ABSTRACT
Introduction Throughout their history, physical education and sport in Australian private schools have been constructed as a means of producing prosperous ‘young men’ and healthy ‘young women’. For example, in the late 1800s, sport in private boys’ schools was defined as a process for developing ‘the character and values of those who were seen as the future civic leaders’ (Jenkins and Sherington 1995: 1). In contrast, the practice of callisthenics and games in private girls’ schools was believed to produce healthy and gracious young women fit for motherhood and their lives as wives (Kirk 1998). In these contexts, both gender and social class discourses deeply shaped physical education’s and sports’ aims and practices on an international scale following imperialist expansion. Thus, while this chapter draws on two Australian schools, the young people’s stories may resonate in countries whose education systems reflect similar Euro-centric discourses.
