Physical education teachers as agents of policy and curriculum change

This chapter examines the tensions, issues and challenges that physical education teachers' face when transforming their practice to enact new curricular policy in their school setting. It begins by considering the complexities of policy, i.e. policy and transformational change and the importance of teacher voice in the policy process. The chapter considers the significance of teacher agency within the contextual dimensions of the school as important elements that enable teachers to enact and sustain change. Throughout the chapter references to specific research studies in Scotland, UK and internationally are analysed in order to highlight some of the complexities of transformational change in educational reform. The chapter examines the involvement of key stakeholders in the policy design process and concludes with some thoughts and projections into future directions of policy in physical education. One way of understanding how teachers engage with and enact policy is to examine emerging research on agency, as this provides insight into how teachers relate to policy.