Educating bodies to be good citizens

Physical education exemplifies state-instituted practices designed to develop 'good citizens', being obedient and efficient. In order to achieve this, a network of expertise and skills has emerged to regulate the discipline of physical education, drawing on intercalated discourses of health, morality, sport and physical activity. While the politics of physical education, in the shape of the school curriculum, espouse equality of citizens, the practices, through teachers and students, incorporate forms of differentiated embodied citizenship that privilege and reward hegemonic characteristics. By using a cross-cultural framework, the disconnects are highlighted between educational policies articulated through curriculum and the practices of teachers and students as they engage with the discourses around sport and physical education.

Autorentext

BA Hons (Wol), PhD (Wol), MBA (Melb). After 10 years in the university sector as both student and staffer, I moved to public administration and am now working for the Australian Government to develop and manage policies and programs to fund higher education. I'm an avid reader of all things related to education.