Preservice Teachers’ Perceptions of Introducing a Standardized National Curriculum for Elementary Physical Education in the U.S.

Purpose: This qualitative research aims to investigate preservice teachers’ perceptions of national curriculum reform for elementary physical education in the United States (U.S.). Method: Sixteen preservice teachers (male=7, female=9) were recruited through purposeful sampling to participate in in-depth formal and informal interviews. The verbatim data were analyzed inductively and interpreted in relation to prior research and existing literature to ensure the credibility and confirmability of the findings. Results: The findings indicated that a standardized curriculum in elementary physical education may support the development of students’ fundamental movement skills and motor competencies. However, it may also restrict students’ access to diverse physical activity opportunities and limit local autonomy, particularly in culturally and regionally diverse educational contexts. In addition, a unified national curriculum may not be readily adopted in the U.S., where constitutional authority is distributed across multiple levels of government. Conclusion: Elementary physical education should provide clearer and more explicit guidance for learning standards to strengthen its credibility as a meaningful subject within the school curriculum. Furthermore, curriculum reform in elementary physical education should proceed through thoughtful revisions to the existing standards-based model rather than through complete curricular standardization.