Dawn Penney

Physical education and physically active lives: a lifelong approach to curriculum development

This paper focuses upon the relationship between physical education and interests in enabling more people to establish and maintain ‘active and healthy lives’ from a curriculum development perspective. Twin and inter‐linked concepts of ‘lifelong learning’ and ‘lifelong physical activity’ are presented as a conceptual basis for curriculum development in physical education. A multidimensional conceptualisation of physical activity is introduced as a key reference point for rethinking the scope and focus of curricula claiming or aiming to facilitate peoples interest and ability to maintain active and healthy lives. It is argued that there is a need for a broadening of the skills, knowledge and understanding encompassed within curricula and for a lifelong curriculum to be acknowledged as the collective responsibility of organisations and individuals within and beyond existing formal education structures.

Teachers, Teaching and the Social Construction of Gender Relations

abstract This paper centres attention on the study of teaching in Physical Education (PE) and the social construction of gendered identities. Empirically it considers whether the Education Reform Act (ERA) 1988 and the introduction of a National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) in England and Wales in 1991 have presaged changes in the way in which teachers teach PE in the direction of an equitable curriculum. Drawing on data from an ongoing study of PE in secondary schools in England and Wales we claim that the noise of education reform and the weight of education legislation of recent years pressing teachers to engage in curriculum change have done very little to alter the way in which PE is taught in schools. Furthermore, we argue that within the subject, the persistence of pedagogical differences between teachers, especially between women and men, ensure that there is considerable ‘slippage’ between the intentions of ERA and the NCPE, to provide a common, broad and balanced curriculum for all pupil...

Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment: Three message systems of schooling and dimensions of quality physical education

This paper identifies ‘quality’ as an internationally relevant concept to be problematised in contemporary debates about physical education (PE). Drawing on the conceptualisation of curriculum by B. Bernstein in 1977, pedagogy and assessment as three inter-related message systems of schooling, the paper presents and explores curriculum, pedagogy and assessment as three fundamental dimensions of ‘quality PE’. Discussion addresses what quality in each dimension may mean in PE, and demand in practice. Contemporary initiatives in Australia and New Zealand provide a reference point for exploring the prospective application of quality conceptualised in terms of the three inter-related dimensions. Attention is drawn to frameworks in mainstream education that may be utilised in endeavours to critically review current practices, and inform developments directed towards achieving quality in PE. It is argued that achieving quality in PE requires that quality is pursued and demonstrated within and across curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, and that meanings of quality always need to be contextualised in cultural, social and institutional terms.

Extra‐curricular Physical Education: More of the Same for the More Able?

Abstract In this paper we draw on recent research findings to take a critical look at extra‐curricular Physical Education (PE) provision in state schools in England and Wales and in particular, address issues of equality and equity. We draw particular attention to the present disadvantagement of many pupils, particularly girls and pupils of lower ability in PE, in terms of the opportunities and experiences typically available in the extra‐curricular setting. In pursuing this disadvantagement we illustrate the way in which the content, organisation and delivery of much extra‐curricular PE serves to reinforce ‘traditional’ and stereotypical views about who can and should participate in what physical activity, and the critical role that not only teachers but also pupils, parents and ‘wider society’ play in either reinforcing or challenging these views. We thereby draw attention to the many and complex ways in which inequity operates and argue that there is a need for changes in the philosophy underpinning ex...

Naming, the game. Discourse and domination in physical education and sport in England and Wales.

