Physical education, restoration and the politics of sport

Abstract

This discussion draws on data from research that is investigating the impact of the 1988 Education Reform Act on the provision of sport and physical education in schools in Britain. The analysis explores the ways in which the political Right in the United Kingdom has attempted to both regulate and control the ‘re‐making’ of the National Curriculum and embed the principles and ideals of ‘cultural restoration’ in the curriculum of physical education in state schools in England and Wales. Specifically, the paper highlights the nature and significance of discursive strategies and the manipulation of institutional structures in the struggles to define what is to count as the ‘official pedagogic discourse’ of physical education in state schools. Drawing on the work of Bernstein (1990) the discussion points to the subtle way in which the consciousness of teachers and pupils may, in the future, be framed by the texts of the National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE). © 1995 Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.