ABSTRACT
This chapter explores issues surrounding practice, pedagogy, and policy relating to touch in physical education teaching and sport coaching in Australia. It is a contribution to the open discussion of touch inspired by the work of Heather Piper and her colleagues in general and the publication of a special edition of the journal Sport, Education and Society (Piper et al. 2013a) in particular. It reflects the view that discussions about touch must acknowledge contextual complexity and nuance, at a time when ‘common sense is itself a problematic and disputed idea’ (Piper et al. 2013b: p. 578). Given Australia’s cultural diversity, it is important that any discussion of touch in teaching and coaching is sensitive to this reality (Santoro et al. 2011).
