ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overarching view of what physical education has been and what it has become. Many politicians in successive UK governments have made sweeping claims that physical education and school sport can entrench character-building qualities in young people, combat youth crime, and lead to success in school examinations. Physical education teachers might be accused of being stuck in reverse and going full circle back to the days when their predecessors taught physical education in exactly this way to separate groups of boys and girls, respectively. Houlihan observed that the political division between sport and physical education seemed to legitimise the marginalisation of physical education teachers in the curriculum design process. For Ken Green, physical education is about health awareness in terms of increasing levels of activity during the school day, and increasing pupil's adherence to sport and exercise in a manner that will lead to lifelong participation.
