This book is a core text for physical education courses. It deals with enduring themes and contemporary issues in primary and secondary physical education.

In Britain the physical education curriculum has been experiencing a period of unrest. For many teachers the practices of decades have become problematic features of their curriculum and teaching. This book, first published in 1986, explores the experiences of teachers and pupils in programmes of physical education from a sociological perspective. In explores a range of issues relating to the organisation and management of physical education departments, deviancy and dissent in sport, gender inequalities and the concepts of community education and leisure education. This title will be of interest to students of sociology and education.

Volume three of a bibliography documenting all that has been written in the English language on the history of sport and physical education in Britain. It lists all secondary source material including reference works, in a classified order to meet the needs of the sports historian.

The discipline area of physical education has historically struggled for legitimacy, sometimes being seen as a non-serious pursuit in educational terms compared to other subjects within the school curriculum. This book represents the first attempt in nearly thirty years to offer a coherent philosophical defence and conceptualisation of physical education and sport as subjects of educational value, and to provide a philosophically sound justification for their inclusion in the curriculum. The book argues that rather than relegating the body to “un-thinking” learning, a person’s essential being is not confined to their rationality but involves an embodied dimension. It traces the changing conceptions of the body, in philosophy and theology, that have influenced our understanding of physical education and sport, and investigates the important role that embodiment and movement play in learning about, through and in physical education. Physical education is defended as a vital and necessary part of education because the whole person goes to school, not just the mind, but the thinking, feeling and acting facets of a person. It is argued that physical education has the potential to provide a multitude of experiences and opportunities for students to become aware of their embodiment, explore alternative modes of awareness and to develop insights into and new modes of being not available elsewhere in the curriculum, and to influence moral character through the support of a moral community that is committed to that practice. Representing a sophisticated and spirited defence of the educational significance and philosophical value of physical education and sport, this book will be fascinating reading for any advanced student or researcher with an interest in physical education, the philosophy of sport or the philosophy of education.

The Curriculum is the focal point for the study of educational practice. It is the area in which individual, group and societal needs and interests meet and is consequently the source of much friction and contention. This book, first published in 1988, introduces students to some of the major points of debate; in particular, the role of curriculum-based study in the development of physical education and the credibility of the subject as an educational activity. David Kirk emphasises the beneficial effects of physical education and suggests ways in which instructive programmes can be created. A practical and interesting title, this reissue will be of particular value to students and teachers of sport science, and educational practitioners more generally.