Physical Education

With the woes of the England football team continuing to fill the papers, and the build-up for the 2012 Olympics already in full swing, it seems an appropriate time to look at information about developing the sporting abilities of future generations.

The QCA's PE and School Sport website contains a wealth of resources and case studies for anyone with an interest in the role of physical education within schools. The most recent DfES-commissioned annual School Sport Survey is also available online.

If you'd like to delve a little deeper into this topic, then sportdevelopment.info has an incredible amount of full-text material on its website, much of which is relevant for people working with children. Or if this all sounds too energetic, sit back and choose from a selection of nearly 50 programmes about various aspects of physical education which can be viewed on the Teachers TV website.

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Wikipedia

A confession: I look at Wikipedia nearly every day. Whether I want information on classic films, historical figures, a region of the world or almost anything I can think of, it's likely to contain an article that's relevant to my interests. So where's the problem?

As you may know, Wikipedia's main flaw (at least in an academic context) is that it can be edited by anyone, meaning that novices and experts on a topic operate from a level playing field. This means that the quality of the articles it contains can vary from excellent to worryingly inaccurate. This inconsistency has led to a massive amount of discussion over the value of Wikipedia, as these two articles - A Stand Against Wikipedia and Can Wikipedia Ever Make The Grade? - illustrate very well.

The moral? Wikipedia has its uses as a place to find a 'quick and dirty' overview of a topic, but for academic research you would be well advised to stick to more trustworthy sources. Still not convinced? Then look at what Wikipedia's founder has to say...

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