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Movimento, Porto Alegre, v. 25, e25067, 2019.
PEDAGOGY OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN URBAN
SCHOOLS: A CRITICAL REVIEW
PEDAGOGIA DA EDUCAÇÃO FÍSICA EM ESCOLAS URBANAS: UMA REVISÃO
CRÍTICA
PEDAGOGÍA DE LA EDUCACIÓN FÍSICA EN ESCUELAS URBANAS: UNA
REVISIÓN CRÍTICA
Sara Flory*
Licence
Creative Commom
Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to provide a critical review of the literature
related to pedagogy of physical education in urban schools using culturally sustaining
pedagogy as a lens. Data was collected via keyword searches, table of contents searches
in three U.S.-based journals, and additional references from retrieved articles. The sample
included 54 studies which were analyzed in depth and coded for various factors. The
findings provide descriptive statistics about the literature, as well as three major themes
highlighting cultural relevance in PE, urban student resistance to traditional curriculum,
and urban PE to address deficits. The discussion suggests “loving critiques” that could
apply to the field of PE, especially in urban contexts.
Resumo: O objetivo deste artigo foi providenciar uma revisão crítica na literatura
relacionada com pedagogia da Educação Física em escolas urbanas utilizando como
“lente” uma pedagogia sustentada culturalmente. Dados foram coletados por meio
da busca de palavras-chaves e nos sumários de três revistas norte-americanas, bem
como em adicionais referências recuperadas dos artigos. A amostra incluiu 54 estudos
que foram analisados em profundidade e codicados em vários fatores. Os resultados
providenciam estatísticas descritivas sobre literatura, bem como três temas principais que
destacam a relevância cultural em Educação Física, a resistência de estudantes urbanos
ao currículo tradicional e os décits a serem enfrentados pela Educação Física urbana. A
discussão sugere “críticas carinhosas” que podem ser aplicadas no campo da Educação
Física, especialmente em contextos urbanos.
Resumen: El objetivo de ese artículo fue presentar una revisión crítica en la literatura
relacionada con pedagogía de la Educación Física en escuelas urbanas usando como
“lente” una pedagogía sostenida culturalmente. Los datos fueron recolectados por medio
de la búsqueda de palabras-clave y en los índices de tres revistas norteamericanas, al
mismo tiempo en referencias adicionales recuperadas de los artículos. La muestra incluyó
54 estudios que fueron analizados a profundidad y codicados en varios factores. Los
resultados presentan estadísticas descriptivas y también tres temas principales, que
destacan la relevancia cultural en Educación Física, la resistencia de los alumnos urbanos
al currículo tradicional y los décits a ser enfrentados por la Educación Física urbana. La
discusión sugiere “críticas cariñosas” que pueden ser aplicadas al campo de la Educación
Física, especialmente en contextos urbanos.
Keywords:
Urban area.
Physical education.
Teaching.
Students.
*University of South of Florida. Tampa,
Florida, USA.
E-mail: sbflory@usf.edu
Received 29 May 2019
Accepted 04 September 2019
Published 16 November 2019
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22456/1982-8918.96230
Palavras chave:
Área urbana.
Educação Física.
Ensino.
Estudantes.
Palabras clave:
Área urbana.
Educación Física.
Enseñanza.
Estudiantes.
Sara Flory
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1 INTRODUCTION
While schools in urban communities with large student populations have existed since
the industrial revolution, the concept of “urban education” that launched a boom of research and
reform initiatives stemmed from the White flight following World War II. Several policies in the
U.S. introduced during the 1940s and 1950s (i.e., the GI Bill of Rights, policies and tax breaks
encouraging home ownership, etc.) allowed citizens to further their education and purchase
homes in suburban areas (METTLER, 2005). As a result, cities became populated with mostly
poor, minority residents with fewer economic opportunities (WILSON, 2012). Businesses and
industries also moved out of the cities, leaving fewer residents and a lower property tax base,
limiting the expenditures for schools in cities (METLER, 2005). The term urban education was
coined to address the “[...] adjustments needed to prepare city children for an overwhelming
technical society in a state of rapid change” (RIDINI; MADDEN, 1975, p. 5).
