Physical education cultures in Sweden: fitness, sports, dancing ... learning?

• Published in: Sport, education and society Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 573 - 587
• Main Authors: Larsson, Håkan, Karlefors, Inger
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Abingdon Routledge 04.07.2015; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Dance; Dance Education; Dancing; Educational Change; Educational Practices; Fitness; Foreign Countries; Learning; Learning Processes; Logical Thinking; Movement cultures; Movement Education; Physical Activities; Physical Education; Physical Education Teachers; Physical Fitness; Samhällsvetenskap/Humaniora; Secondary School Students; Secondary schools; Social Sciences/Humanities; Sports; Sweden; Teachers; Teaching; Teaching and learning; Teaching Methods; Team Sports; Training; Video Technology; Sweden
• ISSN: 1357-3322; 1470-1243; 1470-1243
• DOI: 10.1080/13573322.2014.979143

In a significant article from 1993, Crum describes the purpose of physical education (PE) as a 'planned introduction into movement culture'. In broad terms, this purpose is tantamount to the stated purpose of Swedish PE in national steering documents. Crum contends, however, that physical educators do not prioritise learning, which is largely due to the different 'movement cultures' that constitute the PE lessons. This article explores how practice unfolds in movement cultures that are included in Swedish PE and their implications for teaching and learning in the subject. Some 30 (indoor) PE lessons in eight secondary schools in four cities throughout Sweden were video recorded. At 'first glance' these lessons indicated the prevalence of four logics of practice: a physical training logic, a sports logic, a sport technique logic and a dance logic. However, further analysis revealed that the teachers' and students' actions were not entirely in line with a logic of practice of training the body, winning the game, learning sporting skills or learning to dance. Instead, the PE practice largely unfolded as a 'looks-like-practice', where the purpose of teaching was blurred, and where any 'planned introduction into movement culture' was difficult to identify. In the final section, the authors discuss how physical activity logics can be recontextualised in a PE setting in order to emphasise the educational contribution of PE.