Building a Sustainable Vision for Physical Education

Physical education plays a critical role in the development of lifelong health habits, resilience, and social-emotional wellbeing. In international schools, however, programs are often fragmented due to staff turnover, varied teacher preparation, and competing curricular frameworks. The American School Foundation of Mexico City (ASF) confronted this challenge in 2024 after identifying warning signs of stagnation: fragmented practices across grade levels, varied teacher preparation, and limited curriculum documentation, alongside a broader need to modernize the program to reflect current best practices in physical education.  To address these challenges, ASF sought to align its physical education (PE) program with a new mission: cultivating lifelong health and wellness while preparing students to lead healthy lives and make positive contributions to society. The initiative aims to foster unity across divisions, implement research-based, modern practices, and ensure sustainability through professional learning communities. This article outlines the process, lessons learned, and implications for other international, independent schools.

Year 1: Establishing Foundations

The first year of collaboration focused on listening, observing, and unifying perspectives. Preparation included pre-visit meetings with administrators and teachers, as well as a survey to capture teacher perceptions of strengths and areas for growth. Teachers consistently expressed the need for cohesion and a shared language across grade levels.

During an initial four-day on-site visit, the department collaboratively drafted a mission statement: Physical education at ASF aims to cultivate lifelong health and wellness, fostering regular physical activity and comprehensive knowledge of the human body and longevity. We strive to help our students develop essential abilities such as resilience, self-awareness, self-discipline, and leadership through enjoyable physical experiences. Our curriculum is designed to prepare students as well-rounded individuals, ready to lead healthy lives and make positive contributions to society. Teachers also explored motivational strategies, efficient lesson structures, and practices that ensure safety and meaningful student connections. A peer observation system was introduced, encouraging teachers to provide one another with structured feedback framed “I liked…” and “I wonder…” comments, a format that built psychological safety and trust—an essential step in shifting from isolated practices to a collaborative professional culture. Following the visit, each teacher had a one-on-one meeting with Dr. Beighle to discuss their observations and teaching goals.

Recommendations from Year 1 included developing a standards-based K–10 curriculum, adopting a four-part lesson model (introductory activity, fitness, lesson focus, closure), and creating a K–12 PE department head position. These steps were chosen to ensure vertical alignment across grade levels, improve instructional consistency, and provide clear leadership accountability. Additional recommendations emphasized expanding PE opportunities at the middle school level, increasing equipment and resources, and piloting tools to amplify student voice and agency.

Year 2: Building Momentum

Year 2 marked the transition from vision to implementation, beginning with pre-visit meetings with incoming administrators to discuss new school initiatives. The on-site visit again blended workshops, classroom observations, and collaborative planning. The visit started with a whole group discussion of the “Triangle of Team” (direction, trust, and communication), framing the importance of shared expectations and accountability. In ASF’s PE context, direction meant aligning on shared lesson outcomes, trust meant openness in peer observations, and communication meant adopting a consistent professional language. During the first day, teachers participated in inclusive activities across grade levels, engaged in a model four-part lesson, and worked to refine the tools used for the observations during the following two days.

A key focus this year was to develop a more systematic, efficient, and helpful peer observation process to maximize professional growth during the visit, as well as beyond. To initiate this process, groups of five to six teachers observed their colleagues’ lessons and then engaged in structured reflection discussions. Compared to the previous year, teachers’ reflections post observations showed a deeper focus on learning outcomes, transitions, and alignment with the scope and sequence. These conversations reflected a department beginning to speak a shared professional language.

The final day of this visit marked the beginning of aligning learning outcomes with the new mission statement, ensuring that unit objectives and assessments reflected ASF’s commitment to lifelong health, self-discipline, and leadership through physical activity. Teachers, working with accountability partners, drafted objectives tied to curriculum units and began linking them to assessment planning. This marked a cultural shift from individual teacher autonomy toward collective responsibility, one of the clearest indicators that the department was moving beyond stagnation toward sustained growth. To further strengthen alignment, ASF’s academic deans from each division were included in the observation process and participated in a mini workshop on the key elements of effective PE lessons. This workshop, introduced by ASF’s internal experts pre-visit and reinforced by Dr. Beighle upon arrival, helped ensure that expectations for PE were clearly understood and supported across divisions. Though additional time was needed to refine assessment design, the process highlighted the importance of alignment between objectives and evaluation.

