Dr Lois Ferguson & Dr Kate Russell
School of Education and Lifelong Learning, University of East Anglia
The current landscape in the world of sport is a complex one. Policy developments around fairness, safety and inclusion are constantly changing, in turn, affecting various sporting rules, processes, and practices. Most recently, we’ve seen this in relation to decisions to limit some in the transgender community from accessing sport and physical activity. In our own PE contexts, we often look to wider sports organisation to help us decide on our own curricula, policy and practice. But what happens when decisions in the sporting world no longer reflect the principles of inclusion, acceptance, community and empowerment? When sport is no longer ‘for everyone’ but informed by new criteria regarding the types of bodies that are allowed to participate?
Whilst it may be tricky to keep up with the ever-changing policy landscape in sport, there are still things that we can do in our own school contexts to consider, reflect and act on to positively support young people’s participation in PE.
This resource provides a range of reflective prompts which act as a starting point for reflection, discussion and social change in the PE domain in relation to gender diversity. You might like to take some time to consider each question for yourself, or you could work through this resource with your team to help stimulate conversation. Use the action plan on the second page of the resource to start thinking through possible steps you could take toward more inclusive practice.
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