Challenging gender relations in PE through cooperative learning and critical reflection

ABSTRACT

Research continues to highlight how gender is reproduced through pedagogical practice in Physical Education (PE), but there has been much less focus on how it might be challenged. This paper reports on an intervention that used cooperative learning and critical reflection to challenge gender relations in PE, using football, in a school in Valencia, Spain. The intervention was specifically constructed as a form of critical pedagogy to create an inclusive learning environment, a safe space talk about sexism, and help students question and move beyond traditional notions of gendered embodiment. The paper responds to the call for research on the use of models based pedagogy for challenging sexism in PE.

Through a critical ethnography, research findings showed how the explicit inclusion of critical pretexts engaging students in reflecting on gender was important to the success of the intervention, particularly the provision of a space for girls to reflect on their experiences of football and sexism in PE, and for boys to listen and hear this. The change to cooperative learning led to a shift in the class climate between students, with most of the girls reporting feeling more valued and included. The improved class climate resulted in better engagement in the classes from students. While some of the boys exhibited more positive attitudes towards girls and their football abilities, some of the more able boys were critical of the approach for its relative lack of engagement with the development of football, beyond skills and techniques. These findings point to both the possibilities and ongoing work necessary to challenge gender relations through a critical pedagogy in PE.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical education
• gender
• critical pedagogy
• cooperative learning
• football

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Nuria Sánchez-Hernández http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8629-1360

Daniel Martos-García http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3283-7502

Susanna Soler http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5556-1871

Anne Flintoff http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4384-2000