I have more than 35 years of experience in education, teaching, leading, and managing arts and physical education activities. Most of these years have been spent in international contexts, as after two years of teaching in the UK (my country of origin), I moved to Switzerland where I was head of physical education and GCSE Performing Arts at the International School of Geneva for more than 13 years. In 2004 I returned to my home country to take up a senior lecturer post in physical education, dance, education studies and primary professional practice at Bath Spa University, coordinating the primary postgraduate physical education programme, creating and teaching dance, health and movement modules on the undergraduate degree, and supervising masters students in the Professional Masters Programme. In February 2013 I began my current lecturing post at Charles Sturt University. I completed my PhD in 2019, which was entitled: 'A genealogy of the governance of the body in physical education in England from 1902 to 2016'.
I have extensive experience in writing and leading professional development for teachers within the UK and over a number of years I took on a more international role as the lead consultant for physical education in Cambridge Assessment International Education projects. This involved designing and implementing primary and secondary physical education curriculum plans, units of work, teaching guides and related professional development for several years in Egypt, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan. During 2018-2019 I worked for Cambridge University Press on the UNESCO STEM (Strengthening Teacher Education in Myanmar) project, supporting teacher educators in physical education and reviewing their new draft syllabus documents. Across 2020 I was offered the role of lead expert in a UNICEF-Montrose project in Myanmar. This provides support for the Ministry of Education in a sport-inclusion initiative focusing on Rakhine State and it will likely be implemented nationally. Moreover, I was the UK consultant for Fundamental Movement Skills (STEPS PD) for 5 years, which served to intensify my passion for working with teachers, students and children in the early years sector. This role was also a catalyst for my PhD research as well as the writing of my book: ‘Fundamental Fun: 132 activities to develop fundamental movement skills'. My book is available for purchase from me directly: rjefferson-buchanan@csu.edu.au (48 AUD or 28.00 GBP, including p&p in UK/Australia. Postage is extra for other countries).
A list of my publications (with links to copies) is available HERE.
Research on yoga in education. Teachers TV video clip of my work with a year 5 class in Bristol, UK.
Fundamental movement skills. Teachers TV video clip of my work with a reception class and some Bath Spa University PGCE primary students in Bath, UK.
