Transformative Learning and Teaching in Physical Education explores how learning and teaching in physical education might be improved and how it might become a meaningful component of young people's lives. With its in-depth focus on physical education within contemporary schooling, the book presents a set of professional perspectives that are pivotal for realising high-quality learning and teaching for physical education.

With contributions from a range of international academics, chapters critically engage with vital issues within contemporary physical education. These include examples of complex learning principles in action, which are discussed as a method for bettering our understanding of various learning and teaching endeavours, and which often challenge hierarchical and behaviourist notions of learning that have long held a strong foothold in physical education. Authors also engage with social-ecological theories in order to help probe the complex circumstances and tensions which many teachers face in their everyday work environments, where they witness first-hand the contrast between discourses which espouse transformational change and the realities of their routine institutional arrangements.

This book enables readers to engage in a fuller way with transformative ideas and to consider their wider implications for contemporary physical education. Its set of professional perspectives will be of great interest to academics, policymakers, teacher educators and teachers in the fields of physical education, health and well-being. It will also be a useful resource for postgraduate students studying in these subject areas.

About the Author

Malcolm Thorburn is a lecturer in Education and Physical Education at the Moray House School of Education, University of Edinburgh. He has taught extensively in secondary schools and occupied a number of curriculum development roles at local authority and national level. He has also published widely on aims and values, policy and professionalism and planning and practice issues in education and physical education.

Reviews

'This text provides an innovative perspective on the role of transformative physical education teaching and learning within the complex school context. Transformation is a lofty goal that builds valued and sustainable pedagogical change on a solid foundation of theory, practice and context. These authors, working from a critical perspective, first discuss the issues and challenges, and then give meaningful presentations of rich and refreshing curricular alternatives and practices with the potential to transform physical education to positively affect learning.' - Catherine D. Ennis, Professor, Department of Kinesiology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, USA

'Nowadays schools are tough places. Much is expected of them by governments, broader society and parents. The authors of this collection believe that school PE, well taught by teachers employing critical pedagogies, can be a transformative learning experience for young people. Transformative Learning and Teaching in Physical Education is no toolkit-type book offering teachers advice on what to teach and how to teach. The collection engages the reader across four dimensions of society, theory, schools and practice. It offers an activist perspective that is research-based and practice informed. Careful not to overstate their case, contributors to this collection offer both hope and an aspiration for teachers and graduate students alike. This is a book that needs to be read by prospective teachers, teachers and teacher educators alike.' - Richard Tinning, Emeritus Professor, School of Human Movement & Nutrition Sciences, University of Queensland, Australia

Book Information
ISBN 9781138393523
Author Malcolm Thorburn
Format Paperback
Page Count 244
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 453g