Teacher-as-knowledge-broker in a futures-oriented health and physical education

Abstract

The concept of brokering is usually aligned with a business model of an intermediary helping the customer/client with their decisions/choices. As knowledge becomes increasingly accessible, and of varied origins, quality and veracity, the number of professionals engaged in knowledge brokering is simultaneously increasing. This paper considers if teachers should also regard themselves and become skilled as knowledge brokers. Set in the context of proliferating websites, blogs, products and services available for access/purchase by health and physical education (HPE) teachers and their students, questions about what is knowledge, where it is generated and how it is filtered and evaluated are raised as a prelude to suggesting that it may be time for HPE teachers to act as effective knowledge brokers consistent with the pressures and practices of neoliberalism.

Keywords:

• Knowledge broker
• Teachers' work
• Globalization
• Neoliberalism
• Health and physical education