The joy of movement: the non-participant in physical education curriculum design

ABSTRACT

This article seeks to expose the unconscious exclusion of the joy of movement in PE curriculum, using the New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) as a case study. The article discusses the joy of movement, the social construction of movement pleasure and the role of movement pleasure in the physical education setting. An analogy of the ‘non-participant’ is used to encourage readers to think about the similarities of the entrenched biases that occur when we design curriculum, units of work, or lessons in PE. These biases often shape lessons that instinctively neglect the ‘non-participant’; and in a similar fashion shape lessons where ‘joy’ or ‘pleasure’ are simply addendums or bi-products. The article pays homage to the challenges the physical education profession has faced with regard to performativity; acknowledging that this has marginalised the inclusion of pleasure as an explicit outcome in curriculum. Nevertheless, the authors draw from literature to express the importance of movement pleasure in PE, and subsequently encourage those designing curriculum to think about joy more explicitly in achievement objectives or outcomes.

KEYWORDS:

• Joy of movement
• movement pleasure
• physical education
• social construction
• curriculum
• New Zealand curriculum

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Dr. Susannah Stevens is a lecturer in the school of Teacher Education at the University of Canterbury. She is also the President and Chair of the Board of Physical Education New Zealand (PENZ) and Co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Olympic Studies (NZCOS). Her research interests focus on physical education pedagogy and the joy of movement, where she amalgamates pedagogical, sociological and philosophical concepts.

Professor Ian Culpan is Co-director of the New Zealand Centre for Olympic Studies, and Board Director for The Foundation for Global Community Health. He has strong research interests in physical education teacher education (PETE), curriculum development, pedagogy, the socio-cultural aspects of sport and Olympic/Olympism education.

Notes

1 ‘Non-participant’ is a term often used in Aotearoa New Zealand Physical Education classes to name the students that are not actively involved in PE during that lesson. Reasons could include: Injury, impairment, no change of clothing for the activity, they broke rules or regulations, they were late, etc. The regulations are different for each school; but it is considered ‘poor practice’ if students are not involved in the lesson/achievement of the learning outcome in some way shape or form. Planning that is not inclusive, coupled with a lack of understanding of the antecedent often contribute to non-participants in PE.

2 For a full analysis, see Arnold (1979).