Key recommendations from Year 2 included strengthening leadership structures during ASF’s internal reorganization, expanding the middle school PE program, documenting common practices and language, and operationalizing the scope and sequence through the development of lessons and assessments. By the end of Year 2, ASF had begun functioning as a professional learning community with teachers holding one another accountable for shared practices and curricular expectations.

Year 3: Toward Sustainability

Year 3 will shift the focus from implementation to sustainability. The department will institutionalize professional learning community (PLC) processes, grounded in ASF’s Principles of Teaching and Learning, to ensure that peer observations, structured feedback, and collaborative accountability become embedded practices. Tools such as observation templates and student feedback forms will be refined to produce actionable insights, ensuring students not only develop physical literacy but also resilience, teamwork, and agency. The curriculum will function as a living document, regularly reviewed to remain relevant, sustainable, and mission aligned. This is especially important in large international schools, where high staff turnover can otherwise create stagnation, inconsistency, or disorientation as faculty adjust to change, complex school systems, and diverse cultures. An annual curriculum review cycle will ensure lessons remain aligned with both global best practices and evolving student needs. Because faculty turnover is common in international schools, ASF’s sustainability plan is designed to withstand staff transitions by embedding practices into the departmental culture rather than relying on individual expertise. Goals for this year will include:

• Embedding departmental PLC structures as professional culture.
• Establishing a systematic, evidence-based curriculum review.
• Strengthening student voice and feedback mechanisms.
• Develop and refine assessments based on evolving curricular structures.

These final stages aim to ensure the program not only sustains but continues to evolve.

Lessons for International, Independent, Schools 

ASF’s journey offers valuable lessons for international schools worldwide, particularly those questioning whether their PE programs have become stagnant or simply outdated. Warning signs include inconsistent practices across grade levels, minimal curriculum documentation, limited opportunities for peer observation, and a lack of shared professional language. ASF’s reform process addressed both the need to modernize and the risk of stagnation, offering a roadmap for schools seeking renewal and sustained growth:

Lesson 1: Listen First. Surveys, meetings, and reflective conversations laid the foundation for authentic change. In international schools, where teachers often arrive with diverse PE training backgrounds (British, American, International Baccalaureate, and local national systems), listening is not just courtesy—it is essential.

Ask: Do your teachers describe PE in the same way, or do definitions vary depending on who you ask?”

Lesson 2: Balance Consistency and Flexibility. ASF’s shared lesson model provided cohesion while allowing teachers to bring the mission to life in ways that reflected their unique teaching styles.

            Ask: Does your program have a common structure that still allows for teacher creativity?

Lesson 3: Invest in Peer Learning. Structured peer observation cycles created robust professional growth.

            Ask: Do teachers observe one another’s lessons, or is growth left to chance?

Lesson 4: Align Objectives and Assessments. Curriculum progress was most substantial when daily lessons connected to long-term outcomes.

            Ask: Are daily lessons clearly connected to a shared mission or long-term program outcomes? 

Lesson 5: Plan Beyond One Year. A multi-year, ongoing model allowed ASF to build momentum without rushing the process.

Ask: Does your program plan for growth beyond one academic year?

Lesson 6: Embed Within School Mission. At ASF, grounding the PE program in a shared mission of lifelong health, resilience, and leadership transformed the initiative from a technical improvement into a cultural one.

Ask: Does your PE program explicitly connect to your school’s mission and values, or does it function in isolation?

Lesson 7: Prioritize Onboarding and Mentorship. International schools often experience high staff turnover, and new teachers frequently arrive from diverse systems with limited familiarity with the host. A structured onboarding and mentorship program accelerates integration, ensures alignment with school values, and reduces the inconsistency that often arises in large, complex school environments.

Ask: When new teachers join your program, do they struggle to navigate expectations on their own?

Conclusion

The ASF case illustrates how intentional, multi-year planning can transform a physical education program into a unified and sustainable system. Meaningful reform begins with listening, grows through shared structures that strike a balance between consistency and flexibility, and is strengthened through peer learning, aligned objectives, and a multi-year vision. Its sustainability depends on embedding the work in the school’s mission and supporting teachers, both current and new, so that turnover does not disrupt progress. ASF’s experience demonstrates that with the right structures, PE can become a cornerstone of student health, resilience, and leadership. In the words of one ASF teacher after a peer observation cycle, “We’re not just teaching students to move. We’re learning, as a department, how to move forward together.”