Open Collections

Reconsidering The Demise of the Female Tradition in Physical Education

Irving K. Barber Learning Centre; UBC School of Nursing Consortium for Historical Inquiry in Nursing and Health Care

Since at least the 1980s, much research, policy and practice in the field of physical education for girls has been trapped in a repeated lament that we have yet to find the solution to ‘the problem’ of girls’ lack of participation in physical education and consequent negative effects on their health and wellbeing. The narrative builds upon dominant progress and loss stories, which have cemented a stock account of the history of the female tradition in physical education in a fixed temporal entrapment. It describes how women in England led the field in establishing and maintaining the profession from the late 1800s only to lose their power and authority in the decades following WW2 to a burgeoning male physical education profession. This mid-20th century move from female to male dominance in physical education has been described as one of the most striking phenomena of recent educational history.

eng

Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library

10.14288/1.0357602

Education, Faculty of; Kinesiology, School of

Faculty; Researcher

DSpace