Global to local tensions in the production and enactment of Physical education curriculum policy reforms

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the findings of a study on the production and enactment of physical education (PE) curriculum policy reforms in an Australian context. Over a decade, significant senior school reforms in Western Australia (WA) interacted with the introduction of an Australian Curriculum that rendered curriculum development dynamic and complex. A ‘policy trajectory’ was used to frame data collection and analysis from which a series of tensions was identified as having impacted on curriculum policy enactment in schools. These tensions, arguably, contributed to a growing loss of equity, which may have longer-term implications for future PE curriculum policy development.

KEYWORDS:

• Physical education
• policy
• curriculum
• enactment
• equity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Barry Paveling was a Head of Health and Physical Education in a career spanning over 35 years working with a range of school communities across Western Australia. During this time, he has specialised in curriculum, teaching and learning, having presented at conferences, workshops and teacher development sessions in this field. He recently completed a Doctor of Education at The University of Western Australia.

Lesley Vidovich is a professor of education at the University of Western Australia. Her research interests centre on education policy within a wider context of globalisation and international policy flows, focusing within the specific domains of curriculum, quality, equity, and accountability. She has conducted research in the UK, Europe, Canada, Chile, South Africa and Asia, as well as Australia. Lesley is currently joint chief investigator on an Australian Research Council grant on global curriculum policy trends in higher education.

Grace Oakley is an associate professor and teacher at the Graduate School of Education at the University of Western Australia, where she also coordinates the MTeach course. Grace has a broad interest in pedagogy and curriculum, with a particular focus on literacies and technologies in education.

ORCID

Grace Oakley http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1177-1738