Developing children: developmental discourses underpinning physical education at three Scottish preschool settings

Abstract

This paper reports on one aspect of a study that investigated the place and meaning of 'physical education' to practitioners and children at three preschool settings in Scotland. We employed a poststructural type of discourse analysis to examine the developmental discourses the 14 participating practitioners drew on when talking about 'physical education' at preschools, during semi-structured interviews. Three main discourses around the notion of developmentalism were identified during analysis of the adults' interview data: (1) preschool children learn and develop through play; (2) preschool children should have choices and freedom; and (3) sometimes more structured activities are needed. The practitioners were heavily invested in developmental 'truths' about how preschool children learn and develop. They were in agreement that play is a vital element of preschool education, and that, consequently, children should be provided with opportunities for exploration and making choices. However, they also talked about sometimes 'needing' to restrict children's freedom and provide more adult-led activities. Our findings illustrate the strength of developmental discourses at the three settings. We suggest that preschool practitioners, as well as policy-makers and researchers, should critically reflect on the effects of taken-forgranted developmental discourses, and move beyond thinking in terms of binaries such as 'physical education versus play' or 'structure versus freedom'.

What is PE and who should teach it? Undergraduate PE students’ views and experiences of the outsourcing of PE in the UK

“…how the participants justified their views), and looked for gaps, resistances and counter-discourses, in order to determine the effects of the discourses (Carabine, 2001). Following the approach of McEvilly et al (2017) and Tynan and McEvilly (2017), I probed around the following analytical questions: what discourses related to PE are circulating? What 'truths' and meanings about PE do the participants construct and privilege?…”

An analysis of content development in physical education: Preschool teachers’ selection of instructional tasks

“…This is because research suggests that major changes take place in all domains of childhood development in the preschool years (Ross, 2013). The development of a child is a holistic process, in which motor, cognitive, and social skills are of particular importance as children learn through movement (McEvilly et al, 2017). PE in preschool settings is critical for providing children opportunities to develop their skills in all domains through participation in movement activities (Martínez-Bello et al, 2021; Ross, 2013).…”

“…PE in preschool settings is critical for providing children opportunities to develop their skills in all domains through participation in movement activities (Martínez-Bello et al, 2021; Ross, 2013). This can occur by developing skills, knowledge, and attitudes to promote active lifestyles (Kirk, 2005; McEvilly et al, 2017). Despite this importance, the low quality of PE in the preschool years has constantly been challenging across the world (McEvilly et al, 2013; Tsangaridou, 2017).…”

Beliefs of Slovenian early childhood educators regarding the implementation of physical education

“…There has been increasing worldwide attention on the educators’ quality and effectiveness in the professional literature (Han and Neuharth-Pritchett, 2010; Hmelak and Lepicnik Vodopivec, 2015; Kyriakides et al, 2017; Strong, 2011; Wen et al, 2011; Wilcox-Herzog, 2002), as well as on educators’ beliefs about PE in ECEC (Hastie et al, 2016; McEvilly et al, 2015; Stirrup, 2016; Tsangaridou and Genethliou, 2014). McEvilly et al (2017) suggested that it is important to continue investigating the discourses concerning PE in ECEC among practitioners, policy-makers and researchers.…”