’evident in attacks on teaching and the curriculum, on the needs of business and industry being seen as more and more the primary, if not the only goals of schooling, the tighter control of teaching in many states, and in the increasing integration of education into the conservative project’ (ibid, p.10). The same is true of the UK, where the needs and interests of the economy (of capital accumulation) rather than of children and teachers have taken precedence in the development of a national curriculum for state schools in

The politics of pedagogy: making a National Curriculum Physical Education1

Abstract This paper documents the activities of the Working Group formed in July 1990 by central Government in the UK to ‘advise’ on a National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) for state schools in England and Wales. The analysis concentrates on the interactions between group members and the Secretary of State for Education and the Minister for Sport, a process in which there was a struggle for control of what Bernstein refers to as the ‘pedagogic device’ (Bernstein 1990) ‐ the rules governing the form and content of the curriculum of PE and concomitantly how the body should be schooled. The data point to a complex dialectic between the discourses of cultural restoration and progressivism, and reveal how the latter was both circumscribed and ‘regulated’ by sometimes subtle, at other times quite brutal discursive strategies. Running through the discussion are issues relating to the nature of power, authority and control in the policy‐making process. 1. This paper draws on data from an Economic and Soci...

‘Body practices—exposure and effect of a sporting culture?’ Stories from three Australian swimmers

This paper contributes to sport, sociology and the body literature by exploring the ‘exposure and effect’ of culture, in particular bodily practices placed on three adolescent swimmers immersed in the Australian swimming culture using an ethnographic framework. The research reported is particularly notable as it addresses two distinct time points in the swimmers’ lives. The first section explores the adolescent experiences of three female swimmers within the cultural context of Australian swimming by articulating some of the specific body practices and ‘memes’ (ideas, symbols and practices) that they were exposed to and/or engaged within relation to the body. The second section of this paper focuses on the same three swimmers in the ‘present day’, some 10–30 years after being immersed in the Australian swimming culture as adolescents. It excavates their body practices and the relationships they now have with their body, and thus pursues the sustained impact of the body practices and ‘memes’ they were exposed to as adolescents. Analysis employs concepts drawn mainly from Foucault, particularly his thesis in regard to ‘disciplinary power’, ‘regulation’ ‘classification’ and ‘surveillance’. At a club (amateur) and National level, Australian swimming is revealed as an institution, a site and culture where particular techniques of power have become concentrated and have been brought to bear on individuals in systematic ways, with sometimes damaging effects arising for athletes’ long-term health and well-being, particularly if the individuals concerned continue to engage with cultural practices in regard to the body post-career.

Points of tension and possibility: Boundaries in and of physical education

This article offers a conceptually based commentary that addresses a longstanding dilemma for physical education, of what theoretical insights can usefully be pursued as a basis for advancing physical education curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. It utilises the work of Basil Bernstein to argue that structural and symbolic boundaries are key to understanding and productively engaging with stability and change in physical education. Relations between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are examined in terms of their linkages with legitimate knowledge structures and knowledge relations in/of physical education, and in turn, with equity in physical education. While curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are each identified as important avenues for critically informed pedagogic action, the collective dynamic is identified as over-riding any single influence. Furthermore, that dynamic is shown to be inseparable from the knowledge structures in/of physical education.

Physical Education, Sporting Excellence and Educational Excellence

This paper explores the relationship between excellence in the context of physical education (and the National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE) in England, in particular) and excellence in sport. The ways in which progression and excellence are defined in the ‘official texts’ of the NCPE are examined. It is argued that discourses of performance in sport strongly ‘frame’ these definitions, while the notion of educational excellence remains apparently underdeveloped in the context of physical education. The processes of policy development, the structure of curricula and the histories (personal and collective) of the subject and profession are identified as critical influences (and origins of strong discursive frames) that collectively reinforce a direct association between excellence in physical education and excellence in sport. Parallel texts, associated with another subject (music), are examined to highlight possibilities for the development of alternative understandings and definitions of achievement and excellence in physical education, informed by and privileging educational discourses.

Proposing Conditions for Assessment Efficacy in Physical Education.

