Teachers' talk about health, self and the student ‘body’

Abstract

Adrienne Rich's phrase ‘the personal is the political' is well-worn in feminist literature. In a context where health imperatives are deeply embedded in school cultures and programming, we suggest the phrase has renewed purchase. Drawing on the testimonies of three New Zealand teachers, we explore the ways in which personal health dispositions and practices contour what and how physical and health education is envisaged in diverse school contexts and who is regarded as particularly ‘at risk’ of poor health outcomes. Teachers' perceptions of their students' health needs, their understanding of the role of schools in ameliorating children's health problems and the pedagogical choices made are each, we suggest, intimately linked to their lived histories of ‘health’, their understandings of their own and others’ bodies and their personal convictions about what, for them, constitutes a ‘good’ and/or ‘healthy’ life. While the ubiquitous nature of health discourses, particularly those linked to obesity reduction, might at first blush, invoke notions of a shared agenda and a uniform commitment to improving children and young people's health, our analysis points to the diverse ways in which teachers constitute their role as health and physical educators, ‘care’ about students and teach health and physical education curricula.

Keywords:

• teaching
• discourse
• health education
• obesity
• primary school
• pedagogy