Locating criticality in policy: The ongoing struggle for a social justice agenda in school physical education

Abstract

There is a sense of unfulfilled promise as one reflects on the progress of the critical project in Physical Education (PE) at the turn of the second decade of the 21st century. Quality scholarship continues to emerge around critical pedagogy in PE, evidencing sustained commitment to its promise to provide learners with personal and intellectual resources needed in navigating productive healthy futures in an increasingly complex world. In this paper we discuss select examples of contemporary research to demonstrate ongoing struggles in practice-based contexts and revisit barriers that continue to restrict the translational aspirations of critical scholars. Focusing on PE as a cultural and curriculum practice in Australian schools, we give primacy to the ways in which policy directives might be better mobilised to enable the critical agenda.