The (in)visibility of gender knowledge in the Physical Activity and Sport Science degree in Spain

ABSTRACT

This paper draws on research that aimed to explore the construction of gender relations in sport and physical education (PE) through a national study of Spanish university degree curricula. Spain is a useful case study through which to explore gender knowledge within sport and PE degrees, because, unlike many other countries, it has a common, national curriculum framework for its Physical Activity and Sport Science (PASS) degrees. In addition, it has recently passed a new law concerning the introduction of gender knowledge in higher education (HE). Drawing on Bernstein’s (1990) framework of the pedagogic device, this paper examines how this HE gender policy becomes recontextualised as universities and lecturers interpret and translate this into the pedagogical texts that make up the PASS curricula. Purposive sampling was used to select 16 of the 37 universities offering PASS degrees in 2012/2013. The research analysed 16 PASS documents at the degree level and 763 individual subject handbooks. Using discourse analysis, the results showed where and how gender knowledge was incorporated and the extent to which the topic was presented coherently throughout the documents. The analysis revealed five categories of the (in)visibility of gender knowledge within the universities’ instructional discourse. Gender knowledge is largely ignored in PASS curricular documentation, appearing, at best, in highly superficial ways. Despite a national policy requirement on universities to incorporate gender knowledge, this study shows how recontextualisation processes within specific universities’ pedagogic devices operate to marginalise such perspectives within PASS curricula. The research also revealed the significance of individual agents committed to gender equity being situated, and having influence, throughout the pedagogic device. The paper concludes that without a much wider, critical engagement in knowledge about gender equity, PASS degrees will continue to reproduce rather than disrupt the gender relations that have traditionally characterised the field.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender knowledge
• higher education curriculum
• physical education
• sport science
• pedagogic discourse

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCiD

Pedrona Serra http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9527-9961

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

Maria Prat http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3811-9205

María Teresa Vizcarra http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9369-9740

Beatriz Garay http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3396-2500

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

Notes

1. Those wishing to become a PE teacher in secondary school are required to undertake a further one year, masters course.

2. See David (2014) and Skelton, Francis, and Smulyan (2006) for good overviews of key debates and developments in gender and education; see Scraton (2013); Scraton and Flintoff (2013) for similar overviews in gender, PE and sport.

3. In Spain, the degree course document, or programme specification is called the ‘Memoria Oficial del Título’. By subject handbook, we are referring to the written document for particular modules, or courses within an overall degree programme, for example, physiology or sociology. All Spanish universities are required to publish their programme specification and individual subject handbooks on the internet. They also publish the names of the Commission, the group of staff responsible for drafting the programme specification.

4. Other subject fields have similar ‘White Books' to describe the broad characteristics of their curricular content.

5. All universities are identified by a capital letter to remain anonymous.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, convocatoria de ayudas de Proyectos de Investigación Fundamental no orientada’ [Grant number DEP2012-31275]; National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia (INEFC) [Grant number PINEFC-2012].