Most PE teachers didn't sign up to run a wellness committee, coach classroom teachers through a five-minute movement break, or lobby an administrator on activity policy. But a growing body of research says that's exactly where the field is heading — and physical education teacher education (PETE) programs need to start preparing candidates for it now.
That's the message from Dr. Taemin Ha of CUNY Queens College, who joined the Playing with Research in Health and Physical Education podcast to discuss a new article in Pedagogy and Health Promotion, "Preparing Future Whole-of-School Physical Activity Leaders: Recommendations for Physical Education Teacher Education," co-authored with Lisa Paulson, Charlie Moon, Brian Dauenhauer, and Colin Webster.
Why PE Alone Isn't Enough
The starting point is a familiar but stubborn statistic: the 2024 U.S. Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth found that only 20–28% of 6- to 17-year-olds meet the recommended 60 minutes of daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. PE class, Ha argues, simply can't close that gap on its own. A typical 30- to 45-minute period is eaten into by attendance, transitions, equipment management, and changing clothes — and in many states, PE isn't even required every year. That's the logic behind whole-of-school approaches like the CDC and SHAPE America's Comprehensive School Physical Activity Program (CSPAP) and its 2022 successor, the Active School Culture Framework: if activity is going to reach students consistently, it has to be built into the whole school day, not just the gym period.
The Infusion Approach
The harder question is how teacher preparation programs — already stretched thin on credit hours — are supposed to teach this. Ha's answer is what the paper calls an "infusion" model: rather than creating a new standalone course (which, as Ha notes, often can't get approved or filled anyway), programs embed whole-of-school leadership skills into courses they're already teaching.
At Queens College, that means Ha's Foundations of Physical Education course — one of the first classes PE majors take — introduces CSPAP concepts from day one, and has students design a PE unit plus one activity opportunity outside the gym, like a recess plan or a classroom movement break. In methods courses, instead of only presenting a lesson to peers in the gym, pre-service teachers design a movement booster for classroom teachers and role-play delivering it at a staff meeting — hitting the same accreditation-required competencies (communication, instructional design) while building leadership skills on the side.
Alongside infusion, Ha's paper points to specialized experiences — elective seminars, field practicums, community-based projects — as the way students move from baseline awareness to real competence. "The infusion approach is the foundation," Ha explained. "The specialized experiences are where students actually get to build the house."
The Real Barrier: Curricular Overload
Ha is candid that curricular overload is the toughest obstacle. Faculty are already managing packed syllabi, and "where do we fit this in?" is the near-universal first reaction — one Ha ran into directly when trying to launch a standalone leadership course at Queens College. What gives Ha hope is that programs don't have to build resources from scratch: Active Schools' PETE Program Integration Guide already offers ready-to-use assignments organized by early, middle, and late program stages, and the paper's own Table 1 maps best-practice journal articles onto each of the nine elements of the Active School Culture Framework — a ready reference for faculty who want to introduce a specific component, like family engagement or active transportation.
Where to Start
For a PETE faculty member wondering where to begin, Ha's advice is deliberately modest: audit your existing syllabi, pick one course where whole-of-school content fits naturally, and tweak one assignment rather than overhauling the curriculum. The bigger goal, Ha said, is shifting how pre-service teachers see their own professional identity — from "PE teacher" to "physical activity leader" — through low-stakes practice like role-playing a policy conversation with an administrator, paired with an emphasis on collaboration over doing everything alone.
Looking ahead, Ha wants to see longitudinal research tracking graduates into their careers: do pre-service advocacy assignments actually translate into teachers serving on wellness committees years later? For now, though, the message to PETE faculty is straightforward — quality PE pedagogy remains the priority, but expanding future teachers' vision beyond the gym doesn't take away from that. It positions them as key leaders in school-wide health, not just gym instructors.
Listen to the full conversation with Dr. Taemin Ha on Playing with Research in Health and Physical Education, and find the article, "Preparing Future Whole-of-School Physical Activity Leaders," in Pedagogy and Health Promotion.
To cite this article: Ha, T., Paulson, L., Moon, J., Dauenhauer, B., & Webster, C. A. Preparing Future Whole-of-School Physical Activity Leaders: Recommendations for Physical Education Teacher Education. Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 23733799261468725.
This blog post was written with the assistance of AI to support clarity and accessibility. It is intended to help disseminate and discuss research findings with a broader audience. However, for the most accurate and reliable information—including conclusions and practical applications—please refer to the original peer-reviewed publication on which this blog is based. The peer-reviewed article remains the most authoritative source.