Research about the conditions of urban schools, the challenges of teaching in urban
schools, and the characteristics of students in urban schools followed in large supply. Journals
related to the study of urban schools (i.e., Urban Education, The Urban Review) began in
the 1960s. Studies on the achievement gap between suburban and urban students (related
to standardized test scores, graduation rates, advanced placement enrollment, and college
acceptance rates) began in the 1960s, along with various theories and explanations for the
existence of this gap (LADSON-BILLINGS, 2006). Author and educator Jonathon Kozol
received the National Book Award for his 1967 book Death at an Early Age, where he recounts
his experience teaching poor Black children in an overcrowded Boston public elementary
school. Interventions and ethnographies dissecting the nuances of education in urban schools
produced theories, curricular models, and best practices, all to educate the children attending
those schools and to potentially overcome the achievement gap between urban students and
their suburban and rural counterparts.
Over the next several decades, research about urban communities and schools
highlighted concerns related to rates of poverty, crime, violence and gang activity, qualifications
of teachers, school facilities that were insufficient, outdated or worn, and teacher turnover.
Gradually, the language used to describe urban schools and the students attending them
included terms such as culturally and/or linguistically “diverse” (despite demographics to
suggest otherwise), “disadvantaged,” “marginalized,” “low-performing” or “at-risk” (MILNER,
2008; WATSON, 2011; WEINER, 2003). Urban students and schools were portrayed negatively
in research (NOGUERA, 1996; WATSON, 2011), as unmotivated, unwilling to learn, and with
uninvolved, uninterested parents (WATSON, 2011).
Meanwhile, even today, teachers in the U.S. remain mostly White, middle-class women,
while the population of U.S. school children continues to diversify. In the 1970s, nearly 80% of
U.S. school children were White, yet by 2014, racially diverse students comprised the majority
of U.S. school children for the first time (STRAUSS, 2014). Teachers, school administrators,
scholars and the media shy away from pointing out segregation in urban schools. Kozol (2005)
wrote, “Schools in which as few as 3 or 4 percent of students may be white or Southeast Asian
or of Middle Eastern origin, for instance – and where every other child in the building is Black
or Hispanic – are referred to as “diverse” ( p. 43). Also, even the way in which “urban schools”
can be identified has shifted. Milner (2012) acknowledges “urban schools” are now classified
based on who attends the schools, rather than the physical location or number of students. In
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Pedagogy of Physical Education in urban schools: a critical review
03
a recent visit to a school district that appeared rural by many descriptors (demographic data,
location, etc.), administrators took Milner to an “urban school” within the district and asked
for advice on how to address the urban issues affecting this school’s performance (MILNER,
2012). The school population was largely Black and Hispanic. There were issues with truancy,
low test scores, low motivation, and low parent involvement. These were the descriptors that
came to define “urban schools.” These issues had little to do with the students who attended
the school and had more to do with the policies enacted by the adults in charge. However, the
school leaders had identified this school and the related issues as “urban.” In short, the term
“urban” often describes schools and students in ways that are considered inferior to suburban
schools and White students. “Urban” - at least in U.S. contexts - has become synonymous for
places where poor, non-White students live and attend schools, and do not meet the standards
of White students in suburban schools.
Although research on physical education (PE) in urban schools may not be as vast
as broader research on urban education, there is a critical mass of scholarship examining
PE in these settings. Many of the challenges that general education teachers face in urban
schools are also encountered by PE teachers: limited facilities, equipment, instructional time,
or professional development; students that appear uninterested or disengaged; and lack of
support from administrators (COTHRAN; ENNIS, 1997; ENNIS, 1995; MCCAUGHTRY et al.,
2006). This has provided plenty of fodder for researchers within the discipline to examine,
intervene, and compare PE in urban schools to other settings over the past several decades.
The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of the literature related to pedagogy of
physical education in urban schools.
2 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP; ALIM; PARIS, 2017; PARIS, 2012; PARIS; ALIM,
2014) was the lens through which I reviewed the literature related to pedagogy of physical
education in urban schools. This framework may be especially fitting to examine the literature,
considering research on cultural distance existing among urban students and their teachers
(FLORY; MCCAUGHTRY, 2011). CSP is an extension of the previous work by multiple scholars
who called for culturally relevant pedagogies when working with students in urban schools (GAY,
2000; LADSON-BILLINGS, 1995), but better captures the value of the culture in question, rather
than comparing it to a standard.
CSP seeks to perpetuate and foster - to sustain - linguistic, literate, and cultural
pluralism as part of schooling for positive social transformation. CSP positions
dynamic cultural dexterity as a necessary good, and sees the outcome of learning as
additive rather than subtractive, as remaining whole rather than framed as broken,
as critically enriching strengths rather than replacing decits. Culturally sustaining
pedagogy exists wherever education sustains the lifeways of communities who
have been and continue to be damaged and erased through schooling (ALIM;
PARIS, 2017, p.1).
