Vol. 6, Issue 1, Part B (2024)

The hybrid Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) and Sports Education (SE) (TGfU-SE) pedagogical teaching models share similar connecting features. Both models are grounded in situational learning and they both aim to place the participants at the centre of the games-based activities. The TGfU emphasises tactical awareness, decision making, and higher order thinking skills and the SE model provides a complete season of activities during a longer physical education (PE) sequence of lessons. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the integration of TGfU with SE (TGfU-SE) model in the teaching and learning of PE and whether the hybrid TGfU-SE model can achieve better learning effects for students than either the TGfU or SE models separately. The aim of this critical review is to explore the limited amount of research which has been undertaken in regard to this hybrid approach and to assess whether it can be effectively delivered practically by teachers in PE lessons or is it an academic ‘White Elephant’. The critical review highlights that PE teachers can effectively implement the TGfU-SE model, but there is more research needed to determine whether the teachers need more further training to effectively use the model with special populations such as girls or students with disabilities.