A whitewashed curriculum? The construction of race in contemporary PE curriculum policy

Abstract

Analyses of curricula in a range of countries show how they tend to reinforce, rather than challenge, popular theories of racism. To date, we know little about the contribution of physical education (PE) curriculum policy to the overall policy landscape. This paper examines the construction of 'race' and racism in two national contexts (Norway and England) as a means of putting race and antiracism on the PE policy research agenda. It adopts a critical whiteness perspective to analyse how whiteness, as a system of privilege, contributes to the racialisation of valued knowledge in PE and asks, who potentially benefits and/or is marginalised within the learning spaces available in the texts? The discourse analysis reveals that three discursive techniques of whiteness combine to privilege 'white', Eurocentric knowledge content. Unmarked 'white' PE practices and students are constructed as universal, normative and contingent. As a result, non-white PE practices and students are positioned on the margins in contemporary policy texts. By revealing the racialization processes evident in the texts we aim to trouble the profession's taken-for-granted truths about 'race' in PE as integral to working towards the development of an antiracist subject.

‘I just treat them all the same, really’: teachers, whiteness and (anti) racism in physical education

“…of their professional obligation to address race, this was discharged within superficial, 'oneoff' sessions focused on the racialised other, rather than whiteness and racism. Similarly, our teachers' narratives around curriculum knowledge and their understandings of inclusive practice, cohere with the discursive techniques revealed in our more detailed examination of national curricula PE policy within the two countries (see Dowling and Flintoff, 2015).…”

“…Nevertheless the texts reveal it is particular kinds of the abilities and bodies that are valued and promoted, closely linked to ideas of national identity and taken-for-granted notions of 'our' shared physical culture. Elsewhere we have noted how curricula texts assume notions of 'our' shared physical culture, and that everyone will want to engage enthusiastically in our 'national' sports of football or skiing as a result (Dowling and Flintoff, 2015). Having pedagogical practices, and in so doing, reveal the workings of whiteness at work, as this dialogue between Norwegian teacher educators illustrate:…”

“…Teachers continue to hold essentialised and contradictory views of students' capabilities and bodies on the basis of their ethnicity (e.g., Azzarito, 2009;Fitzpatrick, 2013) and biological racism gets reproduced through 'official' knowledge in PE (Dowling & Flintoff, 2015;McDonald, 2013).…”

“…Gabriel (1998) argues that such invisibility is maintained through the discursive tools of naturalisation, ex-nomination, and universalisation. Elsewhere, we have found these tools useful in order to begin to examine how whiteness works within our own work within PE teacher education (PETE) and the PE curriculum (Dowling and Flintoff, 2015).…”

Adequacy Of The Basic Handball Techniques Training

“…2002: 5-6). Physical activity is an activity that can be measured and can be carried out by everyone examined by Leonardo (2013), Dowling & Flintoff (2015), Belran, et al (2016). According Sukadiyanto (2011: 1) states exercise is a process of change for the better, namely to improve the physical quality, functional abilities of the body, and the psychological quality of the trainee.…”