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Abstract
This paper documents the activities of the Working Group formed in July 1990 by central Government in the UK to ‘advise’ on a National Curriculum Physical Education (NCPE) for state schools in England and Wales. The analysis concentrates on the interactions between group members and the Secretary of State for Education and the Minister for Sport, a process in which there was a struggle for control of what Bernstein refers to as the ‘pedagogic device’ (Bernstein 1990) ‐ the rules governing the form and content of the curriculum of PE and concomitantly how the body should be schooled. The data point to a complex dialectic between the discourses of cultural restoration and progressivism, and reveal how the latter was both circumscribed and ‘regulated’ by sometimes subtle, at other times quite brutal discursive strategies. Running through the discussion are issues relating to the nature of power, authority and control in the policy‐making process.
1. This paper draws on data from an Economic and Social Research project ROO 23 3629: The impact of the Education Reform Act on the Provision of Sport and PE in Schools. We are extremely grateful to the ESRC for their support. Our thanks also go both to the members of the NCPE working group for their time and support and the referees who provided such helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.
Notes
1. This paper draws on data from an Economic and Social Research project ROO 23 3629: The impact of the Education Reform Act on the Provision of Sport and PE in Schools. We are extremely grateful to the ESRC for their support. Our thanks also go both to the members of the NCPE working group for their time and support and the referees who provided such helpful comments on an earlier version of this paper.