Assessment in HPE

In this episode we break down what meaningful, authentic assessment looks like in early childhood and primary classrooms. Discover how to gather evidence, make fair judgments, and support every child’s learning journey. Tune in and take the stress out of assessment in Health and Physical Education.

Music by amado zapana from Pixabay

Transcript

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the podcast. I’m Nat, and today, we’re diving into a big topic that often feels a bit overwhelming, assessment in HPE.

Now, assessment isn’t just about ticking boxes or writing report comments. At its core, assessment is about improving student learning. It’s part of our everyday teaching practice, and in HPE, that means understanding what our students know, can do, and how they’re growing in confidence, movement, and wellbeing.

So, what exactly is assessment?
Put simply, it’s the purposeful collection of information about student achievement. And in HPE, that might involve observations of movement, listening to students talk about healthy choices, or reviewing how they work with others in games and activities.

And what about reporting?
That’s the process of giving feedback to students, families, and schools based on that assessment. Reporting can be formal, like end-of-semester reports, or informal, like conversations with parents or classroom displays showing student learning.

Now you might be thinking: Why do we assess HPE at all, especially in the early years?
Great question.
We assess to:

• track individual progress,
• identify misconceptions,
• plan future learning, and
• evaluate our teaching programs.

And importantly, assessment helps us make sure every child is seen, not just the sporty ones or the outgoing ones, but all learners.

Let’s talk about authentic assessment because not all assessment is created equal.

Traditional assessments often focus on short answers or written tasks. But in HPE, authentic assessment is key. That means that we design assessment tasks that are:

• hands-on,
• linked to real-life experiences,
• ongoing over time, and
• designed to show students applying what they’ve learned in meaningful ways.

Think of students creating a healthy lunchbox, demonstrating a fundamental movement skill, or working as part of a team in a modified game. These tasks give us rich evidence of learning, not just what they know, but how they use it.

So, how do we gather and organise evidence in early childhood and primary classrooms?

It starts with being present.
Observe students, have conversations, listen to their reflections, and gather artefacts of their learning for example photos, drawings, videos, checklists, and notes. This evidence builds a picture over time. And remember, your annotations, those quick notes about how much support a student needed or what they did well, are vital when it comes time to interpret learning and report on progress.

Let’s talk tools for a second because you don’t need fancy software to assess well.
Some simple tools include:

• Checklists – A checklist can be used in assessment to mark a dimension, characteristic or behaviour as a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer. The check determines if a behaviour was present or not. For example….Did the student demonstrate fair play? Did they use equipment safely?
• Rating scales – In contrast, a rating scale provides the teacher with more in depth information. They enable you to rate the degree to which a task has been achieved. They can rate the process (steps taken) and the final outcome of learning. For example on a scale of 1 – 5 from always to never, how often during the activity did the student show good sportsmanship?
• Rubrics – Are a set of criteria for assessing knowledge, performance or product and for giving feedback. Used to describe levels of achievement such as A – E or a 5 point scale, descriptors explicitly detail what the learners can do. For example, a rubric with the criteria of working with others, might have as the A descriptor, ‘listens to, shares with and supports the efforts of others”  and the E descriptor, “rarely listens to others and often is not a good team player”.

These tools help us stay focused on what matters, and they’re most powerful when linked clearly to the curriculum outcomes.

Now, let’s touch on inclusion because assessment in HPE needs to be fair and accessible.

That means:

• designing tasks that don’t disadvantage students based on language, background, or ability,
• teaching the literacy and numeracy demands of your tasks explicitly, and
• using reasonable adjustments for students who need them—whether that’s changing how the task is presented, the supports provided, or how students demonstrate their learning.

Inclusive assessment isn’t about lowering expectations, it’s about removing barriers.

And finally, let’s talk briefly about moderation.

Moderation means working with other teachers to compare judgments and make sure they’re consistent, fair, and aligned to the standards. In early years and primary settings, this often looks like collaborative planning, shared rubric development, or reviewing samples of student work together.

It’s a great way to check that what you’re assessing truly reflects the learning outcomes and that your judgments are balanced and reliable.

So, to wrap up:

Assessment in HPE is not just something we “do” at the end of a unit.
It’s a continuous, reflective process that:

• supports children’s learning,
• builds a deeper understanding of each learner, and
• guides how we teach, respond, and grow as educators.

You don’t have to get it perfect but you do need to be intentional.

So this week, I invite you to take a look at how you’re planning for assessment in HPE. Are your tasks authentic? Inclusive? Aligned to the curriculum? And are you gathering evidence that truly captures what your students can do?

Thanks for joining me today and I’ll see you at my next podcast.