The Case for a Body‐Focus in Education and Physical Education

Abstract

This paper draws upon social theory to consider whether a focus on pupils' embodiment in education, and in physical education, could enhance the status of physical education in schools. The traditional conceptualization of the body in education is outlined in terms of the privileging of theoretical knowledge at the expense of practical knowledge, and the role of schools in the social regulation and control of pupils' bodies. In such a model, physical education appears to be inextricably linked to the low status body, to practical work and to discipline functions. However, it can be argued that schools should also be concerned with the education of pupils' embodiment and that physical education has a central role to play. Numerous authors argue that in ‘high modernity’ the body is increasingly important to the development of self‐identity. Furthermore, ‘pupils' embodiment’ is a concept around which the disparate activities of the physical education curriculum could be organized and justified. It is concluded, therefore, that physical education could benefit from a new focus upon the body in education.