Inclusive Physical Education: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Ontario Secondary School Health and Physical Education Curriculum

Purpose: Education policies require inclusive practices across student learning environments internationally. In Canada, provinces and territories oversee their own curriculum development. This study presents a critical discourse analysis of how inclusive education is addressed within Ontario’s 2015 Health and Physical Education Curriculum, Grades 9–12. Method: Fairclough and Chouliaraki’s approach to critical discourse analysis, which encompasses structural, linguistic, and interdiscursive analysis, was used to show how language is interwoven within ideologies of physical education to represent inclusivity. Results: Three discourses were identified: (a) the discourse of equity and inclusion, (b) the discourse of opportunity, and (c) the discourse of positive outcomes. The curriculum reflects inclusivity through overt language and intention, holding the possibility for choice and opportunities beyond traditional notions of physical education. Discussion: Concerns included whether ideals presented in the curriculum reflect the realities of “discourse in action.” Transformative discourses within physical education should emerge from the student voice.

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With the Best of Intentions: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Physical Education Curriculum Materials

Journal of Teaching in Physical Education ◽

10.1123/jtpe.28.1.75 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 28 (1) ◽

pp. 75-89 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Tony Rossi ◽

Richard Tinning ◽

Louise McCuaig ◽

Karen Sirna ◽

Lisa Hunter

Keyword(s):

Social Justice ◽

Discourse Analysis ◽

Physical Education ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Social Action ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Education Curriculum ◽

Form Of Government ◽

Government Education ◽

Developed World

Much of physical education curriculum in the developed world and specifically in Australia tends to be guided in principle by syllabus documents that represent, in varying degrees, some form of government education priorities. Through the use of critical discourse analysis we analyze one such syllabus example (an official syllabus document of one of the Australian States) to explore the relationships between the emancipatory/social justice expectations presented in the rubric of and introduction to the official syllabus document, and the language details of learning outcomes that indicate how the expectations might be satisfied. Given the complexity and multilevel pathways of message systems/ideologies we question the efficacy of such documents oriented around social justice principles to genuinely deliver more radical agendas which promote social change and encourage a preparedness to engage in social action leading to a betterment of society.

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Brokering and bridging knowledge in health and physical education: a critical discourse analysis of one external provider’s curriculum

Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy ◽

10.1080/17408989.2017.1406465 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 23 (3) ◽

pp. 328-343 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Leigh Sperka ◽

Eimear Enright ◽

Louise McCuaig

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Physical Education ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Health And Physical Education

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Teachers’ democratic assignment: a critical discourse analysis of teacher education policies in Ireland and Sweden

Discourse Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education ◽

10.1080/01596306.2018.1449733 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 40 (6) ◽

pp. 832-846 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Geraldine Mooney Simmie ◽

Silvia Edling

Keyword(s):

Teacher Education ◽

Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Education Policies

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'This may not be represented in the curriculum documents’, an analysis of early childhood education curriculum from Ontario college programs.

10.32920/ryerson.14662077 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Daniel Gosson

Keyword(s):

Early Childhood ◽

Content Analysis ◽

Discourse Analysis ◽

Early Childhood Education ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Education Curriculum ◽

Theoretical Frameworks ◽

Childhood Education ◽

College Programs

This study examines the way in which Early Childhood Educators trained in Ontario college programs are prepared to work with queer populations upon entering the field. This study used post-structuralist, queer feminist, and critical disability theoretical frameworks while analysing the data. A content analysis, informed by critical discourse analysis, was used to assess program documents. Course descriptions from ECE program websites were collected, as well as a total of 33 course outlines from 11 different Ontario college ECE programs, and 9 textbooks identified through the course outlines. Queer content was found to be absent from all but 5 course outlines and 4 textbooks. The need to have queer issues included formally in Ontario ECE curriculum, the othering of queer populations, and the erasure of queer identities are discussed. Key

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Competing and Contested Discourses of Citizenship and Civic Praxis

Education Policy Analysis Archives ◽

10.14507/epaa.25.2730 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 25 ◽

pp. 28

Author(s):

Jill Koyama

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Civic Engagement ◽

Education Policy ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Network Theory ◽

Actor Network Theory ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Education Curriculum ◽

Civics Education ◽

Actor Network

In this paper, I utilize complementary features of critical discourse analysis (CDA) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to trace and investigate issues of power, materiality, and reproduction embedded within notions of citizenship and civic engagement. I interrogate the often narrow and conservative political and public discourses in Arizona, as well as the xenophobic-driven civics education policy. To these, I juxtapose the enactment of citizenship by youth who use, produce, and share language materials and counter authoritative citizenship and civic discourses, especially, but not exclusively, in online contexts. I explore the questions: In what ways are discourses of civic engagement and citizenship assembled, interpreted, understood, enacted, and contested in Arizona? What are the relationships between the civics education policy, discursive enactments of citizenship, and the youth of Mexican descent’s online civic practices? I draw on a mixture of textual (language materials) and discursive (events, acts, and practices) data collected in Arizona to argue that youth are doing critical, yet unrecognized and undervalued, forms of civic engagement online, which could be incorporated in the formal civics education curriculum.

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Policy Discourse on Marginalised Youth in Albania: The Constraints of the ‘Normalisation’ and ‘Integration’ Policy Approaches for Inclusive Education

European Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies ◽

10.26417/ejms.v4i4.p85-87 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 4 (4) ◽

pp. 85

Author(s):

Blerjana Bino

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Critical Discourse Analysis ◽

Inclusive Education ◽

Policy Development ◽

Social Deprivation ◽

Critical Discourse ◽

Policy Discourse ◽

Policy Framework ◽

Integration Policy ◽

Policy Documents

The paper addresses the complex phenomenon of marginalised youth and particularly children in street situation in the Albanian contemporary society. Through a qualitative methodology of critical discourse analysis, the paper investigates the most relevant policy documents on inclusive education for marginalised youth in Albania. The paper is interested in exploring the conceptualisation of marginalised youth, specifically children in street situation, as embedded in policy documents, action plans and intervention programmes for inclusive education. The intention here is to discover the explicit and implicit themes of the policy discourse on marginalised youth in Albania and the how it impacts the approaches adopted by the government to address the phenomenon. The critical discourse analysis on policy framework shows that the discourse on marginalised youth in the public sphere (re)produces and reinforces already existing aspects of social deprivation, marginalization and discrimination. The research shows that there are limited efforts to elaborate the concepts of ‘marginalised youth’ and ‘children in street situation’ and that there is confusion in policy regarding the use of the terms. In addition, children in street situation are seen either as victims of socio-economic hardship and endangered by their presence in the spaces of the ‘street’ or as a possible threat to the rest of the society, i.e. the street criminalises children. The research shows two main policy approaches: (i) correctional or repressive-oriented policy approach that conceives ‘street children’ as a danger to public order whose features differentiate from mainstream childhood and as such invites intervention programmes that tend to ‘normalise’ children; (ii) protective or rehabilitative policy approaches, i.e. emphasising children needs and aiming at protecting and re-integrating them in family and mainstream society. The paper takes a critical stance on the current policy discourse and the consequent policy approaches of ‘normalisation’ and ‘integration’ and argues for a reconceptualization of children in street situation as social actors based on the notion of childhood as socially constructed. It is thus necessary to link research on the socialisation processes, identity construction and resilience of marginalised youth in the spaces of the street based on their dynamic lifestyles and perspectives with policy development.

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