Philosophies, Ideologies and the Practice of Physical Education

Abstract

Reporting ongoing and developing research this paper examines what might loosely be called the ‘philosophies’ of physical education (PE) teachers from a sociological perspective. The paper is concerned, in part, with the relationship between, on the one hand, philosophies which have been articulated by academic philosophers seeking to define what they consider to be the ‘essential’ characteristics or nature of PE and, on the other hand, ideas about PE which are held by teachers who have the practical task of teaching PE within schools. Making use of autobiographical references the paper outlines two influential philosophical conceptions of PE before offering a brief outline of a figurational perspective on the sociology of knowledge. By exploring the social relationships in which PE teachers are involved the paper takes tentative steps towards a more adequate understanding of PE teachers' ‘philosophies’. The paper offers preliminary thoughts on what, it might be hypothesised, are likely to be some of the more salient influences on the development of teachers' ‘philosophies’ of PE, by relating the network of social relationships of which PE teachers are a part to their views on the nature and purposes of PE. In doing so, the paper concentrates on three areas: (i) teachers' biographies, including their own experiences of sport and PE as school pupils and as teachers‐in‐training, and the impact of these experiences on their sporting and teaching identities; (ii) the practical constraints of teaching PE within schools; and (iii) the professional marginality of PE and the ideologies associated with attempts at professionalisation. It is argued that if we wish to understand teacliers' ‘philosophies’ of PE, then we must study them not as abstract philosophical systems of ideas, but rather as practical, everyday ‘philosophies’ which provide practical guides to action as well as a justification for those actions.