ABSTRACT

The three chapters in Part I – ‘What is physical education?,’ ‘What is the education in physical education?’ and ‘What is physical literacy and how does it impact on physical education?’ – challenge you to reflect in depth on the nature and purpose of physical education. Chapter 1 raises questions about the way the history of physical education has shaped current practice. Chapter 2 involves you in a critical examination of the role of physical education in education as a whole, while Chapter 3 asks you to consider the impact of new thinking in relation to the justification of, and practices in, our subject. Chapter 1, ‘What is physical education?’ is designed to set the scene for the debates in this book. It opens by debating the key concepts that are often confused with physical education: recreation and sport. Having made the distinctions between these three clear, the chapter moves on to discuss, briefly, the way physical education has changed throughout recent times in England and the way the subject has had to respond to the culture of the day and the prevailing priorities in education. A significant aspect of our history relates to the introduction of the National Curriculum for Physical Education in 1992, the first statutory curriculum since 1933. Finally the chapter will consider the current nature of physical education in school today. The chapter is presented as a dialogue as an example of the way a debate could be conducted. Chapter 2, ‘What is the education in physical education?’ considers a long standing articulation of the value of physical education as part of education. The seminal work of Arnold (1979) is used as an example of this articulation. Arnold’s three claims that the subject can educate about movement, through movement and in movement are explained and then subjected to critical evaluation. Building from a monist philosophical position, Arnold’s claims are reexamined and re-presented in a form that underlines the unique contribution of physical education to education. The chapter provides an example of the way that a position statement or argument can be analysed, subjected to critique and reconsidered from a different perspective. You are advised both to consider how this process has been conducted and to form an opinion as to whether the counter arguments are valid and acceptable.