Let US tell YOU! South Asian, Muslim girls tell tales about physical education

Abstract

Background: Within physical education (PE) research in England, the focus on gender issues has predominantly been concerned with White, middle class, non-disabled girls' experiences, marginalizing girls falling outside these parameters.

Purpose: Drawing on ‘middle ground’ thinking, using Hill Collins' matrix of domination and intersectionality, this paper reports on part of a larger study exploring how South Asian, Muslim girls experience, give meaning to, and negotiate physical activity in their daily lives. Specifically, this paper focuses on what the girls have to say about school-based PE and how this relates to their involvement in physical activity away from school.

Research setting: The study is situated in one large, urban, co-educational, local authority school in Yorkshire, England. The school caters for 1850 11–18-year-old students; 95% of students are from minority ethnic communities; 76% classed as British Asian of Pakistani origin; 91% are Muslim; and 63% live in the top 10% most deprived neighborhoods in England.

Data generation: Data were generated in three phases over two years including (a) in-depth observations of all girls in PE lessons, (b) the creation of research artifacts with 23 girls within four focus groups and (c) in-depth individual and paired interviews with 14 girls.

Data analysis: Data analysis involved two levels. At the first level a ‘storyteller’ position was adopted. Here, each girl's multiple data sources were analyzed to craft a narrative for each of the 14 girls involved in all three phases of data generation. At the second level a ‘story analyst’ position was assumed. This involved analyzing all of the narratives in combination, following the constant comparison method to identify recurring themes.

Findings: In analyzing across the girls' narratives key issues emerge including: (1) the girls as active agents, (2) the importance of social relations in girls' enjoyment and involvement in PE and (3) the PE–physical activity nexus. In combination, these findings illustrate diversity within the group. In demonstrating differences a number of the girls reveal some similar kinds of experiences to those of White girls from previous studies. For other girls, their positioning at the intersections of gender and ethnicity reflects some qualitatively different kinds of experiences.

Conclusions: The findings challenge previous constructions of South Asian girls as different and ‘other’ from White girls. Moreover, they trouble stereotypes of these girls as passive, frail and oppressed. Many of the girls show themselves to be active agents in negotiating PE and physical activity opportunities. For some girls these negotiations had influenced after school provision. However, the school had not listened to girls' concerns regarding practices within the curriculum. Through collaboration, the school and its teachers could learn from the girls who repeatedly demonstrate their ability to be resourceful in negotiating challenges in their endeavors to be physically active. In valuing and acting upon their insights, South Asian, Muslim girls can become known for who they actually are, rather than who we think they should be.

Keywords:

• Muslim
• South Asian
• girls
• middle ground thinking
• physical education

Notes

1. Like Sayyid (2006), I recognize the terms South Asian and Asian are often used interchangeably in England whilst translating differently in the USA and Australia. In the English context, and in this study, the term South Asian is used to refer to peoples whose heritage lies in the Indian subcontinent.

2. Physical activity is used in the wider study to encapsulate curriculum PE, the school's extra curricular provision and physical activities undertaken away from school.

3. The Government's Physical Education and Sport Strategy for Young People aimed to offer all children at least five hours of sport per week by 2011, comprising of two hours within curriculum time and three hours beyond. Yearly evaluation reports by the Institute of Youth Sport and Taylor Nelson Sofres, a market research organization, monitored progress.

4. Woodstock Secondary is a pseudonym, as are the names of the girls, their friends, family and teachers.

5. Levels of family income are used to assess students' eligibility to receive ‘free school meals’, which are viewed as a rough marker of poverty.

6. The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills is the official body for inspecting schools.

7. Richardson (2000) uses this concept as it deconstructs a number of the assumptions associated with triangulation including that there are three sides, or angles, from which to approach the world and research; and that there is a valid truth that can be reached at a fixed point using three methods.

8. GCSEs are General Certificates of Secondary Education, usually taken at school-leaving age after two years of study, and take place in a number of subjects including physical education.