Spotlight Saturday 2: PHE Canada

Hi everyone!

For our second Spotlight Saturday feature, we’ve decided to take a in-depth look at PHE Canada and their website. PHE Canada stands for Physical & Health Education Canada, and has a longstanding history. Created as the Canadian Physical Education Association (CPEA) in 1933, they became the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education and Recreation (CAHPER) in 1948, and then the Canadian Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in 1994. In 2008, they became PHE Canada.

Their vision is to see “All children and youth in Canada living healthy, physically active lives”, and they strive to achieve this by supporting schools in becoming “Health Promoting Schools”, that include the provision of Quality Daily Physical Education and fostering healthy school communities.

PHE Canada has several advocacy aspects to their organization – they are involved in interacting with local, provincial, and national governments and policy-makers, to influence the healthy development of Canadian children and youth. They are a great resource for stats and research, and also provide ways to get involved in their mission – the page listing what teachers can do can be found here.

In addition to their advocacy and research/resource programs, PHE Canada also creates and supports programs and projects in the following four categories (which match up with their four pillars):
– Quality Daily Physical Education (QDPE)
– Health Promoting Schools (HPS)
– Quality School Intramural Recreation (QSIR)
– Dance Education

Within each of these four areas, they have a vast wealth of information and ideas. They are also involved, along with two other organizations, in Youth Mental Health initiatives. They are taking part in Young Health Program (YHP), and considering that mental health is a strong focus for the Education program this year (and also just an incredibly important thing to be knowledgable of as educators), it would be well worth looking into this aspect of PHE Canada’s work as well.

All in all, the PHE Canada website is fantastic, and the organization is making great strides in increasing the physical literacy of children in Canada, through programs, advocacy, and research. Check out their site, and see if you can get involved and incorporate some of their ideas into your work this year and throughout your career as teachers!

One thought on “Spotlight Saturday 2: PHE Canada”

  1. Awesome to see that PHE is getting involved with mental health- especially since (as we learned a few weeks ago) physical activity and mental/emotional wellness are so closely linked.

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