United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Promoting health and well-being through physical education partnerships

This paper shares a health and wellbeing partnership, modelling implementation of physical education (PE) advocated by the United Nations (UN). The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) exemplifies global efforts towards equality, specifically Goal 3 and 4 address health and wellbeing. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into cross sector “partnerships”, identified as essential for the implementation of the SDGs. This is significant as the UN acknowledge a present gap of information on partnerships in action and a need for reporting from the ground level. The project “Best Start: A community collaborative approach to lifelong health and wellness”, began as a partnership between a university and nearby schools and quickly grew to involve Australian Registered Training Organisations, the local health industry, Education departments and sport governing bodies. The collaborations involved pre-service teachers teaching Health and PE lessons to children in a disadvantaged socio-economic area, creating valuable learning experiences for stakeholders.Local and global communities were involved in research and reform. The project creatively optimised resources available through state, Australian and *Corresponding author: Timothy Lynch, Plymouth Institute of Education, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK E-mail: timothy.lynch@plymouth.ac.uk

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Timothy Lynch is a teacher and researcher at Plymouth University, (UK). He is the current vicepresident (Oceania region) for the International Council for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, Sport and Dance (ICHPER-SD). ICHPER was founded as a Non-Government Organisation (NGO) in 1958 and is officially recognised by UNESCO and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Tim has been involved in primary (and early years), secondary and higher education for 22 years: 15 years teaching experience as a classroom teacher, Head teacher, and Health and Physical Education (HPE) specialist. He has worked in various school communities and education systems in Australia and internationally. Tim is an advocate of quality HPE experiences for all, which inspires his research. This paper relates to his wider research book project titled "The Future of Health, Wellbeing and Physical Education" published by Palgrave Macmillan http://www. palgrave.com/de/book/9783319316666, and his previously published Cogent Education article "Teacher Education Physical Education: In search of a Hybrid Space" http://www.tandfonline.com/ doi/abs/10.1080/2331186X.2015.1027085

PUBLIC INTEREST STATEMENT
The United Nations recently approved the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which forms a guideline policy for all nations. While the UN have strongly advised that partnerships are essential for the implementation of these global goals, within local communities there is little evidence of how this is best done or what it looks like in practice. This paper shares a health and wellbeing community initiative that achieves goals three and four of the SDGs, and in doing so models how to implement physical education partnerships as advocated by the UN. The highly successful innovative initiative is "Best Start: A community collaborative approach to lifelong health and wellness" (2011-2014).

