An Investigation Of The Current Situations Of Gymnastics Teaching In The Schools Chosen For Experimenting The New PE Curriculum Standards In Henan Province

Now we are in the critical period of building a modernized country and the development and prosperity of our Chinese nation calls for educational reform. The new turn of the reform of PE is carried out with the national basic education reform as the main background. "The Program for the Invigoration of Education Orientated towards the 21st century commented and transmitted to the various department concerned by the Sate Council and the Decisions made by the State Council on Deepening the Educational Reform and Pushing Forward the All-round Quality Education have shown clearly the way forward in the school education reform and PE curriculum reform. It also clarifies our task of quickening our step in establishing the basic education curriculum system catering to quality education. In carrying out the PE curriculum reform, it is a challenge to the old tradition to implement the quality education, and it is our choice orientated towards the future. The implementation of the PE and Health Standards in some experimental areas in 2001 marked that the PE curriculum reform was pushed in deep. However, we have also noticed that, due to the influences of the old PE syllabus and the traditional thoughts on PE, there still remain some problems need to be solved in the implementing the new standards, for example, how to reform the traditional gymnastics teaching by following the standards in the new system so as to curb the declining tendency of PE education at schools. During the period lasting about forty years from the early 1950s to the mid-1980s, the teaching of gymnastics that gave priority to competitive gymnastic activities was favored by the broad masses of the students at school, and gymnastics occupied a notable position in school physical education. With its peculiar way to build mind and body, gymnastics became the main part in achieving the object and task of that time in our school physical education. However, beginning from the late 1980s, the gymnastics teaching began to decline in school physical education. It is now fading out from the school physical education classes. Not only PE teachers but also the professionals in this circle begin to feel worried about this and they are now working actively to find the ways to improve this situation. This research project, by adopting the approaches based on documents, investigation, mathematical statistics and logic analysis, have learned the current situations of gymnastics teaching in the twenty district or county schools of those selected for experiment located in eighteen areas and counties by interviewing teachers working at these schools. Based on these investigation and findings this paper made an analysis of the various factors affecting the gymnastics teaching. The current situations of the gymnastics teaching at primary and middle schools: 1. The training of order and alignment and freestanding exercise are carried out well in all the schools investigated. 2. The teaching of calisthenics, rhythmic gymnastics and gymnastics on apparatus are carried out comparative well in 73.4% of the schools investigated. 3. The teaching acrobatic gymnastics especially the three kinds of gymnastics on apparatus (horizontal bar gymnastics, parallel bar gymnastics and pole jump is bad. Many schools have cancelled the some of the gymnastic events. Factors affecting the gymnastics teaching at primary and middle schools: 1. traditional factors 2. the factors coming from the schools themselves 3. the teachers' level of understanding the new syllabus standards and the value of gymnastics 4. the inspection and supervisory force of the department responsible for education administration 5. the level of importance attached to it by the responsible carders 6. the appraisal of the work of physical education 7. the fund for physical education 8. ground and apparatus for gymnastic activities 9. the relevant requirements of the newcurriculum standards The measure to cope with the above-mentioned various factors: 1. reform of the school gymnastics teaching 2. find more channels...