health and Physical Education across Ontario includes:

  1. Seeking clarification on PPM162 and the government’s position in relation to page 21 of the document; “Mandatory learning is described in the overall and specific expectations of the curriculum”. As members of the education sector we honour our responsibiliity to create and sustain safe, accepting, inclusive and respectful learning environments free from fear and discrimination. OASPHE acknowledges and supports the importance of learning within the Human Development and Sexual Health expectations of the Healthy Living Strand.  However, we are concerned about the exemption and its impact on a teacher’s ability to create and sustain a learning environment in which all students feel safe and are respected.

  2. In the coming months OASPHE will work to share an overview and focus specifically on the Healthy Living Strand and new expectations.

    1. We will highlight the intended learning and expectations that continue to address gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation before Grade 8.

    2. As Mental Health Literacy is no longer embedded in the curriculum but a new  and individual learning focus we will seek information from our membership on potential additional resources needed to support this learning. We also plan to highlight current resources that are currently available, vetted and free of charge to teachers, focusing on those that make specific connections to the expectations of the HPE curriculum expectations. We will continue to advocate that health education is the responsibility of all educators and that mental health is one component of a Healthy School.  Health Education should be taught throughout the school year, making cross curricular connections where possible. This will ensure that all curriculum expectations are fully addressed and all educators are and that all educators are able to support their students in developing the skills and knowledge to lead healthy active lives.

  1. OASPHE will continue to advocate that access to daily quality Health and Physical Education programming is the right of all children and is the foundation for a healthy school community. Schools must value and implement daily quality Health and Physical Education for all students if to truly embody the ideas of a Healthy School community.

  2. OASPHE supports the Social Emotional Learning Skills (SELS, Strand A) as part of the 2019 Elementary Health and Physical Education curriculum and its n that they are to be embedded within Strands B, C and D of the HPE curriculum and not treated as stand alone expectations. Educators in Ontario will require support in developing learning opportunities that embed the SELS to ensure they are not treated as stand alone expectations.  To ensure this, OASPHE will continue to work with the Ministry of Education and School Mental Health Ontario to develop resources and supports for all teachers to adopt an integrated approach to teaching and assessing the Social Emotional Learning skills as articulated in the 2019 Health and Physical Education curriculum. 

OASPHE Statement Elementary HPE Curriculum Sept. 2019

Benefits of Membership

Membership in OASPHE includes an invitation to attend the fall meeting, the annual conference in February at a reduced rate, the spring meeting in May, and an opportunity to network with teachers and leaders in Health and Physical Education in Ontario through the OASPHE listserve and website.  Members will also receive minutes of the OASPHE executive meetings along with information on resources and provincial initiatives as they present themselves.

With the extensive changes in the Health and Physical Education curriculum, we feel it is essential that Boards have representation in our organization in order to help them provide leadership to teachers in their Boards.

Not  Member?

Click HERE to download a Membership Application Form.

Members Area

Go to “Members Area” for minutes of the General and Executive meetings and the related resources.

Members of OASPHE are represented on a variety of provincial committees:

  • Ophea – Curriculum Advisory Council
  • Ontario Teachers Federation
  • Ontario Healthy Schools Coalition
  • Ministry Forum
  • Provincial Safety Advisory & Technical Committees
  • Healthy Schools Working Table

Provincial Initiatives

  • Think Literacy – Health and Physical Education
  • Exemplars – Elementary and Secondary
  • Policy to Practice, A Teacher Resource Document – Secondary
  • Elementary Assessment and Evaluation – Teacher Resource