Introduction
The world is perceived as a global community under the banner of the United Nations (UN) and this paper focuses specifically on the implementation of the international goals for education, health and wellbeing. The UN movement provides a focal point for governments, influencing policies and programmes at all community levels: global, regional, national and local.
To implement curriculum or enact international and national health goals, community partnerships are essential. In the UN Governor General's synthesis report "The road to dignity by 2030: ending poverty, transforming all lives, and protecting the planet", Ban Ki-Moon wrote: Implementation is not just about quantity. It is also about doing things together, uniting around the problem. Inclusive partnerships must be a key feature of implementation at all levels: global, regional, national and local. We know the extent to which this can be transformative. The sustainable development goals provide a platform for aligning private action and public policies. Transformative partnerships are built upon principles and values, a shared vision and shared goals: placing people and the planet at the centre. They include the participation of all relevant stakeholders, in which mutual accountability is critical. This means principled and responsible public-private-people partnerships. (United Nations General Assembly, 2014, p. 19).
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) include 17 goals that succeed the 2000-2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), however the new SDGs now apply to all countries, including developed countries like Australia (Thwaites, 2015). At present, goal 3 and 4 are "Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages" and "Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all", respectively. These goals "are truly global challenges that require solutions involving all countries" (Thwaites, 2015). The two recurring themes of "health and physical wellbeing" and "community partnerships" are advocated by the UN and form the core of this paper.
When considering the role of physical education in promoting engagement in healthy, active lifestyles through the life course, the development of partnerships-between schools and community-based sports organisations and clubs-is essential to accommodate broader life-long educational outcomes, including health and well-being, as well as personal and social development. (United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO), 2015, p. 44).
The health and wellbeing project, "Best Start: A community collaborative approach to lifelong health and wellness" combined community strengths involving local and global partnerships. What began as a pathway seed quickly grew to involve an Australian university, schools, Australian Registered Training Organisations (RTO), the local health industry (local leisure and sports centre), Education departments, sport governing bodies and a leading international Teacher Education university course (UK). Similarly, the strengths-based model has been adopted by Sport England "use our school" initiative who are "committed to helping people and communities across the country create sporting habits for life" (http://www.sportengland.org/facilities-planning/use-our-school/). However, while the UN espouses partnerships for the implementation of the SDGs, quality research about partnerships in action forms a lacunae. As the vice-president for Global Advocacy-World Vision, Mr. Charles Badenoch, stated at the UN Economic and Social Council special event-"2015 Multi-Stakeholder partnerships: Making them work, for the Post-2015 Development Agenda"; "Unfortunately today there is a dearth of data on the effectiveness of partnerships… we need to learn from what works and what doesn't work… all cross sector partnerships at all levels" (Badenoch, 2015). Hence, the reflection and reporting of this community partnership project is significant.
Literature acknowledges that some form of funding is essential for successful university and school partnerships (Zeichner, 2010). However, in the "Best Start" project all local and international partnerships were initiated and developed without funding, making this report appealing for teacher education globally and palpable for the implementation of SDGs. This distinct project espouses the power of human relations to optimise learning by stakeholders uniting for the common good.
This paper is a reflective report of a number of initiatives underpinning the "Best Start" project. In sharing the health and wellbeing research journey, local and global communities of practice in Health and Physical Education (HPE) are explored, specifically within three underpinning themes: • Local community health and wellbeing initiative • Global influence and support • Community strengths

Methodology
Data were collected using various methods during the "Best Start" project. A qualitative, interpretive study using a case study methodology was adopted as a general overarching framework. In the case study research conducted from an Ofsted-awarded UK Primary Physical Education (PE) course (2012 and 2014), methods engaged included semi-structured interviews, reflective journal, observations and document analysis. Furthermore, an ethical clearance was granted from Monash University Human Research Ethics Committee which also involved permission from the United Kingdom University for the recruitment of participants and research to be conducted. Confidentiality and anonymity were assured during the study as pseudonyms were assigned to protect the privacy of the participants.
While data were gathered by various methods, the Student Evaluations of Teaching Units (SETU) were specifically designed for such research purposes; surveys of student satisfaction with the quality of teaching and learning. "The data may be used by Faculty and other University staff within contexts such as (but not limited to) unit enhancement, strategic planning, course and unit review and staff development" (http://www.opq.monash.edu.au/us/surveys/setu/setu-purpose.html). Monash University explicitly state that SETU data may be used for the purposes of research. Thus, feedback from the pre-service teachers offered valid and reliable data.