This theoretical framework is helpful to use when examining the literature related to
physical education in urban schools, especially as the term “urban” has evolved from a term to
describe the locale or population of a school into a condition to overcome. Alim and Paris (2017,
p. 2) state:
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[...] our languages, literacies, histories, and cultural ways of beings as people and
communities of color are not pathological. Beginning with this understanding [...]
allows us to see the fallacy of measuring ourselves and the young people in our
communities solely against the White middle-class norms of knowing and being
that continue to dominate notions of educational achievement.
CSP builds from the concepts of cultural relevance pedagogies by offering three loving
critiques (ALIM; PARIS, 2017; PARIS; ALIM, 2014). These loving critiques aim to respectfully
identify gaps in previous theories and approaches, as well as identify ways to remain critical
and dynamic in a changing society. The first loving critique addresses the notions of asset
pedagogies such as culturally relevant pedagogy (LADSON-BILLINGS, 1995), culturally
responsive pedagogy (GAY, 2000), or cultural congruence (AU; KAWAKAMI, 1994). These
pedagogies identified the practices of communities of color as assets and resources when
enacting the dominant norms in schools that align with White, middle-class values (ALIM;
PARIS, 2017). Paris (2012, p. 95) stated:
Relevance and responsiveness do not guarantee in stance or meaning that
one goal of an educational program is to maintain heritage ways and to value
cultural and linguistic sharing across difference, to sustain and support bi- and
multilingualism and bi- and multiculturalism...necessary for success and access in
our demographically changing U.S. and global schools and communities.
The second loving critique offered through CSP is the examination of research that
views culture as static or fixed, rather than understanding the dynamic ways in which young
people experience race and ethnicity (ALIM; PARIS, 2017). Rather than looking at how previous
generations enacted racial and ethnic differences, Alim and Paris (2017) encourage the use of
CSP to view culture as dynamic and shifting. The authors state:
As youth continue to develop new, complex, and intersecting forms of racial/ethnic
identication in a world where cultural and linguistic recombinations ow with
purpose, we need pedagogies that speak to our shifting cultural realities, or as
Pennycook (2007) put it, pedagogies that ‘go with the ow’ (ALIM; PARIS, 2017,
p. 9).
The third loving critique suggested by Alim and Paris (2017) is to reflect on cultural
practices and communities that may become problematic, even in using progressive pedagogies
to engage students of color. That is to say, CSP provides space to question progressive
pedagogies to ensure that they do not reify oppressive practices such as hegemonic discourses
regarding gender, race, sexuality, ability, or citizenship (ALIM; PARIS, 2017):
Our goal is to find ways to support and sustain what we know are remarkable ways with
language, literacy, and cultural practice, while at the same time opening up spaces for students
themselves to critique the ways that they might be - intentionally or not - reproducing discourses
that marginalize members of our communities, (ALIM; PARIS, 2017, p. 11).
3 METHODS
Scholarship for this review was identified via keyword searching Google Scholar, ERIC,
and ProQuest using the search terms physical education in urban schools, urban physical
education, and pedagogy urban physical education. Table of contents searches were conducted
for three U.S. journals (Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, Quest, and Research
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Pedagogy of Physical Education in urban schools: a critical review
05
Quarterly for Exercise and Sport) to locate studies that did not populate through keyword
searches. Additional studies were retrieved from reference lists. Inclusion criteria for this critical
review were (1) studies published in English, (2) study focused on urban students, practicing
teachers, or schools, and (3) studies focused on school physical education. Studies that had
a physical activity, dance, or sport focus were not included in this critical review, nor were
studies that focused on multicultural education or cultural competence, unless urban schools
or students were an explicit focus. Likewise, studies that focused on teacher preparation for
urban contexts were not included. This is not to say that these topics and foci are not helpful for
examining and understanding the field of urban physical education, however, these topics are
beyond the scope of this critical review.
The initial sample of scholarship for this critical review included 89 citations. After
reviewing the abstracts for inclusion and exclusion criteria, the sample was narrowed to 54
citations which were analyzed in depth. Once manuscripts were identified for inclusion, they
were coded for various factors including the type of manuscript (i.e., empirical research,
literature review, theoretical, etc.), the participants (i.e., students, teachers, or other), the type
of research (i.e., qualitative, quantitative, or mixed methods), and the publication outlet (i.e.,
U.S.-based PE journals, international PE journals, and journals outside of PE). Notes about
each manuscript were made to determine the main issues raised by the authors, as well as the
takeaway message of each manuscript.
Abstracts and notes about each manuscript were analyzed using constant comparison
and inductive analysis (CORBIN; STRAUSS, 2008; LECOMPTE; SCHENSUL, 1999) to identify
relationships and organize the codes into themes. Themes were shared with a peer debriefer
and re-examined for negative cases to increase trustworthiness.
4 FINDINGS
The scholarship analyzed for this critical review spanned the years 1959 through
2018. Of the 54 citations reviewed, one was a report, two were books, and the remaining 51
were manuscripts published in journals. Five of the studies were conducted internationally.
The majority of the participants in the studies were teachers in urban schools (n=19). Urban
students were the participants in 17 of the studies, and 11 studies worked with both teachers and
students. Most of the studies utilized qualitative research methods (n=23) to carry out the study.
Quantitative research design was utilized in 17 of the studies, and mixed methods research was
mentioned in 5 of the studies. Of the 51 manuscripts published in journals, approximately 50%
were published in U.S. physical education journals (n=26; e.g., Journal of Teaching in Physical
Education, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport). The remainder of the manuscripts were
either published in an international physical education journal (n=13; e.g., Physical Education
and Sport Pedagogy, Sport, Education and Society) or in a journal outside the field of physical
education (n=12).
When reviewing the literature related to the pedagogy of physical education in urban
schools, three major themes emerged. These themes included cultural relevance in PE, urban
student resistance to traditional curriculum, and urban PE to address deficits.
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4.1 CULTURAL RELEVANCE IN PE
An overwhelming finding was the issue of cultural relevance in urban PE. Nearly a third
of the studies reviewed (n=17) addressed culturally relevant curriculum and pedagogy. Calls
for curriculum that met the needs of students began as early as the 1970s. Ridini and Madden
(1975, p.94) wrote:
In planning comprehensive programs for their students, inner city physical educators
need to take into account such factors as the interests and needs of students in
a changing, cybernetic society; activities that have high potential for carry-over
to students’ leisure hours; socioeconomic and emotional conditions; the physical
conditions of the schools in terms of facilities, equipment, and supplies; the
educational philosophy of the schools; and the evaluative tools utilized in determining
whether students are receiving viable, comprehensive, and relevant programs.
A lack of cultural relevance became evident, as students needs were not met and
teachers felt underprepared to enact relevant pedagogy.
In five studies, researchers shared that urban students were disengaged in PE due to
curriculum that was not relevant to their interests, or was not accessible (COTHRAN; ENNIS,
1997; COTHRAN; ENNIS, 1998; ENNIS et al, 1997; JAMES; COLLIER, 2011; WILLIAMS;
WOODHOUSE, 1996). In many of these studies, conflicting values related to the goals of
schooling and education existed between teachers and students, as well as curriculum that
privileged certain groups of students over others. Relevant curriculum to engage students in PE
is important in all school contexts, but is exacerbated in schools where the cultural backgrounds
of students and teachers are vastly different (FLORY; MCCAUGHTRY, 2011).
Thirteen studies shared findings related to teachers’ experiences with providing or
enacting curriculum that was relevant to urban students (CHEPYATOR-THOMSON et al.,
2008; COTHRAN; ENNIS, 1998; CULP; CHEPYATOR-THOMSON 2011; CULP, 2011; ENNIS,
1994, 1995, 1999a; ENNIS; CHEN, 1995; FLORY; MCCAUGHTRY, 2011; KULINNA et al.,
2006; MCCAUGHTRY et al., 2006; SCHMIDLEIN et al., 2014; RIDINI; MADDEN, 1975). In
several studies, teachers admitted that they were not prepared to teach students from cultural
backgrounds different than their own, so they struggled to provide relevant curriculum for their
students. Other teachers focused on building positive, trusting relationships to learn how to
better serve students.
4.2 URBAN STUDENT RESISTANCE TO TRADITIONAL CURRICULUM
A second theme from the literature was the resistance to traditional PE curriculum from
students in urban schools. Fourteen studies focused on alternative curricular options, whether that
was incorporating student voice and choice in curriculum or specific culturally relevant pedagogies.
In eight studies, students responded positively to alternative curricular approaches
(AZZARITO; HILL, 2013; AZZARITO et al., 2017; ENNIS, 1999b; ENNIS et al., 1999;
FITZPATRICK, 2013; DEGLAU; O’SULLIVAN, 2006; WRIGHT; BURTON, 2008; WRIGHT et
al., 2010). These curricular models included alternative approaches to learning and teaching
sport (i.e., Sport Education, Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility, Sport for Peace),
as well as critical approaches to PE that empower youth to be more engaged.
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Pedagogy of Physical Education in urban schools: a critical review
07
Additionally, six studies identified the importance of providing urban students with voice
and choice in their PE programs (COTHRAN; ENNIS, 2000; ENNIS; MCCAULEY, 2002; HOLT,
et al. 2012; LI et al., 2008; SHEN et al., 2008; WRIGHT; LI, 2009). These studies highlighted
how providing options for urban students (in terms of what was taught and how they learned),
encouraging autonomy, and engaging youth as resources were essential to involving students
in PE classes.
Alternative curricular approaches and providing voice and choice in PE may garner
positive responses in many PE contexts (urban, suburban, and rural). However, these
approaches are well-received in urban schools because of the disconnect between school
culture and the values of students that attend urban schools (ENNIS; CHEN, 1995).
4.3 URBAN PE TO ADDRESS DEFICITS
Lastly, literature of PE in urban schools often takes on a deficit perspective, meaning,
PE is a means to address deficits in the lives of urban youth. Fourteen studies took a deficit
approach, which counters a CSP framework. Broader health concerns, teaching social skills, or
saving students from societal or community issues become the main concern here.
Four studies used ties to health concerns as justification for research on students in
urban schools. These health concerns center around standards such as reaching recommended
daily physical activity levels via step counts or minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
(MVPA), combatting obesity and overweight in urban youth, reducing cardiovascular disease
and sedentary behaviors, and increasing fitness levels. (CASTILLO et al., 2015; DAUENHAUER;
KEATING, 2011; FARDY et al., 2004; SKALA et al., 2012). It is critical to note that research and
debates connecting PE and public health concerns has existed for decades (GARD; WRIGHT,
2001; KIRK, 2006; SALLIS; MCKENZIE, 1991), and is quite relevant in urban settings that judge
non-White youth according to White standards.
Eight of the studies in this sample referenced the need to teach social skills in urban
physical education. These social skills included conflict resolution, social responsibility,
moral reasoning, empathy, sportsmanship, fair play, knowing appropriate school routines,
cooperation, and leadership (BRANTA; GOODWAY, 1996; CHOI; CHEPYATOR-THOMSON,
2012; ENNIS; ROSS; CHEN, 1992; ENNIS; CHEN, 1995; MILLER et al., 1997; SCHMIDLEIN et
al., 2014; SHARPE et al., 1995; RIDINI; MADDEN, 1975). Some of these studies were specific
interventions in urban schools, while other studies identified a more explicit focus on social skills
by urban teachers. Social skills have been highlighted in broader PE research as especially
appropriate to include in curricula due to the interactive and less-formal atmosphere (compared
to the classroom) of PE lessons (GOUDAS; MAGOTSIOU, 2009; JACOBS; KNOPPERS;
WEBB, 2013; MCHUGH, 1995).
Finally, two studies noted how PE could be a vehicle for urban students to overcome
the adversities of living in poor, urban communities (BRIGGS, 1970; RIDINI; MADDEN, 1975).
These studies cited that PE and athletics gave urban youth more opportunities for success in
life and reduced drop-out rates, and identified teacher-student relationships as a key to whether
inner city students chose to apply for college, go to work, or dropped out. In broader research,
evidence linking PE to positive academic performance is inconclusive (RASBERRY et al., 2011).
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5 DISCUSSION
A detailed review of literature related to the pedagogy of physical education in urban
schools reveals that as a field, we may not be any closer to truly meeting the needs of students
in physical education in urban schools than we were four decades ago. Using the critical lens
of culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) (PARIS, 2012), it becomes increasingly clear that
despite our best intentions, we may need to consider a different approach. The themes from
the literature in this review (cultural relevance in PE, urban student resistance to traditional
curriculum, and using urban PE to address deficits) highlight how most PE in urban schools
overwhelmingly fails to engage students, and does not fully value students in urban schools. As
Paris (2012, p. 95) wrote,
We need a new term and a new approach that will not only more accurately embody
some of the best past and present research and practice but will also offer pre-
service and in-service teachers a way of both naming and conceptualizing the need
to meaningfully value and maintain the practices of their students in the process
of extending their students’ repertoires of practice to include dominant language,
literacies, and other cultural practices.
