Playing for position: education policy, Physical Education and nationalism in Wales

This paper explores the connections between Physical Education, nationalism and citizenship in England and Wales focusing upon how education legislation, in particular the National Curriculum (NC) and Local Management of Schools (LMS), are implicated in the cultural production of ideational differences between and amongst the peoples of England and Wales. As our previous research has centred heavily on the making and implementation of education policy and PE in England, we take this opportunity to adjust our gaze and focus squarely on issues of cultural production in Wales, particularly relationships between the construction of images of Welsh identity and education policy and practice relating to PE and sport in schools. The analysis highlights that tendencies towards a narrow, conservative, cultural restoration are as evident in Wales as they are in England and obstruct progression towards more innovative and progressive ideals.

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Notes on contributors

John Evans

John Evans is Professor of Physical Education in the Department of Physical Education, Sports Science and Recreation Management at Loughborough University. He is author of Teaching in Transition: The Challenge of Mixed Ability Grouping, editor of PE, Sport and Schooling: Studies in the Sociology of PE; Teachers, Teachers and Control in Physical Education; and Equality, Education and Physical Education (all published by Falmer Press), and he has published widely in the sociology of education and physical education. He is also co‐editor of the international journal Sport, Education and Society. His research interests centre on the study policy and equity issues in the secondary school curriculum. He is currently researching the relationships between PE and nationalism in England and Wales.

Brian Davies

Brian Davies is Professor of Education at University College Cardiff. He was formerly a Professor of Education at King's College London, and a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of London, Institute of Education and at Goldsmiths College, London. He has written widely on the sociology of education and is author of Education and Social Control (1986), editor of an issue of Educational Analysis which dealt with the state and schooling, and co‐editor with Paul Atkinson and Sara Delamont (1995) of Discourse and Reproduction: Essays in Honour of Basil Bernstein, Hampton Press. Di Bass is a Research and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Physical Education, Sports Science and Recreation Management, Loughborough University. She is currently researching the relationships between PE and the development of children's attitudes towards self and others.

Dawn Penney

Dawn Penney is a Research Fellow in the department of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland. Previously at Loughborough University she co‐directed research investigating the impact of the Education Reform Act 1988 on the provision of PE in state schools. She has published many articles on policy and the PE curriculum and is currently involved in a number of research projects investigating curriculum developments in health and PE.