Education, Physical Education and Physical Activity Promotion

This chapter examines: (i) the policy rationale for viewing education and schools as an appropriate setting for PA promotion; (ii) the apparent role PE is expected to have in fostering lifelong participation in PA and sport; and (iii) the limits of education in promoting PA given the significance of wider social inequalities in families and the wider societies of which they are a part. It is suggested that while engaging in PE may help promote PA among young people in schools, and may strengthen their sporting predispositions and biographies, whether the content, organization and delivery of curricula promotes PA often depends on the predispositions, habits and experiences that are acquired and reproduced outside of education in childhood and family contexts characterized by varying degrees of social inequality.