Transformative Learning and Teaching in Physical Education: Physical Education Teachers as Agents of Policy and Curriculum Change

Over the last decade, governments across the world have given precedence to education using policy levers to signal their commitment to improving education. As with many countries, curriculum policy within the UK has undergone a period of substantial change in an attempt to modernise education provision and raise standards. Educational change however, remains a significantly challenging area for policymakers and practitioners, with educational policies being the focus of considerable controversy and public contestation. Part of the problem is thought to derive from an insufficient understanding of the complexity of the policy enactment processes, or the need for schools and teachers to respond to policy demands and expectations. One way of analysing how teachers engage with these reforms is through the lens of teacher agency, as this provides insight into how teachers relate to policy (Tao & Gao, 2017). Research in teacher agency is important because teachers may use their agency to support new policy, develop a critical stance or oppose educational change altogether.
This presentation aims to contribute to the understanding of the factors that enable or constrain PE teachers to act as agents of change during large-scale educational reform. The findings demonstrate the practical manifestations of a theoretically complex concept of collective context-bound agency that is exercised in the relational context of schools and through policy enactment. The presentation concludes by suggesting PE teachers, as agents of change, make a valuable contribution to the curriculum reform process and are strategic in preserving, protecting and safe guarding certain conceptions about what it means to be physically educated. However, without an understanding of how context-bound agency is constructed and exercised, contemporary policy initiatives are likely to fall short of transformational change.