Shifting tides: New Zealand Surf Festival survey summary

This report provides a summary of data collected at the New Zealand Home Loans Surf Festival that took place from 18 April to 4 May 2014 in Taranaki, Aotearoa/New Zealand. New events were injected into previous program line-ups (eg Women’s and Men’s Pro Juniors) and the previous Association of Surfing Professional’s (ASP) event, the World Championship Tour (WCT), was replaced with the World Qualifying Series (WQS)

Navigating the muddy waters of the research into single sex class-rooms in co-educational middle years settings.

Establishing single sex classes within co-educational sites is an option that schools are again exploring. To date Australia has experienced three waves of interest in establishing single sex classes, the first focused on equitable education opportunities for girls, the second centered on boys' literacy and engagement and this current wave focuses on perceived difference between the sexes in co-educational classrooms. With the intersection of middle schooling movement, focusing on learner centered classrooms and current educational agendas aimed at improving student performance and measurable learning outcomes, it is understandable that schools are exploring such student grouping options. However, after thirty years of international research into the efficacy of single sex classes in co-educational settings, the results still remain unclear. This paper navigates the 'muddy waters' of this body of research and suggests a framework to help guide school communities through the decision-making process associated with considering single sex classes

Pulling the monstrosity of (hetro)normativity out of the closet: Teacher education as a problem and an answer

For the purposes of this chapter we suggest that (hetero )normativity¹ is a 'malaise' and a 'monstrous spectre, a menacing form of 'symbolic violence' in classrooms within universities, schools and early childhood centres. It is time to bring it out of the closet, not because it is hidden from view but because it is ubiquitous as a naturalised or taken-for-granted practice in the closets of our perceptions. As authors and activist teacher educators/academics/researchers working in a range of education settings, we are committed to changing the status quo by challenging this malaise and monstrosity. The question we face is: How might (hetero)normativity be exposed, challenged and addressed within initial teacher education (ITE) programmes? In this chapter we introduce and contextualise the issue of (hetero) normativity within our own ITE programmes, and identify some useful concepts. We provide a narrative that illustrates (hetero )normativity in education within Aotearoa/New Zealand. Writing in a manner so you, the reader, can 'perch on the periphery' and 'listen in' to the issues and dilemmas we are contending with in our work, we apply Bourdieu's theoretical framework to aid reflection. Our chapter concludes by offering some questions to consider how we, and you, might negotiate our situated practices to accost the spectre - that is, how we might expose and challenge heterosexuality and educate for positive change in relation to sexual diversity in schooling and teacher education

Response to letter ‘New Zealand’s shocking diabetes rates can be reduced—9 urgently needed actions’

We are writing in response to the letter published in the 12 August 2011 issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal by Signal et al: http://journal.nzma.org.nz/journal/124- 1340/482

"Is social inclusion through PE, sport and PA still a rhetoric?" evaluating the relationship between physical education, sport and social inclusion

This Special Issue is part of Educational Review’s Hall of Fame, comprising the journal’s most read and highly cited papers. As part of this I will be critiquing a milestone paper within the field(s) of Sport, PE and (I will extend to) PA by Professor Richard Bailey. The paper has been amongst the most-cited in the journal and I have personally cited the paper numerous times in my own work thus far. Upon its original publication (nearly 13 years ago), the article (managed to provide a very useful distinction between PE and sport (and PA), which is important given the constant slippage between the terms in many articles since. In this response article, I will try to provide a brief summary of the paper from Bailey, but at the same time examine closely the notion of social inclusion through sport and PE by summarising work that has subsequently been conducted. I will conclude by summarising that some 13 years later spurious claims about effective inclusive practices through sport abound, and we still lack clear evidence to support the rhetoric about the ways in which sport and PE can contribute to social inclusion

Evaluation of a surfing programme designed to increase personal well-being and connectedness to the natural environment among ‘at risk’ young people

Outdoor activities can be an important complement to classroom learning, especially for children/young people excluded, or at risk of exclusion, from mainstream schooling. The current research explored the impact of a 12-week surfing programme among such a group in the UK. Pre-post data on physiological health (heart rate (HR)/blood pressure), self-reported well-being (life and domain satisfaction), connectedness (e.g. to nature, school), environmental awareness (e.g. role of sand dunes) and teacher evaluations (e.g. behaviour) were collected. Results found significant drops in HR (suggesting improved fitness), increased satisfaction with appearance, more positive attitudes towards school and friendships, greater environmental awareness and more positive teacher evaluations, post-intervention. A lack of findings in other domains suggests these results were not due to participants simply conforming to demand characteristics. Overall, the results suggest that surfing interventions could have important benefits for vulnerable young people who struggle with mainstream schooling. The need for future research using control groups and longer term follow-up is discussed

Moving primary physical education forward:start at the beginning

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal Title on publication date, available online: doi 10.1080/03004279.2016.1155072This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Education 3-13: International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education on 07/03/2016, available online: DOI: 10.1080/03004279.2016.1155072This paper presents selected findings from a questionnaire completed by 509 primary school teachers in Scotland. Drawing on policy enactment theory, the paper focusses on teachers’ personal experiences of physical education and perceptions of the importance of physical education in their schools. More than half (56%) reported that physical education was either ‘very important’ or ‘important’, while almost 40% perceived it to be of ‘limited’ or ‘very limited importance’. ‘Staff’, ‘time’ and ‘subject status’ were the main themes they drew on to explain their responses. Our findings highlight the diverse nature of the physical education professional cultures in Scottish primary schools. From this, we propose that future initiatives to support change in primary physical education should, as a starting point, acknowledge these diverse professional cultures and move beyond the simplistic one-size-fits-all change projects that have been shown to have limited impact on practice.This research was conducted as part of the Scottish Primary Physical Education Project, funded by the Scottish Government

‘It has really amazed me what my body can now do’: boundary work and the construction of a body-positive dance community

Boundaries around normative embodiments in physical cultures can be exclusionary if one’s embodied identity does not ‘fit’. Normative boundaries are particularly marked in codified forms of dance such as ballet. Moves towards body positivity aim to challenge these normative boundaries by redefining what dancers’ bodies can look like and how they should move. This paper stems from an appreciative inquiry undertaken with one such project, a gender-neutral, LGBTQ-friendly adult ballet school in the UK; a subcultural context that marks itself as distinct from broader cultures of dance. Interviews with learners are analysed through a Bourdieuian lens to explore the construction and maintenance of a body-positive subculture. Findings suggest that boundaries of ability were crossed, with celebration of all bodies’ capabilities, and boundaries of normative gender expression were transformed through a commitment to gender-neutrality and LGBTQ-friendly behaviours. However, boundaries around technical and aesthetic norms, while shifted or challenged, ultimately remained in place

Primary physical education:Shifting perspectives to move forwards

Physical Education is widespread across the world yet despite its cultural variation it remains remarkably similar. The ability of the subject to replicate its practices makes it a potential site for exploration from a memetic perspective. The purpose of this paper is to examine documentary evidence such as research papers, policy documents and inspection reports and offer for consideration potential memes that are at work within the memeplex of UK primary school Physical Education. Four proposals are offered as potential memes; ‘sport as techniques’, ‘anyone can teach it’, ‘busy, happy and good’ and ‘nowhere important’. It is concluded that the current environment in primary schooling within the UK serves to strengthen the proposed four primary Physical Education memes by reaffirming current practices. Moving beyond these memes requires significant rethinking about what constitutes primary Physical Education

Book review: Sport, technology and the body: the nature of performance

This article reviews the book: “Sport, technology and the body: the nature of performance”, edited by T. Tara Magdalinski