Local community health and wellbeing initiative
The collaborations involved pre-service teachers teaching HPE lessons to children during their university tutorials, marrying the theory traditionally learnt in university classrooms with the experience-based knowledge located only in schools. The lack of connection between the theory and practice is recognised as a perennial problem in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) courses and termed the Achilles heel of education (Zeichner, 2010). Furthermore, the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG) report titled "Action Now: Classroom Ready Teachers" (Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group (TEMAG), 2014, pp. xiv-xvi) supported the innovative initiative, specifically recommendation 19: Recommendation 19 -Higher education deliver integrated and structured professional experience throughout initial teacher education programs through formalised partnership agreements with schools.
Hence, a "hybrid space" was the intended ideal learning environment, involving "non hierarchical interplay between academic, practitioner and community expertise" (Zeichner, 2010, p. 89).
While literature discusses the advantages of the "hybrid space" ideal, high-quality research is limited, if not non-existent within physical education. The "Best Start" programme initiative provides a model through the journey experience. The story that unfolds provides an example of how the UN ideals are transformed into local schools and communities. This project is significant to educators and governments from around the world who are challenged to rethink their connections between university courses, school experiences and community health promotion.
Various communities were involved in curriculum and pedagogical research and reform. The project creatively optimised the resources available within this socio-economically disadvantaged rural community through connections with the wider state of Victoria, as well as Australian and international communities. Programme planning was strengthened through international research with data gathered from an England and Wales Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) "Outstanding" awarded UK Primary PE course case study in 2012 and 2014 (Lynch, 2015).
This unique local community partnership journey began in semester one, 2011 at Monash University-Gippsland campus ( Figure 1). Monash University (Gippsland campus) is situated in Churchill, central Gippsland, Victoria (Australia). The Gippsland "Best Start" programme was deliberately designed so pre-service teacher confidence and competence could be progressively developed. Beginning with Level 1 higher education courses (first year), the students taught the content using peer teaching episodes (EDF1600 HPE in schools). This led to small group teaching experiences with children from local schools under teacher educator support, school teacher support and peer support. In Level 2 and 3 (second and third year) the pre-service teachers taught lessons to groups of children from Foundation Year to Year 6 in a chosen sport, tennis and swimming. The lessons only took place after the pre-service teachers evidenced they were prepared through formal and informal assessments. The final teaching experiences were implemented independently by the students in the form of a residential camp and coaching experience within primary schools.
Community collaborations involved pre-service teachers teaching local children (Foundation-Year 6) swimming and water safety lessons (EDF2611 Experiencing Aquatic Environments), modified games (EDF1600 Health & PE in Schools), various sport sessions (netball, basketball, soccer, cricket, Aussie Rules football, tee-ball) and implementing tennis "hot shots" (EDF3619 Sport & Physical Activity Education). University and school partnerships were timely and well received by education departments. The programme was embedded within the Victorian Government "School Centres for Teaching Excellence" (SCTE) initiative (Lynch, 2013), which seeks to improve pre-service teacher education programmes through stronger partnerships between schools and universities and a better integration of theory and practice. However, unfortunately there was no funding for the community partnerships which was a major barrier; "To ensure that the full benefits are achieved, public investment, a supportive environment and high quality programme delivery are required" (United Nations, 2015; p. 6). Specifically, there was no financial public investment in the form of time and resources which is essential for successful partnerships (International Civil Society Centre (ICSC), 2014).
Primary education university students (ITE), who chose the PE major stream, were required to study the unit EDF2611 "Experiencing Aquatic Environments". It could also be chosen by education students as an elective. The pre-service teachers were not necessarily competent or confident swimmers but did have an interest in physical education and/or swimming. It was a requirement within this unit and also for the governing authority, Victorian Institute of Teaching teacher registration that PE graduates from ITE programmes in the primary school have a current teacher of swimming and water safety qualification (Victorian Institute of Teaching, 2008). The unit at Gippsland campus previously required that students complete this during their own time and presented evidence of this qualification (approximate cost $350). The weekly one-hour lecture and two-hour workshop focusing on outcomes relating to aquatics and water safety education were carefully re-designed so that the unit workshop programme created a pathway with swimming and water safety course units of competency. This pathway initiated the journey of collaboration between Australian RTO, the local health industry (local leisure and sports centre) and external swimming instructors employed at the venue, local Primary schools and the University sector; Monash University-Gippsland. Through implementing "hands on" practical teaching and learning experiences for the university students, subsequently the workshops enabled the provision of quality lessons over three weeks at no cost for local primary school children (from a disadvantaged socio-economic Gippsland region), who otherwise would not have received swimming lessons. This was of particular benefit as although, a considerable amount of work has been attributed to educating the Australian public about swimming and water safety awareness in a commitment to reducing drowning fatalities, research suggests that rural and isolated schools find it most difficult to conduct aquatic activities (Peden, Franklin, & Larsen, 2009;p. 200). Furthermore, the best time to prepare children for safe aquatic participation and provide the skills and knowledge needed to have a lifelong safe association with water is during childhood (Royal Life Saving Society Australia, 2010).
Pathways created included the opportunity for the university students to obtain qualifications in Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association-Swim Australia Teacher, Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) Bronze Medallion (BM) and RLSSA Resuscitation (RE) courses. By becoming an endorsed service member with Lifesaving Victoria the author was qualified to endorse the BM, RE and Bronze Rescue. The students were required to have current resuscitation accreditation to obtain a Swim Australia Teacher qualification, which was also made possible for the students during the unit.
The discussion paper released in August 2011 titled "A tertiary education plan for Gippsland, Victoria" (Department of Education & Early Childhood Development, 2011) was written specifically for this context using recent national and state level developments including the Review of Australian Higher Education (Australian Government, 2008). This paper supported such pathways as it "encourages building on existing partnerships and strengthening articulation arrangements between providers" (p. 4). In the written submissions for the discussion paper specifically focusing within the Gippsland context suggests that "the need for additional training capacity and improved collaboration between providers of tertiary education and industry was identified as a major concern" (Department of Education & Early Childhood Development, 2011, p. 10). There are five key outcomes identified by the Gippsland tertiary education plan project, a derivative of the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, and it is specifically the third key outcome that supports the swimming and water safety pathway holistic vision: 3. Improved participation in education and training more generally for the community.
As mentioned a large percentage of the Gippsland region comprises a socio-economically disadvantaged population. The goals established at the Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training & Youth Affairs, 2008) were "about equity and social justice and improved learning outcomes for our most disadvantaged and isolated students" (Ewing, 2010, p. 127). Goals included: Goal 1: Australian schooling promotes equity and excellence Goal 2: All young Australians become: • Successful learners • Confident and creative individuals • Active and informed citizens These goals have driven the recent Australian Curriculum reform; supported by socio critical pedagogy in education and underpinned by a sociocultural perspective. A commitment to action in achieving these goals included: promoting world-class curriculum and assessment; and improving educational outcomes for the disadvantaged young Australians, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
The next community collaboration involved six rural primary schools during semester one, 2012. Primary ITE university students (pre-service teachers), choosing the PE major stream, also study the unit EDF3619 "Sport and physical activity education". Through amendments made to this unit objectives involved the implementation of the Friday Sports programme which was the second community collaboration in the "Best Start" initiative. This programme ran over five weeks and was the first programme of this nature to be implemented within the area, where pre-service teachers were teaching HPE lessons to primary school children during tutorial time. The sports programme directly related to the new UN SDG Agenda and which as International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach states, "specifically acknowledges the important role that sport plays promoting healthy lifestyles, education and social inclusion"(http://www.olympic.org/news/un-general-assembly-includes-sport-in-post-2015-sustainable-development-goals/247226). Sport is defined as a logical extension of a school's PE programme (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992), embedded within HPE.
37. Sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development. We recognize the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives. (https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/post2015/ transformingourworld) The Friday Sports programme was designed to enable Year 5 and 6 children from the six participating schools to choose a sport that they would like to participate in during the one-hour sessions over the five weeks. Each sport group consisted of 20-25 students, were mixed sexes and mixed schools. Monash University provided the equipment, the human resource of five teacher education students per group who had planned the five-week units, and collaboratively with the local health industry (local leisure and sports centre) provided the stadium and field facilities, all at no cost to schools. Subsequently, the implementation of this sport unit built relationships between Monash University (Gippsland campus) Faculty of Education and rural primary schools.
Stakeholders in the project "Best Start: A community collaborative approach to lifelong health and wellness" included:

