Secondary Physical Educators and Sport Content: A Love Affair

Abstract

Despite the expansion and diversification of contemporary physical activity culture, curricula of many secondary physical education programs remain narrowly comprised of sport content. Given the personal and contextual nature of teaching and the immense amount of control teachers exercise over their programs, we examined how a group of 15 secondary physical educators selected content. Using Interpretive methodology we spent two school years working with the teachers. The main finding of this study revealed that the deeply embodied biographically based emotional connections these teachers had with sports played a powerful role in how they selected content. In particular, we found that the teachers’ discussion of their emotional bonds with sports were very akin to how one might explain a love affair. Sternberg’s (1986) Triangular Theory of Love and other literature are used to explain what this love affair may mean for all stakeholders concerned with curricula in secondary physical education.