January 2026

New Year, New Look!

We are delighted to bring you our new look and new format for the ACHPER Advocate in 2026! Browse through our first issue for the year for your usual features, including the President's report, connections to branch events, latest journal articles in Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education and much more!

National President’s Update

Russell Brown LMACHPER

Welcome to our first ACHPER Advocate for 2026. The year is well underway and we are excited to bring news and opportunities to you all in the Health and Physical Education and Sport and Recreation sectors.

For over seventy years, ACHPER has been Australia’s movement conscience — the champion of the belief that movement, learning, and wellbeing are inseparable. Together, we have shaped curriculum, inspired teachers, and helped generations of young people discover what it means to live active, connected lives.

A new year enables ACHPER to continue to bring people together, to ask the challenging questions, and to shape the future of health and movement education.

We will build new partnerships across health, physical education, recreation, sport, and all their associated areas. We will harness technology, not to replace movement, but to amplify its reach and meaning. We will continue to champion the professionals and communities who, every day, enable young people discover who they are through how they move.

So, with the start of the year, I invite you to take pride in being part of this movement — not just a professional community, but a community with purpose.

Leadership takes courage, commitment and passion ... if ever there was a time when the world needed movement, connection, and wellbeing — it’s now … in body, in mind, and in spirit.

ACHPER Australia wishes you all the best for a professionally rewarding 2026.

Celebrating our National HPE Day State Winners

With all the excitement of the 32nd International Conference at the end of last year, we didn't publish the state winners of the National #HPEDay2025 social media competition.

And the winners are...

QLD - St Mary's Catholic Primary

NSW - Kooringal State High School

VIC - Mt St Joseph's Girls School

TAS - Wynyard High School

SA - St Anthony's School

WA - PLC Perth

NT - Nightcliff Middle School

Highly commended were:

St Bede's College Chisholm, Kingaroy State High School and Rutherford Technology School!

Congratulations, everyone! Your REBEL Sport equipment e-voucher prize is one its way to your National HPE Day contact!

With the 2026 Winter Olympics about to start, now is a great time to think about how you can get your students interested in snow sports. A brand new snow sports curriculum for use in schools is coming soon!

What's New in Curriculum Studies in HPE Journal

It's time to act for better health outcomes for our Aussie Kids

Rosie Nash, Vaughan Cruickshank, Louisa Peralta, John Williams, lisahunter, Shane Pill, Joseph J. Scott, Rebecca Kelly & Shandell Elmer

Health literacy (HL) and education are determinants capable of addressing inequity. HL can be defined as the ability to access, understand and use health information and services for better health. This discussion paper examines the educative purpose of Health and Physical Education (HPE) and reinforces why HL should be an assessable outcome of HPE curriculum in Australian schools.

Click here to read more

The latest issue of CSHPE is out now! Those of you with university library access can browse every article for free. ACHPER Members can also request full, open access to current and back issues of the journal for just $25 per annum. Email ceo@achper.org.au to organise your full access before the 28th February.

Several articles in each issue are also "open access", with a gold unlocked icon beside them, which means the authors' institution has paid to make the article free for everyone to read. There are caps on how many open access articles can be published but there are many articles in current and previous issues free to browse.

ACHPER is partnering with a long running, Australian Research Council project led by the University of Wolllongoing to better understand the way digital technologies are reshaping how education professionals work and learn.

We want to find out how you learn as you work.

Share your experience in our anonymous online survey (15-20 mins of your time).

Your responses are important to us! The findings will also be shared with ACHPER.

Take the survey here - https://uow.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bluwMjyQhCqekmO

"That every decision that where the school should make or every decision that and you should make as a teacher has to come back to how they're going to benefit students".

Listen to our podcast on whole school approaches to building effective relationships

State Events Calendar and Membership for 2026

Click your state or territory to see upcoming events and/or become a member:

ACHPER Australia is proud to nationally partner with Tennis Australia and the Australian Sports Commission as a Play Well Affiliate.

As always, free to share the ACHPER Advocate with your networks.

We welcome new members, readers and supporters at any time.

ACHPER Australia recognises the Traditional Owners of the lands upon which we live and work and pays respect to their Elders, past, present and emerging. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, especially within our ACHPER membership, schools and HPE communities, partners and staff.

ACHPER Inc | www.achper.org.au