Physical education, sporting excellence and educational excellence

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between excellence in the context of physical education (and the National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE) in England, in particular) and excellence in sport. The ways in which progression and excellence are defined in the ‘official texts’ of the NCPE are examined. It is argued that discourses of performance in sport strongly ‘frame’ these definitions, while the notion of educational excellence remains apparently underdeveloped in the context of physical education. The processes of policy development, the structure of curricula and the histories (personal and collective) of the subject and profession are identified as critical influences (and origins of strong discursive frames) that collectively reinforce a direct association between excellence in physical education and excellence in sport. Parallel texts, associated with another subject (music), are examined to highlight possibilities for the development of alternative understandings and definitions of achievement and excellence in physical education, informed by and privileging educational discourses.