An archaeological discourse analysis of physical education as challenging in South Korea primary schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT South Korean society tends to undervalue Physical Education (PE) and overemphasizes academic subjects such as Korean, English, mathematics and science. This study problematizes the challenges within PE in the South Korean primary school context, where teachers find it difficult to deliver quality PE. Data were collected from archives and interviews with 11 South Korean primary school teachers to identify the challenges of PE that they faced. An archaeological discourse analysis, based on a Foucauldian framework, was employed to trace how the discourse of PE as challenging arose. Findings highlight not only the dominant discursive constructions of the challenges facing primary school PE but also the possible historical conditions intricately connected with social structures and institutions, surrounding primary school PE and beyond the individual’s control, in and outside the South Korean school system. The findings were: (a) PE as lacking equipment and facilities and school principals holding the budget allocation authority (b) PE as inconsequential and PE with little or no role in students’ entry in university (c) PE as accident-prone and absence of legal safeguards and social support for teachers. This paper provides readers with a fresh analytical insight in the area of PE research.