Personal development as a contribution to professional development: activity based learning, graduate attributes and student learning outcomes

This paper is a record of a symposium that found its origins in a report on a curriculum initiative within one university program. Its motivation is to argue that it is timely for us to reconsider the place of physical activity learning experiences in University curricula. It first recalls the historical context surrounding the integration of physical education into Australian Universities and the impact that this has had on the role of practical skill and experiential based learning for physical education teachers in their undergraduate education. From there it seeks to develop an argument that it is now timely to reconsider the role of activity based learning experiences in meeting the current expectations for effective and relevant personal and professional outcomes from degree programs. The particular frame of reference adopted here involves the cognate area of outdoor recreation and its relevance to the professional preparation of teachers of physical education. However the principles espoused are argued as having relevance to a much wider range of applications both within the sport and exercise based disciplines and beyond.