초등 저학년 건강한 생활 교육과정 개발을 위한 국제 비교 연구 = International Comparative Study for the Development of “Healthy Life” Curriculum in Lower Elementary Grades

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This study compared and analyzed the physical education (PE) curricula of leading countries to inform the development of a “Healthy Life” curriculum for the lower elementary grades in Korea. The target countries selected were the United States, Ontario (Canada), Singapore, and Japan, which not only have long-term operation of PE curricula based on developmental stages but also have publicly available official curriculum documents, ensuring high reliability. Applying Bereday’s (1964) method of comparative education, official curriculum texts were analyzed across four dimensions: (a) organization and time allocation, (b) educational aims, (c) content structure and achievement standards, and (d) teaching–learning and assessment. Findings showed that these countries operate PE as an independent subject from the lower grades, securing a sufficient number of instructional hours, and systematically teaching Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) according to developmental stages. Furthermore, the goals of PE were presented in a direction that aims for holistic growth and the formation of lifelong health habits, going beyond the simple acquisition of skills. By contrast, Korea has long provided only fragmentary activities within the integrated subject “Enjoyable Life”, revealing problems such as insufficient physical activity and a lack of educational continuity. Based on this analysis, discussions were held on goal setting aimed at lifelong physical activity participation in the development of a “Healthy Life” curriculum, the adoption of the physical literacy discourse, securing the developmental stage sequence centered on FMS, the clarification of developmental differences between the lower and middle grades, and securing physical activity centrality within the integrated subject curriculum.