ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the few major tenets based on which physical education curricula have been conceptualized and operationalized. The goal is to orient the reader to the competing priorities as characterized in different conceptualizations. A brief but focused review of the history of physical education curriculum change presents the early frameworks from which modern physical education curricula were developed and institutionalized. It is followed by a critique of the contemporary curriculum conceptual frameworks evolved in recent 40 years and their competing priorities, especially between the sport-centered and health-first perspectives. The frameworks are analyzed in terms of the way they, collectively, transformed physical education in the late 20th century. The analysis of the priorities leads to critical concerns about the future directions of physical education with a focus on the issue of curriculum dis-alignment where K–12 physical education curricula are inconsistent with the science of kinesiology. The dis-alignment is elaborated as related to the potential damage to both K–12 physical education and the discipline through highlighting its meaning to K–12 student learning/development.