In arguing for more comprehensive practice, policy and research considerations of assessment in physical education (PE), this paper outlines and discusses four integrated conditions of assessment efficacy for the development and promotion of productive assessment in PE. These conditions are prefaced by the proposition that quality PE requires the concerted and considered alignment of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment and the inclusion of a primary focus on assessment for learning; authentic, integrated assessment; assurance of construct validity; and socially just approaches to assessment. The conditions themselves are not new, however their integration has been a notable omission from PE literature in the past. Implicit in these conditions is a call for a broadening of the curriculum content of PE and an employment of physical activity as site for learning in multiple domains in addition to its recognition as a learning focus. Les conditions de l’efficacité de l’évaluation en éducation physique Contribuant aux débats pour une meilleure compréhension des pratiques, des politiques et des recherches sur l’évaluation en Education Physique (EP), cet article décrit et discute quatre conditions d’efficacité de l’évaluation pour le développement et la promotion d’une évaluation formative en EP. Ces conditions sont sous-tendues à la proposition selon laquelle une EP de qualité tient à une conception concertée des programmes, des pratiques pédagogies et de l’évaluation, et à l’intégration de l’évaluation parmi les principaux facteurs de l’apprentissage; à l’assurance de la validité de son élaboration; et à une approche socialement juste de l’évaluation. Ces conditions elles-mêmes ne sont pas nouvelles, cependant leur prise en compte a été, par le passé, largement occultée par la littérature spécifique à l’EP. De manière sous-jacente à ces propositions, nous lançons un appel à une meilleure prise en compte de l’évaluation dans la conception des programmes d’EP et à une conception de l’EP comme un lieu au service d’apprentissages dans des domaines multiples au-delà de sa reconnaissance comme un objet même d’apprentissage. Propuesta de condiciones para la eficacia de la evaluación en educación física Al abogar por una práctica, una política y unas consideraciones de la evaluación de la investigación en educación física (PE) más amplias, este documento presenta y discute cuatro condiciones integradas de eficacia de la evaluación para el desarrollo y la promoción de una evaluación productiva en E.F. Estas condiciones están precedidas por la premisa de que la educación física de calidad requiere de la confluencia acordada y consensuada del currículo, la pedagogía y la evaluación, y la inclusión de un foco primario en la evaluación para el aprendizaje; una evaluación auténtica e integrada, la garantía de la validez de constructo; y socialmente meras aproximaciones a la evaluación. Las condiciones de por sí no son nuevas, sin embargo su integración ha sufrido una omisión notable de la literatura sobre Educación Física en el pasado. De manera implícita, con estas condiciones se reclama una ampliación del contenido del currículo de educación física y un empleo de la actividad física como contexto para el aprendizaje de varios dominios, además de su reconocimiento como un foco de aprendizaje. Vorschläge für wirksame Beurteilungsbedingungen im Sportunterricht Der vorliegende Artikel veranschaulicht und diskutiert vier integrative Voraussetzungen für die Wirksamkeit von Beurteilung im Zusammenhang mit der Entwicklung und Förderung produktiver Bewer tung im Spor tunterricht. Dabei wird für nachvollziehbarere Überlegungen für eine Praxis, Politik und Forschung von Beurteilung im Sportunterricht argumentiert. Die Voraussetzungen werden eingeführt mit der Absicht das qualitativ hochwertiger Sportunterricht einen ausgewogenen und wohlüberlegten Abgleich von Curriculum, Pädadgogik und Beurteilung braucht und folgende Aspekte integrieren sollte: die Berücksichtigung eines primären Augenmerks auf die Bewertung von Lernfortschritten, authentische und integrative Beurteilung, Sicherheit in der Aussagekraft der Bewertungskriterien, sowie sozial gerechte Bewertungsansätze. Diese Bedingungen ansich sind nicht neu, allerdings wurden sie in der Vergangenheit in Publikationen zum Sportunterricht deutlich vernachlässigt. Implizit liegt diesen Bedingungen der Aufruf zugrunde, die Curriculumsinhalte von Sportunterricht zu erweitern und Sport und Bewegung als einen Ort mit multiplen Lernbereichen in Ergänzung zu seiner Wahrnehmung als eigenes Lernfeld anzuerkennen.