Selecting a Health and Physical Education report topic

Steps when choosing a report topic

Step 1

Go to the Health and Physical Education (HPE) Performance Standard (external link). This standard is used to assess reports from the curriculum areas of Physical Education, Health and Home Economics.

Step 2

Read the standard thoroughly and talk to your teacher about the expectations of the scholarship standard.

Step 3

Go to the Health and Physical Education Resources. Under exam materials (bottom of the page) you will find exemplars from previous years.

Step 4

After reading the exemplars read the Assessment Report. It provides advice on what students who achieve Scholarship in HPE can do, and some indication of why some students are not awarded Scholarship, despite writing a comprehensive report.

Step 5

Read the current Assessment Specification, consult with your teacher, and decide whether you wish to proceed with an NZ Scholarship entry.

Step 6

Select your topic

Step 1: Identify an area of interest that intrigues you and provokes your curiosity.

Consider several possible topics before committing to your final report focus.

Step 2: Consider the following questions to help you refine your topic

• Does your topic meaningfully link to the HPE Curriculum at Level 8?
• Consider theoretical underpinnings. Are there theories and concepts that you can draw upon related to your topic?
• Does the topic have more than one perspective associated to it?
• Can an argument be created?
• Can you interconnect the topic with personal experiences?
• How does the topic connect with the underlying concepts of the Health and Physical Education Curriculum?
• Can you interconnect socio-cultural and biophysical concepts within your topic?
• Does your topic allow you to challenge assumptions and taken-for-granted points of view?
• How does your topic relate to your own learning?

Do not simply select a topic that has been successful in the past, target a topic that you are interested in.

Step 7

Construct a plan for your report based on your selected topic. Discuss this with your teacher. Although the report you produce must be your own work, and your teacher will need to see it at various mutually agreed milestones, you are expected to seek guidance from your teacher. They cannot tell you what you should do, or the arguments you should make, but they can ask you questions that will make you think, and help you bring your report to Scholarship level.