EDU 4461 Session 3

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EDU 4461Session 3

• Sport, Physical Activity and
• Physical Education

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SPORT V PHYSICAL EDUCATION WHAT IS THE
DIFFERENCE?

• It could be argued that physical education is
  what goes on between 9am-3pm and sport is what
  comes after - of course, this is far too
  simplistic.
• Most (of us) would recognise that sport is a very
  large enterprise - the affect sport has on school
  PE both historically and in contemporary times is
  profound.

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WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE?

• There is no need to engage in chronological
  history of PE in Australia - however there are
  some significant points
• Sport in the form of competitive team games have
  always dominated the PE curriculum
• This is a legacy of colonial influence
• Such sports have been popular in the English
  speaking world as they are meant to engender
• 1. Manliness
• 2. Courage
• 3. Honour
• 4. Tradition
• 5. Character etc
• All these represent the notion of Muscular
  Christianity

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WHAT HAS GONE BEFORE?

• Whether it does lead to such things is another
  matter - What is certain is that this type of
  sport is still prevalent in todays schools.
• What is apparent is that in these New Times,
  youth cultures engage in physical activity and
  physical culture quite differently.
• This notion best exemplified where Tinning and
  Fitzclarence (1992) suggested that school PE
  might be quite irrelevant for some children -
  even if they are active in their own time.

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SO WHAT DO WE THINK WE KNOW?

• Studies on young people and physical activity
  have tended to focus on participation and levels.
  Sometimes a study is conducted to look at skill
  levels (see Walkley, 1993).
• Often the motivation for such studies is in the
  form of crisis - i.e. a concern about decline.
• However studies such as these have to rely on
  data which focuses on organised physical
  activity. As such areas of activity tend to be
  missed.

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SO WHAT DO WE THINK WE KNOW?

• There are though some standard patterns that have
  emerged and remain persistent.
• Boys tend to be more active than girls (though
  not all boys and not all girls.
• The peak years are between 9 and 14
• There is a substantial decline in participation
  after 20
• Participation rates seem highest among Australian
  born English speaking groups.
• This presents another problem with such studies
  the willingness to participate in such research
  is in these very groups - so research bias,
  albeit unintentional is a concern.

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• Wright and her colleagues (1998, 1999) took a
  different position -
• They found that whilst there were lots of
  commonalities in what teachers and parents
  thought about children and physical activity - it
  was clear that opportunity for physical activity
  engagement differed significantly and in some
  cases wildly.
• They concluded that there is no ONE picture about
  how children involve themselves with activity.
• Some of the important factors were
• Family income
• Geographical location (within cities and City vs
  Country
• Family habit
• Time
• Cultural factors

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WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

• In terms of physical education - potentially
  quite a lot.
• Leave aside the issue of whether PE is Sport is
  PE - If PE is sport dominated then clearly
  children will bring a different range of
  experiences to school PE some good and some not
  so good.
• To expect all children to engage with school PE
  then could be a fundamental mistake by the
  teacher.

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PHYSICAL CULTURE - KIRKS ALTERNATIVE FRAMEWORK

• Your text (chapter 8) highlights an alternative
  way of thinking about this. David Kirk (1997)
  suggests we should seek an understanding of how
  young people should engage with physical
  culture.
• By this, Kirk means how the body is maintained,
  represented and regulated.
• His point is that young people do not only or
  simply participate - they invest (or not) in a
  whole cultural construct connected to physical
  activity - this might be.

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• Clothing
• Hairstyle
• Club membership
• Team membership
• Music choices
• Drug cultures (body building, surfing, dance
  parties)
• Consumption of foodstuffs
• Sexual identity
• Other consumption practices (fan, cable TV
  watcher)
• Others..

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• Since these are connected to identity
  constructions - it follows that physical culture
  is connected to identity.
• Just as we form identities through the teaching
  of physical activity it should come as no
  surprise that participants form identities
  through their physical activity participation.
  Refer back to Gergen and Giddens for more about
  identity formation.
• Identity then will be connected to participation
  levels. This will clearly affect how children
  engage with school physical education.

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HEALTH - AN INTEGRAL COMPONENT OF PHYSICAL
ACTIVITY

• Health has become a powerful pretext for physical
  activity generally but PE specifically - it is no
  accident that the name of our subject is HPE (in
  Queensland) or variations of this.
• However, this connection has led to certain
  assumptions about certain relationships
• Some researchers feel a more appropriate term is
  Healthism (Sparkes 1989, Colquhoun 1989)

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HEALTHISM

• Healthism considers not whether people feel
  healthy but rather whether they conform to an
  idealised version of health.
• This takes the form of body shape, exercise
  habits, dietary discipline (in other words social
  regulators)
• It therefore promotes thinness as the desirable
  state. Tinning (1985) called this the Cult of
  Slenderness. One only has to open a magazine or
  watch a television show to have this notion
  reinforced.

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• This assumes that people who do not conform to
  such an image - lack self control, are
  irresponsible and ultimately are unhealthy.
• This problematic relationship has been referred
  to as the Health Triplex (Colquhoun 1989) and
  assumes a linear relationship thus
• exercisefitnesshealth

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• As an imprimatur for physical education in
  schools this is one thing and one thing only
• DANGEROUSLY INAPPROPRIATE!

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WHAT DO WE SEE IN SCHOOL HPE?

• Think of your own schooling here. What did you do
  in PE?
• Probably a lot of the same old stuff -
  predominantly sport.
• The text deals with some significant issues
  related to the provision of PE in New Times.
  These include
• Disability (and therefore inclusion issues)
• Gender
• Ethnicity

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• We could argue that this could be placed under
  one heading
• Tokenism
• Often we see practices in school physical
  education that are tokenistic - they pay lip
  service to the genuine issues and do not seek
  real educational outcomes for the particular
  groups.

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CURRENT ISSUES IN HPE

• Essentially they could be characterised by
• Planning learning experiences that cater for all
  children
• Developing inclusive policies
• Being sensitive to local contexts but being
  mindful of globalised trends
• Understanding youth culture
• Understanding youth culture within other
  cultures
• Being aware that PE is experienced very
  differently by different children

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Some simple examplesPhysical Education in
isolated contexts
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FOR NEXT WEEK

• Read Chapters 10 11