Gender And Physical Education

The book challenges our understandings of gender, equity and identity in PE, establishing a conceptual and historical foundation for the issue, as well as presenting a wealth of original research material.

In this powerfully argued and progressive study, Kimberly Oliver and David Kirk call for a radical reconstruction of the teaching of physical education for girls. Despite forty years of theorization and practical intervention, girls are still disengaging from physical education, dropping out of physical activity, and suffering negative consequences in terms of their health and well-being as a result. This book challenges the conventional narrative that girls are somehow to blame for this disengagement, and instead identifies important new ways of working with girls, developing a new pedagogical model for ‘girl-friendly’ physical education. The book locates our understanding of the experiences of girls in physical education in the broader context of young people’s multifaceted engagements with popular physical culture. Adopting an activist perspective, it outlines a programme of action informed by principled pragmatism and based on four critical elements: student-centred pedagogy; critical study of embodiment; inquiry-based physical education centred-in-action, and listening and responding to girls over time. It explores the implications of this new thinking for teaching, research, PETE and policy, and outlines a future agenda for work in this area. Offering a profound theoretical critique of contemporary research and practice, as well as a new programme of action, Girls, Gender and Physical Education is essential reading for all researchers, advanced students and practitioners with an interest in the issues of gender, equity and inclusion in physical education.

Opening with an account of feminist theoretical perspectives and applying this work to girls' physical education, this text traces the foundations and traditions of girls' PE, identifying ideologies of physical ability/capacity, motherhood/domesticity, and sexuality that inform PE today.

The book challenges our understandings of gender, equity and identity in PE, establishing a conceptual and historical foundation for the issue, as well as presenting a wealth of original research material.

The Female Tradition in Physical Education re-examines a key question in the history of modern education: why did the remarkably successful leaders of female physical education, who pioneered the development of the subject in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, lose control in the years following the Second World War? Despite the later resurgence of second wave feminism they never regained a voice, with the result that male leadership was able to shift the curriculum in ways that neglected the needs and interests of girls and young women. Drawing on new sources and a range of historiographical approaches, and touching on related fields such as therapeutic exercise and dance, the book examines the development of physical education for girls in a number of countries to offer an alternative explanation to the dominant narrative of the ‘demise’ of the female tradition. Providing an important contextualization for the state of contemporary female physical education, this is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the development of sport and physical education, women’s and gender history, and physical culture more generally.

In this book, first published in 1993, John Evans presents a guideline for challenging sexism, racism and elitism in programmes of physical education. Physical education in relation to social class, gender, race and disability is also discussed. The results arising show problems in the teaching of physical education, and examines the importance of physical education in the development of the child in today's educational system. It is the intention of the contributors to help practitioners clarify their thinking on concepts and issues involved in effecting equal opportunities in physical education. In turn, it is hoped that this will lead to better formation of physical education programmes which demonstrate both equality and equity. This title will be of interest not only to teachers but to students of sociology and education.

Volume 47 of Advances in Child Development and Behavior includes chapters that highlight some the most recent research in the area of gender in educational, contexts and outcomes. A wide array of topics are discussed in detail, including sexism, race and gender issues, sexual orientation, single-sex education, and physical education. Each chapter provides in-depth discussions, and this volume serves as an invaluable resource for developmental or educational psychology researchers, scholars, and students. Chapters that highlight some of the most recent research in the area. A wide array of topics are discussed in detail