To Örebro University

oru.seÖrebro University Publications
Change search
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf
Transactions in primary physical education in the UK: a smorgasbord of looks-like-sport
Department of Sport and Physical Activity, University of Wolverhampton, Walsall, United Kingdom.
Örebro University, School of Health and Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden. (SMED)ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8748-8843
2016 (English)In: Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, ISSN 1740-8989, E-ISSN 1742-5786, Vol. 21, no 2, p. 137-152Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

Background: Crum proposes the term ‘movement culture’ as a means to best understand the relationships between PE and wider movement practices. Learning within movement culture is practical and embodied, and integral to the cultural and institutional contexts within which PE is situated. 

Purpose: Using visual data gathered from PE lessons within a UK primary school this paper aims to identify movement cultures across the observed PE lessons, and understand how these movement cultures are shaped and maintained by analysing how teachers and pupils' actions-in-on-going-events make the movement cultures something ‘in-common’. 

Participants, research design and data collection: A mixture of Year 5 and 6 PE lessons were video recorded within a primary school in the West Midlands. Careful attention was paid to the ethical considerations involved in the collection and storage of the data. 

Data analysis: By dissolving the dualism between an individual and their environment, Dewey and Bentley's (1949/1991) transactional theory of learning supports an analysis of action in context. Application of this theory enables the researcher to explore actions-in-on-going activities and understand how this action shapes the movement culture within which it occurs. In this process we did not use theory to deduce the participants' intensions or potential changes in their cognitive structures; rather it was the functions' actions constituted in the observed situation, which lead the analysis. 

Findings: The existence of a multi-activity idea of sampling different sports within this study of primary PE amounted to eating from a smorgasbord where the flavours of the dishes initially looked different, but actually tasted the same. Each dish was differentiated by the use of contrasting equipment, physical locations and named activities. In reality what was realised was a diluted, repetitive and overriding flavour of looks-like-sport. Pupils were tasked with actions which functioned to produce a stage managed show of controlled activity. This was supplemented by their compliance to strict behaviour codes and by attempting to make highly cooperative tasks and games work. This was aided by the adoption and acceptance of different roles. Succeeding within this movement culture demanded an implicit understanding of the need to coordinate actions with others cooperatively. 

Conclusions: The standout flavour within this smorgasbord involved gymnastics, where the removal of competition and provision of space for pupils to re-actualise their knowledge, created an interesting blend of pupil engagement, sustained physical activity, creativity, inclusion and cooperation. These interesting flavours may have been curtailed by a need to replicate movements acceptable to doing gymnastics-for-real and suggests that other forms of looks-like-sport may have the potential to elicit similar action. Continued investigation of the directions of actions-in-context-in-PE-settings would aid our understanding of the creation, nature and reproduction of learning experiences within this looks-like-sport movement culture. More specifically, analysis of the educational content and pedagogy of the recorded PE lessons within this school would support our understanding of how teachers and pupils negotiate the complex mix of educational, sport and health discourses that constitute the looks-like-sport movement culture.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Routledge, 2016. Vol. 21, no 2, p. 137-152
Keywords [en]
movement culture, transaction, primary physical education
National Category
Educational Sciences
Research subject
Sports Science
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-35314DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2014.923991ISI: 000368714300002Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-84955407818OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-35314DiVA, id: diva2:723441
Available from: 2014-06-10 Created: 2014-06-10 Last updated: 2017-12-05Bibliographically approved

Open Access in DiVA

No full text in DiVA

Other links

Publisher's full textScopus

Authority records

Quennerstedt, Mikael

Search in DiVA

By author/editor
Quennerstedt, Mikael
By organisation
School of Health and Medical Sciences, Örebro University, Sweden
In the same journal
Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy
Educational Sciences

Search outside of DiVA

GoogleGoogle Scholar

doi
urn-nbn

Altmetric score

doi
urn-nbn
Total: 969 hits
CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

Direct link
Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf