“Strike While the Iron is Hot”: the duty of physical education to capitalise on its' compulsory position with a holistic curriculum underpinned by physical literacy

Abstract

This paper explores the philosophical controversies surrounding Physical Education within a curriculum shackled to a dualist perspective on what is educationally valuable. Adopting a monist outlook on human embodiment, the authors encourage educationalists to reconsider the currently lopsided view of educational priorities and to broaden the vision on human intelligence. The recent political impetus surrounding Physical Education must be exploited. Those within the profession have a duty to capitalise on this and strike while the iron is hot. By offering a vision of school PE which recaptures a holistic focus, Physical Literacy might enable PE to reassert itself and be celebrated in its own right.