Using TPSR as a Teaching Strategy in Health Classes

Overview & Synopsis

Health education and physical education are essential components of a school's coordinated health and physical education (HPE) curriculum. Traditionally, teachers have taught the subject matters in these programs using a skill development approach to enhance students' personal and social responsibility. Physical education teachers have been using the teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model as a teaching strategy in physical education programs to develop student responsibility for several years (Hellison, 2003, 2011; Hellison & McBride, 1986; McBride & Hellison, 1986). The TPSR model addresses issues related to challenging and encouraging students to take responsibility for their own physical, emotional, and social needs and is therefore a natural fit as an instructional model in the HPE curriculum. However, few instances of using TPSR in health education have been documented. The purpose of this article was to describe the exploration of TPSR-based health education and the essential aspects of TPSR-based health education derived from this process.