Surveillance as a technique of power in physical education

Abstract

This paper analyses surveillance as a technique of power in the culture of physical education, including its impact upon the health of teachers. Additionally, gendered aspects of surveillance are investigated because physical education is an important location in and through which bodies are inscribed with gendered identities. The embodied nature of physical educators' work renders the body as particularly significant in patterns of privilege and domination. The research was guided by Michel Foucault's work and poststructural feminist perspectives on the importance of power in social life. At nine schools across two international research sites, the functioning of surveillance was evidenced through the multi‐directional workings of power in top–down, lateral, and bottom–up configurations. Data indicated that surveillance occurred on, through and about bodies. It had a strong gender dimension as the male gaze inscribed both female teachers' and students' bodies with value and competence. In terms of teachers' health, as well as responses to surveillance on a physical and emotional level, the workings of power were also influential in shaping teachers' identities.

Notes

A multi‐purpose shelter is a common building used for physical education in the warmer areas of Australia. It is like a hall with no walls, so activities carried out there are very visible.

The American school that was studied was situated in the United States of America.

Perve is an Australian term for looking at a female as a sexual object.

Ninth graders are 14–15 years old. They have moved from the middle school level (grades 6–8) and are in their first year of high school.