ACHPER and GPTQA unite at the 32nd International Conference for movement, health and physical education

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Founded in 1955, ACHPER is an independent, self-funded, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to advancing movement, health, and physical education across Australia. Their work is powered by a dedicated team and strengthened by an extraordinary network of volunteers who contribute through advisory groups, working groups, and boards — bringing expertise, energy, and heart, to everything they do.

The five key visions of ACHPER align identically with Global Performance Testing International’s (GPTI) focus of GPTQA.

• We believe movement is fundamental to thriving
• We champion education with impact
• We apply evidence with creativity
• We lead through collaboration
• We live what we teach

GPTQA is continually developing the insights and professional resources in education around assessing humans and applying technology and artificial intelligence in health, fitness, performance, and wellbeing so the opportunity to collaborate with ACHPER and focus on PE teachers with physical literacy was more a matter of when than if.

GPTI are attending and sponsoring the celebratory 70th anniversary of ACHPER at the 32nd International Conference hosted at ACU Melbourne between 12th and 14th November this year.

How does GPTQA positively impact HPE in todays schools?

The purpose of PE hasn’t really changed since in the 1950’s as a resource and time in the school week to provide physical movement, fitness and integration of sport to teachers and students however the environment has advanced considerably and continues to do so.

In 2025 we have the highest levels of dysfunction, obesity, anxiety, and chronic health problems on an international scale, something visible throughout the allied health sector. We also have a collision between health, fitness, sport performance, and technology that has been aligning for a few decades. This collision is being fuelled by technology, data and now, embryonic artificial intelligence.

GPTQA education and accreditation has been developed from the inaugural issues in sport science, where most current assessment and tracking technologies were designed for. The longstanding problem has not been in the technology but in the application. Let’s explain.

A set of weighing scales is unbiased and unemotional. When sitting flat on a hard surface, the system will provide a number associated to the weight of the person standing on the scale. We assume the scales are calibrated correctly; therefore we can consider the test valid and reliable. If we repeat the test a week later in the same room, at the same time, on the same surface, with the same scales we would assume the 2nd test to be consistent therefore the correlation of the data reliable to compare.

What actually happens is that the same scales are used, in the same room, on the same surface and occasionally at the same time but the focus on the individual may change i.e. different clothing, shoes on, items in pockets etc. These may not seem significant, but the consistency is changed therefore the comparison of the data is unreliable.

Magnify this to testing fitness on a class of school children and the inter/intra testing reliability is worthless. There is no point putting the students through the turmoil and anxiety.

GPTQA provides levels of education around validity, consistency, reliability, and data interpretation on a national scale with the purpose of allowing multiple sources to collaborate on the results for the benefit of the client (student). For example, a child who is assessed under GPTQA conditions at their local soccer club, would not necessarily have to re-do another assessment at their school the same week (a common situation) or vice versa. The validated data can be shared with confidence between the sporting club and the school therefore protecting the child from unnecessary physical and mental load.

The same collaboration occurs in the health, sport performance, and fitness sectors where GPTQA is now accredited to leading organisations such as AUSactive for the fitness sector and Exercise & Sport Science Australia (ESSA) for professional health practitioners. Any person who is in rehabilitation and assessed under GPTQA conditions can pass their data to their Physiotherapist, GP, and Personal Trainer with confidence for example.

There is an argument that the comradery of the fitness testing event is part of the process however this, by default, provides an unreliable, inconsistent outcome and does not focus on the individual’s health, wellbeing, performance etc. PE teachers can create many, more productive, PE sessions that work on positive teamwork and sociology so testing needs to be taken more seriously as it connects directly to the students current and future health.

GPTQA Level 1 is an introduction providing the skills and knowledge required to understand the rationale and outcomes of field testing on people. This is now essential professional development for teachers who perform any testing, assessment, or tracking on students.

“Teachers, like Personal Trainers, have the very best intention when assessing their clients (students) and often follow traditional protocols that have been passed down through their educational resource, for example the Beep test, to assess fitness. Unfortunately, evidence is clear that many protocols are significantly outdated, not fit for the purpose of the goal trying to be achieved and, most concerning, cause injury.” Says GPTI Founder Graham Dudley.

The Beep test does not measure fitness, it is an endurance assessment, it measures endurance. Students and the broader population in 2025 are dysfunctional therefore they do not have the basic ability to use motor skills and functional movement effectively when UNLOADED so why would you consider forcing that person to LOAD their dysfunction?

“10,000 steps a day on a broken ankle is not improving your fitness”

Assessment of fine and gross motor skills, cognition, and functional capacity are essential measures for young children of school age with progress to more advanced performance assessment through years 9+ if sport and performance oriented. We therefore need to measure more reliably with valid protocols and consistent conditions.

Schools have amazing investment in infrastructure with indoor gyms, outdoor playing and sporting grounds and resources to allow them the ability to provide professional and purposeful support to students and teachers in a PREVENTATIVE CARE model and this is where GPTQA kicks in.

By upskilling the teaching team to GPTQA Level 1, the discussion around reliability is front and centre becoming a topic of pride and confidence through competence. By default, the motivation to perform consistently with reliable measures is increased and broad assessments become individual wellness stories for each student, class and school together.

GPTQA Level 1 has been developed to be integrated into the curriculum for Y9 students upwards who are interested in studying health, sport, performance, fitness, data science, and wellbeing. It integrates directly into fitness programming and new areas of learning like AI and Applied Technology.

“The ambition for GPTQA is to allow collaboration between four evident silos in society, Allied Health, Fitness, Sport, and Education. The team at GPTI have already integrated this mindset into Allied Health, Fitness, and Sport and look forward to supporting the essential development of PE and Physical Literacy with the teaching community and ACHPER” reiterates Graham Dudley.

If you are interested in more information on integrating GPTQA for professional development in your school and its alignment to the curriculum, email team@gptqa.com to arrange a discussion.