Global influence and support
The drive to continue providing and developing children's health, wellbeing and physical education opportunities was the localisation of "The Convention on the Rights of the Child" (CRC). CRC "is the most recognised international treaty setting out the basic rights of children, along with the obligations of governments to fulfil those rights. It has been accepted and ratified by almost every country in the world." (Garvis & Pendergast, 2014, p. 8). The Convention has 54 articles which have four fundamental principles: non-discrimination; best interests of the child; survival, development and protection; and participation.
"The best interests of the child" refers to "Laws and actions affecting children should put their best interests first and benefit them in the best possible way" (Garvis & Pendergast, 2014, p. 8). The strengths-based collaborations involved HPE curriculum change for schools and university teacher education. Previous teaching experiences would often be reflected upon to maintain realistic expectations in attempt to overcome barriers, to better understand the complexities involved when dealing with many different individuals with at times different priorities, and subsequently to enable sustainability.
"Partnerships" are recommended by the UN for continued efforts towards equality in health and wellbeing. The year 2015 marked the end of the timeline for UN MDGs. These goals "helped to lift more than one billion people out of extreme poverty, to make inroads against hunger, to enable more girls to attend school than ever before and to protect our planet" (United Nations, 2015, p. 3). The MDGs included: (1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger (2) Achieve universal primary education The SDGs have succeeded the MDGs and are " a new, universal set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to use to frame their agendas and political policies over the next 15 years" (http://www.theguardian.com/globaldevelopment/2015/jan/19/sustainable-development-goals-united-nations). There are 17 SDG's and the following goals are directly representative of health, wellbeing and physical education.

Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning
Goal 3 and 4 of the proposed SDGs, along with goal 8 of the MDG in collaboration with the identification of 2015 as the time for global action to end poverty, promote prosperity and wellbeing for all, protect the environment and address climate change, espouses the significance of "health, wellbeing and physical education" and "partnerships". This UN movement provides a focal point for governments, influencing policies and programmes at all levels: global, regional, national and local.
It is argued through the "futures-oriented" curriculum perspective that community collaborations/ partnerships are ideal for implementing education curricula and forms guidance for education departments and governments for implementing physical education in schools and sport generally within communities. A partnership shift between universities and schools began in the USA and is occurring globally with recent reforms in Finland, Australia and UK (Department of Education & Early http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2016.1188469 Childhood Development [DEECD], [DEECD], 2012;Douglas, 2014). Furthermore, such shifts have been experienced in ITE across all discipline areas.
A "strengths-based" approach "supports a critical view of health education with a focus on the learner embedded within a community's structural facilitators, assets and constraints, and is enacted through resource-oriented and competence-raising approaches to learning" (Macdonald, 2013, p. 100). Community partnerships such as "Best Start-a community collaborative approach to lifelong health and wellness" are underpinned by the "futures oriented" curriculum perspective. As a result experiential learning is offered where the curriculum is relevant, engaging, contemporary, physically active, enjoyable and developmentally appropriate for all stakeholders; namely university pre-service teachers (Table 1), local primary school children and classroom teachers. This is supported by research which suggests that the optimum time for children to learn and refine their motor skills and to be introduced to positive HPE experiences is as early as possible, preferably during preschool and early primary school years. Furthermore, it has been argued in literature that although Australian education policies strongly advocate HPE and physical activity, requirements do not appear to be consistently enacted. A similar "gap" also exists on an international scale (Hardman, 2008). Curry argues "state governments have standards in place to ensure all children are provided the opportunity to participate in physical education classes, these are rarely met due to the absence of a specialist PE teacher in many public primary schools." (Curry, 2012, p. 17). Table 1 accentuates the positive contribution community collaborations (across units EDF1600, EDF2611 and EDF3619) have made towards teacher preparation.
International partnerships enabled identification of unique contextual opportunities, support networks and renewed purpose. Programme planning, learning and teaching was guided by international research. Data were gathered from a university course in south-west England, a Primary PE course case study was conducted in January 2012 and January 2014. The course was purposefully chosen as it was awarded "Outstanding" by the national regulatory authority, England and Wales Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) (2010/2011). Also, the major course strength explicitly stated in the review was community connections. A qualitative, interpretive study using a case study methodology was adopted to examine the successful primary education course.
The purpose of this study was to give insights into various dynamics of this award-winning programme. Data collected, analysed during the project and further reflection suggest that the community connections do offer strong possibilities for course quality improvement, upholding a strength-based approach in Health and PE (Macdonald, 2013). There are at times difficulties in this process (Douglas, 2014), however complexities appear to be minimised when the relationships are developed over a sustained period of time, where trust is built between stakeholders and not forced. Strength of partnerships is increased when the university lecturers are experienced, successful teachers and school leaders with the ability to act as hybrid teacher educators. This underpins TEMAG recommendations: Recommendation 22-Higher education providers ensure staff delivering initial teacher education are appropriately qualified, with a proportion having contemporary school teaching experience.
If higher education is genuine in attempts at course improvement then intake numbers of preservice teachers need to be taken into consideration with regard to the quality of pastoral care. Within the English context the course was developmentally appropriate for teaching children PE in the primary school and therefore perceived as very relevant by all stakeholders. It also appeared to supplement and extend the various schools' PE learning opportunities and not saturate or compete with existing curriculum. Head Teachers had an important role in leading and determining the PE implementation within their school, deciding how this would be enacted and by whom. Finally, funding was made available for this course and was a necessary ingredient for initiating and maintaining partnerships.
The findings did suggest within this context that there were connections between having teacher educators with teaching experience in primary schools and the partnerships established. The teacher educators were also confident and competent with the children aged 5-11 years and felt comfortable working in, with and amongst primary school educators and communities. The various stakeholders perceived themselves as "teachers" working together in the best interest of the children. The findings of this UK research into a successful ITE PE primary education course enabled international findings and insights that offered support to the "Best Start" Gippsland initiative. It was comforting and offered a guiding framework for continued efforts towards course improvement and stronger partnerships.

