focus on hpe

Health & Physical Education 

​Learning Area

Daryah Hickling-Vahua Zeynel

Year 10

Cub Reporter 

Brunswick Secondary College provides a wide range of subjects and co-curricular activities that open doors to various learning pathways.   These are grouped in to Learning Areas and  include English, maths, a range of sciences and humanities, languages (with the option of Italian or Chinese), food studies, arts, drama, sports, health and plenty more.  The many and varied opportunities  mean that students have options to try a variety of things  - helping them to decide on a pathway that will take them through high school and on to what they want to pursue beyond Brunswick.

The Health & Physical Education (HPE) Learning Area  - food studies, health and physical education  - can all lead to a variety of learning pathways and career  choices. Pursuing these studies  will  support their journey toward the job they want. 

Physical Education

Physical Education studies, including subjects such as Sport Science, PhysiBoys, PhysiGirls, Physical Education and Sports Technology,  covers topics such as the human body in motion, training to improve performance, movement skills and energy.

Students with a particular interest or passion for sport and activities, understanding how the body systems work to produce movement, as well as monitoring and testing physical activity are all drawn to this subject.  The careers branching from these interests include:

• Fitness specialist/personal trainer
• Sports Medicine and Sport Science
• Physiotherapy, rehabilitation and
• other health sector occupations

Health and Human Development

Topics studied in this subject include  the study of  individual human development across a life-span and investigating physical, mental and social dimensions of health.  Interestingly, students examine health and development issues not only from an indivual point of view,  but also consider health from  a community and global perspective. 

These topics and interests can lead students to  seek further education, training or employment in

• public health
• counselling and social work,
• occupational therapy and
• the important field of health promotion.

Outdoor Education 

Studies

VCE Outdoor & Environmental Studies is concerned with the ways humans interact with and relate to outdoor environments. ‘Outdoor environments’ covers environments that have minimum influence from humans, as well as those environments that have been subject to different levels of human intervention. The study enables students to make informed comment on questions of environmental sustainability and to understand the importance of environmental health, particularly in local contexts.  

Students who wish to further their education in this field can go on to careers in natural resource management, nature-based tourism, outdoor leading and guiding, environmental research and policy, education, and agriculture.

Food Studies

In Food Studies, students learn about food origins, food in daily life, food makers and food issues as well as the future of food.

Interests that commonly develop into a career choice are things such as planning, preparing, evaluating  and enjoying food, applying the principles of nutrition, food science and evaluation to food and the  understanding of food origin,  food production and available food choices. 

Some careers within the food industry include

• hospitality
• food styling
• food science and
• food journalism.