Pedagogies implemented with young people with refugee backgrounds in physical education and sport: a critical review of the literature

ABSTRACT

The field of physical education (PE), sport, and forced migration studies has grown considerably in recent years. Although we have seen an increase in publications in the field, no reviews of pedagogies regarding people with refugee backgrounds in PE and sport have been published to date. The purpose of this review is to critically examine pedagogies implemented with young people with refugee backgrounds in PE and sport. Using Freirean critical pedagogy as an analytical lens, we identified two themes: (a) the need to overcome cultural deficit perspectives by engaging in dialogue with the young people and (b) the need to move from assimilationist to co-designed ways of working with the young people in PE and sport. We outline directions and critical challenges for future research on the relationship between young people with refugee backgrounds and pedagogies implemented in PE and sport.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport
• physical education
• refugees
• forced migration
• critical review
• Freire

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 There exists a close relationship between PE and sport, although they are not synonymous (Bailey, 2005). PE is commonly linked to the context of schooling, whereas sport, traditionally, is linked to institutionalised settings that consider elements of competition. The interconnectedness of the two fields exists in the shared concept of social inclusion through participation. This review includes critical analysis of publications that discuss pedagogies implemented with young people with refugee backgrounds in both PE and in sport. Therefore, ‘PE and sport’ as a holistic frame of reference that covers the field of PE and the field of sport inclusively is used in this paper.

2 Hylton describes ‘race logic’ as the ‘incontrovertible facts’ of white and non-white superiority (and inferiority) in certain sports, which lend themselves to patterns of biological reductionism and racial justifications for patterns of activity in PE and sport (Hylton, 2015).

3 Conscientização (in Portuguese) or critical consciousness focuses on achieving an in-depth understanding of the world, allowing for the perception and exposure of social and political contradictions (Freire, 1987). Critical consciousness also includes taking action against the oppressive elements in one's life that are illuminated by that understanding.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher Hudson

Christopher Hudson is an established educational leader and teacher from Melbourne, Australia. He is currently a Doctor of Education candidate at the University of Melbourne. Concurrent to the Doctorate, Christopher works within the Institute for Health and Sport at Victoria University as a Sessional Instructor.

Carla Luguetti

Carla Luguetti’s overarching research and teaching focus on topics of sport pedagogy and social justice. Collaboratively and in partnership with communities, Carla’s line of research aims at co-designing curriculum and/or programmes with diverse youth (from socially vulnerable backgrounds, CALD, and refugee-backgrounds).

Ramon Spaaij

Ramón Spaaij is a sociologist whose interests focus on questions of social cohesion, conflict, and social change. He has two established fields of research that address these questions: the sociology of sport and the sociology of terrorism. He has published widely on these topics in refereed journals, books, and book collections.