Community strengths
Equity and social justice advocated by international policy and literature which has filtered down to Australian curriculum documents, were enacted and satisfied. An apparent pre-service teacher benefit included extended learning opportunities, as lessons provided "hands on" practical, experiential learning and teaching. Lessons also provided local primary school children with quality swimming, sport sessions and tennis coaching (at no cost), creating learning experiences that they would otherwise not have had and connected them with valuable opportunities through local clubs and facilities. Furthermore, professional development was delivered for classroom teachers, assisting in developing teacher confidence and competence and subsequently promoting sustainability of children's health.
Learning and teaching over the four-year "Best Start" programme (2011-2014) obtained outstanding results, as evidenced by SETU (Table 2 and 3). Quality learning and teaching improved and was achieved due to the community partnerships.
Another indicator of teaching and learning quality was the growth of the units. At Monash University (Gippsland) on average 55 of the 80 (69.0%) first-year intake Bachelor of Primary Education students chose to study the HPE major stream during the Best Start initiative. These numbers continued throughout second and third year where they increased as much as 62% in biennial units, from 39 (2011) to 63 (2013) for swimming and remained consistent in 2014 (Table 4). Furthermore, this has been achieved with no funding and without any increase to the overall cohort enrolment intake.
Parents came to support their children and comments from teachers, teaching assistants, parents and the children expressed their gratitude for the lessons provided. One teacher wrote; "My kids had a ball with the swimming. Like I said to you then, any time you need children feel free to approach us. We are very willing to assist." (personal communication, July 23, 2011). Another teacher stated that many parents "commented that it was good that the children were able to access the lessons and that they were free" (personal communication, June 13, 2013). The Yinnar South Primary school principal contacted the local newspaper to share the programme with the wider community and was quoted in the article; "For our (students) to get one-on-one water experience is great; the parents have given really positive feedback and it's been thoroughly enjoyed by everybody" (Symons, 2013).
The Churchill Primary School Prep-Grade 2 team leader summarised the benefits of the programme and gratitude within this context It was a fantastic opportunity for our students as many have never had formal (swimming) lessons before. The low socio-economic situation of many families in this area means that  Table 3.

Student evaluation of teaching unit (SETU) for EDF3619 sport and physical activity education at Monash University Gippsland campus
More than 15 enrolments and 10 or more completed surveys.

