ABSTRACT
If I were to ask you to reflect upon some well-known storylines from physical education (PE) classes, you might well conjure up one of the following scenes: an image of a strict PE teacher, who seemingly wallows in his pupils’ miseries; a mortally embarrassed pupil struggling to jump over an oversized gymnastics horse in front of her cajoling peers; or a self-satisfied group of pupils skiving off from the running circuit in order to have a cigarette without getting caught. The reason why these images easily spring to mind is, in part, due to their status in popular culture. Books have been written, and films have been produced, which reconstruct these particular narratives and they have accordingly become a part of the public discourse about the subject of PE. Divorced from specific people or settings they represent stereotypical or mythical tales, and it is easy to dismiss them as harmless and entertaining. Yet, as this chapter will illustrate, such tales should not easily be dismissed, but rather embraced as a means with which to better understand the professional worlds we have chosen to inhabit. Indeed, when such stories reflect the lived worlds of named persons they can be anything but innocent, representing instead incidents of social injustice and inequity. An analysis of them can provide invaluable insights into the mechanisms of power within such settings. Research in PE, youth sport and health has on the whole ignored this useful tool for understanding social action for reasons which will be outlined below, but I will argue that such an approach can no longer be marginalized within the field when we live in a society permeated by narrative.
