Background On a normative level as a subject physical education and health (PEH) seems to adjust rapidly to changes in society, whereas on the practical level it seems receptive to limiting factors like time, facilities and dominating inherited practices. How can the structuring components and processes relating to the shaping, transformation and transmission of curricula be understood? What choices and determinants of options do teachers have and use, and how are students involved in the framing of PEH?
Purpose and methods The purpose of the article has been to investigate the process between the transmission of curriculum and the realisation of content as viewed by teachers and students of PEH in secondary schools in Sweden, and how this can be understood with the help of Bernstein’s concepts of classification and frames together with Linde’s work in defining the arenas of formulation, transformation and realisation. The empirical material consists of quantitative data from questionnaires administered to teachers (n=61) and students (n=380, aged 15–16 years) within a national multi-disciplinary project entitled School-Sport-Health (SIH).
Results From the formulation arena of a broad given content the content given seems to become narrowed in the process of transformation, transmitting and realisation of content. Limiting factors as time and facilities are not strongly influencing the content provided. Lack of perceived subject matter knowledge is not mentioned at all as limiting the teaching objectives. When organising and conducting lessons, teachers mostly address the entire group of students and seldom give instruction in smaller groups. The majority of students answer that they can influence the subject content but in relation to the empirical material it remains unclear in what way students influence the educational practice besides attitudes and earlier attained skills. Just over half the students responding to the questionnaire expressed doubt about whether the teacher was aware of their previous experiences/knowledge. Students active in sports clubs expressed more satisfaction and higher levels of influence and perceived outcome than those inactive. When focusing on students’ choices of upper secondary programmes (study-orientated or vocational), in relation to how the subject is perceived, study-orientated students express lack of feedback and learning outcomes.
Conclusions By using Bernstein’s principles of classification and framing for understanding the results of the study, PEH in secondary schools in Sweden emerges as a weak subject, where the framing of subject is not strongly bound to limiting factors as time and facilities. It seems to be more influenced by the boundaries set by other agencies and the process of transforming and transmitting of legitimate knowledge by teachers. In some respects students active in organised sport seem to act as a steering group in terms of how PEH teaching is addressed.
2008. no 4, p. 345-364