This paper brings a speculative, sociological perspective to the nature of 'ability' in physical education (PE) and asks why this aspect of embodiment, with notable exceptions, has received so little critical attention in the professional discourse of PE and associated research in recent years. It is suggested that thinking about 'ability' has become a taken for granted absent presence in the discursive practices of PE in the UK that variously helps configure attitudes towards the body, a sense of status, value, distinction, inclusion/exclusion and embodied self. Drawing on ideas from the theoretical work of Bernstein and Bourdieu the paper raises a number of issues about the ways in which 'ability' is constructed within the disciplines that feed the various subcultures of the PE profession, influencing teaching in schools and teacher education. The paper suggests that unless greater attention is given to 'physical education', rather than the interests of sport and health, the profession is unlikely to make an impact either on the 'abilities' or other culturally informed differences that children and young people bring to schools.

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In recent years, teachers in the UK and elsewhere have been encouraged to include 'health aims' as part of the physical education curriculum. The widely reported worldwide 'rising tide of obesity' has been a major motivating concern. This article looks critically at 'obesity research', offers a way of reading it and suggests that many of its claims are at best over-exaggerated, at worst unfounded and, ironically, if translated uncritically in schools could damage the educational interests and health of children and young people. The article calls on those engaged in health and physical education to take a more cautious and critical attitude towards the obesity literature in the interests of preserving not only the educational aspirations of PE but also the health of young people.

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