Physical Education : Picking Up the Baton

Physical education is now a key component of the realisation of school aims.

This repositioning of the subject presents both opportunities and challenges, especially as views on the role of physical education are often polarised and contested with politicians, the media, parents, teachers and students having varied and contrasting views. The authors help readers comprehend, in greater detail, some of the complexities involved in understanding physical education in its modern context.

Accordingly, they review many of the contested arguments about the nature and purposes of physical education and the pedagogical and professional challenges which lie ahead.

In order that their arguments are suitably contextualised, the book discusses the associated issues of health and well-being and youth sport to ensure that readers can gain a rounded and more complete understanding of physical education. With its discussion of the pedagogical and professional challenges facing those engaged in teaching physical education this book will be of particular interest to students intending to become physical education teachers, at both primary and secondary levels, as well as to educators and administrators with an interest in the physical well-being and development of those attending schools.