Pleasure and pain: Experiences of fitness testing

Abstract

The obesity crisis is a hegemonic discourse that has established common-sense understandings that young people are less active and fit than previous generations. Unquestioning acceptance of links between fitness and obesity in turn leads to unproblematic fitness testing of young people. Argument is made that fitness tests motivate and encourage participation in physical activity. Poststructural perspectives as informed by the work of Michel Foucault invite consideration of alternative possibilities around complex social phenomena such as the obesity crisis and pedagogical practices such as fitness testing. This research was informed by concerns about the unproblematic fitness testing of young people and calls for pedagogies of physical education that work to unsettle dominant discourses. The research investigates the experience of fitness testing from the perspective of university students pursuing health and physical education pathways through their degree programmes. Experiences of fitness testing were explored and the meanings made around participation, performances and results were interrogated.

Monitoring health, activity and fitness in physical education: its current and future state of health

“…Similar misunderstandings have been reported amongst current or prospective physical education teachers in the literature concerning the purpose of fitness testing (Keating, Silverman & Kulinna, 2002) and the key concepts and factors that impact on fitness and health (Wrench & Garrett, 2008).…”

“…Indeed, specific concerns regarding the misuse of and public display associated with this and other tests have been highlighted within 27 the literature (Pangrazi, 2006;Cale & Harris, 2009b;Wrench & Garrett, 2008) and similar concerns were also aired by some of the HoPEs interviewed in this study.…”

“…Interestingly, discursive practices of healthism were evident in the statements made by prospective physical education teachers in the study by Wrench and Garrett (2008) as well as in this study during the interviews. For example, comments by the HoPEs included references to encouraging children to take "individual responsibility" for their own actions or for monitoring their progress, and encouraging them to "make sensible decisions".…”

“…Wrench and Garrett (2008) investigated the experiences of fitness testing of health and physical education university students and found testing to evoke strong feelings and emotions that spanned from joy through to abhorrence, with students either strongly liking or disliking it. More specifically, and with respect to the 1 mile run, Hopple and Graham (1995) revealed that many children viewed the test as a painful, negative experience and generally showed little or no understanding of why they were being asked to complete it.…”

“…Certainly controversy has surrounded the fitness testing of young people for a number of years and various issues have been debated and concerns expressed over the use of fitness tests with this group (see more recently for example, Keating, 2003;Cale & Harris, 2005;2009b;Cale, Harris & Chen, 2007;Wrench & Garrett, 2008;Liu, 2008;Lloyd, Colley & Tremblay, 2010). According to Cale and Harris (2009b), issues debated most frequently relate to concerns with respect to the type, validity, and reliability of fitness tests and to the ethics and value or purpose of testing.…”