Ref_2021_Alfrey_Lambert_Aldous_Martinnen_PE_P_David Aldous.pdf (342.42 kB)
The problematization of the (im)possible subject: an analysis of Health and Physical Education policy from Australia, USA and Wales
journal contribution
posted on 2022-02-01, 14:50 authored by Laura AlfreyLaura Alfrey, Karen LambertKaren Lambert, David Aldous, Risto MarttinenPolicy classifies and shapes people/subjects in particular kinds of ways. Focusing on the context of Health and Physical Education (HPE), this paper analyses policy documents from Australia, the United States of America (USA) and Wales. We pay particular attention to how learners are represented within and across the three policy documents, and we apply Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be?’ approach to guide the analysis. For us, problematization is a fruitful and positive process that enables educators to engage with a critical dialogue regarding the policies they are expected to enact. Our analysis highlighted that common across the policies were overlapping discourses of idealism, neoliberalism, healthism, and individualism, which serve to reinforce deficit language and a focus on what learners ‘lack’. The problem of ‘learner as lacking’ is represented within the policies via at least three subject positions: ‘the sedentary learner’, ‘the un-educated learner’ and ‘the naïve learner’. The findings suggest that the three policies were producing an ideal and perhaps impossible learner (subject) whilst at the same time representing the learner as a problem that the policy could ‘fix’. This paper is important because it: (i) demonstrates how certain discourses and voices are amplified and silenced within curriculum policy documents and policy work more broadly; (ii) makes educational and health politics visible; and (iii) creates space for the profession to develop greater critical consciousness related to policy. In terms of future directions, we urge curriculum policy writers and other stakeholders to carefully consider how learners are categorised, represented and governed in and through policy. If curriculum policies, by their very nature, need to produce problems – in this case, the (im)possible subject - we invite educators to engage in critical conversations regarding the policies they are expected to enact.
History
Published in
Sport, Education and SocietyPublisher
Taylor & FrancisVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Citation
Alfrey, L., Lambert, K., Aldous, D. and Marttinen, R. (2021) 'The problematization of the (im) possible subject: an analysis of Health and Physical Education policy from Australia, USA and Wales', Sport, Education and Society, pp.1-16. DOI: 10.1080/13573322.2021.2016682Print ISSN
1357-3322Electronic ISSN
1470-1243Cardiff Met Affiliation
- Cardiff School of Sport and Health Sciences
Cardiff Met Authors
David AldousCardiff Met Research Centre/Group
- Physical Health Education for Lifelong Learning
Copyright Holder
- © The Publisher
Language
- en