Delivering the Discourse—Urban Adolescents' Perceptions of Physical Education

abstract

This study investigates how National Curriculum policy for England and Wales has been translated into practice as perceived by the pupils who are its recipients. Results suggest that pupil entitlement as enshrined in the National Curriculum rationale is at best being provided at the level of access to activity and pupil experiences are differentiated sharply by activity, by gender and by school. The paper suggests that the physical education National Curriculum already advantages certain pupil groups rather than others, and that changes in the discourse of physical education, exemplified by the texts of the latest official publications, will, if translated into practice, militate further against access to a curriculum relevant to all pupils.