Year offered EDF3619 Sport and physical activity education
Overall satisfaction with quality(5strongly agree, 1strongly disagree) The learning resources in this unit supported my studies(5-strongly agree, 1-strongly disagree) The feedback I received in this unit was useful(5-strongly agree, 1-strongly disagree) This unit made a positive contribution to my experiences during practicum(5-strongly agree, 1-strongly disagree) many students are not able to have the opportunity of learning about water safety with instructors. While Churchill Primary School does offer a swimming lesson program we often find that those most in need of lessons find the price too high. By offering free lessons through the University program we had 100% attendance from Prep/One/ Two, which is amazing!
The children were very excited about going to the swimming lessons and were looking forward to going each time. They enjoyed getting to know their instructors and it was good to see the university students grow in their confidence of dealing with junior primary school children. Relationships between the instructors and students were just beginning to develop, so it was a shame there weren't more lessons.
We have also received many positive comments from parents about this wonderful opportunity. Many were amazed that the lessons would be offered free of charge. One family has three children in the Prep/One/Two area and normally sending all three to swimming lessons is too expensive. However, this time because they were free, all three children were able to go. Their Mum was so happy she didn't have to exclude any of her children from the lessons. (personal communication, June 13, 2013).
Tennis "hot shots" was chosen by the author to be the focus for the "Friday Sport Program" in the biennial unit EDF3619 Sport & Physical Activity Education (semester one 2014). Tennis Australia supplied 18 "hot shots" tennis courts, 100 racquets and 200 modified tennis balls. The 60 pre-service teachers provided four weeks of tennis "hot shots" lessons to children from Lumen Christi (Year 3, 4, 5 & 6) and Churchill Primary (Year 5 & 6).
The overall ITE student satisfaction with the quality of the unit (SETU) received a median of 4.4 out of 5, more so, the "positive contribution to experiences during practicum" received a median of 4.75 out of a maximum 5. University pre-service teachers shared that the best aspects of the unit was "Being able to teach children and the feeling of satisfaction when the children learn from what you taught them and when they enjoy the sport" (SETU, 2014, Q11). Another commented "I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to plan and implement lessons with the local schools. It was challenging and engaging" (SETU, 2014, Q11).
The children commented to their teachers and posted letters of thanks to the university. One boy wrote "I learnt how to backhand and it was a great program, even though I missed out on one", (personal communication, June 19, 2014). Another girl expressed her enjoyment; "I would like to say it was an awesome four weeks with our coaches and I got to learn a lot about tennis. I had a great time." (personal communication, June 19, 2014). Teachers also offered very positive feedback to the tennis programme; "The program gave both students (children) and pre-service teachers a chance to develop new skills. The students (children) were always engaged and they looked forward to going." (personal communication, June 23, 2014).

Concluding remarks
There were many obstacles that had to be overcome or evaded to enact what appeared on the surface to be a simple and common-sense approach to optimising the health, wellbeing and physical education of community members. Diverse teaching experiences in various roles were drawn upon by the author when establishing community collaborations, these experiences along with the reassurance and support provided by the international "outstanding" UK ITE programme research, assisted and provided the strength and drive for continuing partnerships. The intention of the programme was to offer what was regarded as being "in the best interest of the children", which provided motivation.
Another problem for the community collaborations was funding. It was surprising at the time that there was no funding available for this innovative initiative within Gippsland or equipment for the development of such a successful strengths-based community programme. This was surprising as the Health and PE community collaborative lessons were espoused by the DEECD School Centre for Teaching Excellence initiative and international and national literature and policies. Unbeknown to all stakeholders there were plans made by Monash University and governments that offered an explanation for the lack of funds and which eventually led to the demise of the "Best Start" programme. In May 2013 Monash University announced that it was to transfer its Gippsland campus to be part of a new Federation University Australia (formally Ballarat University). This was described as a merger and occurred on 1 January 2014. Monash ceased making offers to new students, and made arrangements with Federation University for teaching its continuing students.
While the end of the "Best Start" programme was disappointing for the various stakeholders and Gippsland local community it enabled time to reflect on health and physical education: local and global communities of practice. The journey involved local and global community partnerships and models how an idea can grow into multi-stakeholder collaborations. This paper aspires to both empower and challenge communities in initiating and optimising health and wellbeing. It also provides an example of how the UN ideals can be transformed into local schools and communities. This reflection illustrates that SDGs are possible (with or without funding), also the data clearly evidences the opportunities and benefits for all stakeholders.

Funding
The author received no direct funding for this research.

Author details
Timothy Lynch 1 E-mail: timothy.lynch@plymouth.ac.uk 1 Plymouth Institute of Education, Plymouth University, Plymouth, UK.

Citation information
Cite this article as: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: Promoting health and well-being through physical education partnerships, Timothy Lynch, Cogent Education (2016), 3: 1188469.

Cover image
Source: Author.