Creative physical and health education as a tool for character training among secondary school students in Nigeria

Abstract

A strong belief exists that Physical and Health Education (PHE) have the power to promote the development of behaviors, ethical decision-making skills, and a total curriculum for moral character development as well as providing a social environment to acquire personal and social values and behaviors contributing to good character and good citizenship. There is dearth of empirical research supporting that participation in PHE leads to character training. However, Creative PHE has immense power to shape consciousness, values, and beliefs of students that could be passed on to selected aspects of the dominant culture. This paper therefore discusses the formal and informal processes of character training among Secondary School Students in Nigeria. Character training is seen in two different ways which are moral and social values which include loyalty, sacrifice, good citizenship, dedication, healthful living and cleanliness, while moral values include honesty, fairness, fair play, justice, and responsibility. Social values, which are highly esteemed in our society, are about the real world and how society views the importance of social character. Social values are positive assets but must be tempered by moral values. Character training through PHE should be systematic and involve formal and informal processes. Creative PHE provided powerful contexts for the teaching and learning of good moral habits and for this to succeed, students need both thinking and reasoning programmes, role models, a supportive environment, and the strong moral/philosophical commitment of community members, parents, teachers, students and the media.