ABSTRACT
There is as great a diversity in view and in practice within physical education (PE) on these matters as there is in education generally. The most important determinant of values presented to children in schools is the views held or practices adopted by staff in relation to a very wide range of educational questions which are logically prior to a consideration of which subjects are to be represented on the school curriculum. In PE everything depends on the the overall evaluative position(s) taken by individual teachers and the sehoul as a whole. The majority of PE teachers working in British schools have themselves been trained in single-sex institutions or departments, and in turn teach only boys or girls. The basic motivation seems to be a misplaced ambition for academic respectability and peer-group regard amongst some PE teachers, who wish to conform to a reputable view of what education is about.
