School music and PE

This year Mulan is doing Year 11 Music at school, and is sitting NCEA 1.

Along with music theory and history there is also a practical component, where the students prepare and perform pieces, which are assessed.  One assessment is a group performance, while another is solo.

The school does not tell students which instrument to use, or which pieces to play.  The students choose the instruments they are personally most skilled at, and over a number of weeks practice and polish their pieces both in and out of class (and often with their private teachers).

In other words, one aim of Music at school is to assess the students' specialist areas at their best.

What would school Music be like if, instead of this, the students' practical component was assessed by looking at how well they learnt a new instrument they'd never played before?  What if the school chose the instrument that all students were required to play (intentionally choosing a more obscure instrument that likely no one has played before), gave the students a few weeks of in-class lessons, then evaluated their performance playing that new instrument?

This year Mulan is also doing Year 11 PE at school, and is sitting NCEA 1.

Similar to Music, PE in school has both a theory and practical component.  (Although one difference is that the theory component of PE is entirely internally assessed, whereas Music has some external assessments.)

This year Mulan's school has decided to assess all Year 11 PE students on both gymnastics and handball.  Students do not choose the sport they are assessed in.

Last term Mulan's class went out of school to have gymnastics lessons at North Harbour Gymnastics.  During class they prepared routines, which they then performed for assessment.  Some students had never done gymnastics before, and so the lessons and routines were fairly beginner level.  Mulan was lucky** that for a few years and up until about a year ago she'd casually learnt gymnastics.  Consequently, Mulan found the required gymnastics skills both familiar and easy, and she comfortably achieved excellence on that assessment.  (**Or was Mulan unlucky that those school lessons were a bit of a waste of time for her?!)

This term the students will be introduced to handball, an Olympic sport that's popular in Europe but almost unheard of here in New Zealand.  Mulan's PE teacher told us that this sport was intentionally chosen as likely none of the students have done it before.  Teachers will observe and assess the students as they learn this unfamiliar sport, getting to know the rules of the game and acquiring the basic skills.  As part of the assessment students will also need to reflect on their learning experience.

What would school PE be like if, instead of this, the students were assessed in sports that they were most skilled at?  What if the students chose their own sport, worked on polishing their skills, and then were observed and assessed performing at their specialist best?

Why is it that at school Music is seen as a subject in which students are encouraged to perform as skillfully as possible in their chosen specialist area, whereas in PE one is assessed more on one's learning attitude, reflections and teamwork spirit?