ABSTRACT
Critics sometimes accuse sociology of being too abstract, too theoretical, too far removed from the interests of practitioners and irrelevant to the task of improving the quality of education in schools. This chapter suggests that these claims are largely unfounded; it emphasises the place and importance of theory in research and in the wider educational practices of Initial Teacher Education physical education (ITT PE) and teaching in schools. Looking back over the socio-cultural research of the last decade we suggest that sociological research in physical education has much to contribute to the understanding of teaching and learning in schools and ITT physical education, especially if it draws deeply on insights from social theory. The chapter draws attention to areas of achievement in research in physical education, concentrating on studies of teaching and teacher education, identity (social class, gender and ethnicity), grouping, pupil learning, curriculum organisation, policy and innovation, before going on to highlight the lacunae that remain and suggest some new directions for research on physical education. We conclude by stressing the fact that teachers face many challenges in a ‘post-modern’ age, not least the task of dealing with children and young people who may hold attitudes, expectations and relationships that are often markedly different from their own. Unless we have a thriving research community generating research that advances understandings of the social composition and consequences of pedagogy in physical education, teachers may be as unable to sustain their status as ‘professionals’ as they are of developing the kind of physical education that children and young people need.