Perhaps “loving critiques” (ALIM; PARIS, 2017) are in order for the field of physical
education as we consider how to move forward in meeting the needs of youth in urban schools.
Alim and Paris (2017) first critiqued asset pedagogies as not being enough to sustain
the cultural practices of Black and Hispanic students, that these pedagogies simply used the
traditions of these cultures to attain the White, middle-class norms common in schools. Similarly,
culturally relevant pedagogies have been referenced in urban PE literature, however most of
these references identify how curriculum and pedagogy are not culturally relevant to students,
or that teachers do not know how to enact culturally relevant pedagogy. Very few examples of
effective culturally relevant pedagogy exist within the literature, yet calls for additional research,
teacher preparation and professional development to assist teachers in enacting culturally
relevant pedagogy are plentiful. When we “other” youth in urban schools (BORRERO et al.,
2012; KUMASHIRO, 2000), we inadvertently assign White, middle-class schools and students
as the aspirational ideal. While there is no argument that cultural dissonance occurs when
teachers and students have differing cultural and ethnic backgrounds (HODGE et al., 2012),
tolerating slang in classes and finding activities that urban youth can engage in outside of school
PE does not seem to fully meet their needs. As Alim and Paris (2017, p.3) state,
For too long, scholarship on “access” and “equity” has centered implicitly or
explicitly around the White-gaze-centered question: How can “we” get “these”
working class kids of color to speak/write/be more like middle-class White ones
(rather than critiquing the White gaze itself that sees, hears, and frames students
of color in everywhichway as marginal and decient)?
When we examine our practices through this lens, culturally relevant pedagogies and
culturally competent teachers do not seem to be enough to overcome the presence of Whiteness
and White middle-class values in schools (FINE, 2004).
The second loving critique addressed by Alim and Paris (2017) in support of CSP was to
re-examine the dynamic and shifting nature of culture. The authors write, “[...] it is crucial that we
understand the ways in which young people are enacting race, ethnicity, language, literacy and
their engagement with culture is always shifting and dynamic” (ALIM; PARIS, 2017, p. 7). These
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Pedagogy of Physical Education in urban schools: a critical review
09
authors cite Pennycook (2007), calling for pedagogies that “go with the flow” to connect with the
ever-changing interactions that urban youth have within and among culture. This critique seems
to advise against tradition and heritage for the sake of cultural conservation, promoting instead
more complex interpretations of race, ethnicity and culture. Likewise, resistance to traditional
PE curriculum and positive responses to alternative and critical approaches to PE suggests
a stronger connection to more progressive interpretations of PE and physical activity culture.
Although student resistance and disengagement has been studied previously in PE literature
(ENNIS, 1999a; KINCHIN; O’SULLIVAN, 2003), promoting student voice may especially connect
to the constantly changing realities of youth culture in diverse urban communities. In response
to these findings, teachers and teacher educators could benefit from critically questioning their
approach to teaching PE, including why particular activities are included or excluded, if student
choice and voice is considered in their curriculum, and if their approach offers relevance for their
students.
The final loving critique that Alim and Paris (2017) suggest to enact CSP is to look
inward to identify what practices within even the most progressive pedagogies may promote
oppressive practices and raise critical consciousness. In PE, there is plenty of research to
suggest that traditional, sport-based PE supports a multitude of oppressive practices (AZZARITO
et al., 2006; DEWAR, 1990; KIRK; SPILLER, 1994; SQUIRES; SPARKES, 1996), yet there is
little critique of many models-based practices that are also supported by research (LANDI;
FITZPATRICK; MCGLASHAN, 2016). Furthermore, when well-intentioned researchers who
study urban youth with the aim of reversing public health concerns (i.e., obesity and physical
inactivity) do not critically examine the broader socioeconomic concerns that may lead to such
issues (i.e. poverty, food deserts, etc.), their efforts to solve these issues within the confines of
school PE may be further marginalizing a CSP framework and these students.
Future research related to physical education pedagogy in urban schools must radically
reconsider what students in urban school truly need to feel and become engaged, and valued
as students of color, not as comparisons to a White, middle-class ideal. Those who engage in
research with urban populations should consider whether their investigations simply promote
individual research agendas, align with funded health-based practices, or seek to sustain
practices meaningful to students in urban schools. Students enter classrooms with their own
agency; they are experts in their own lives, knowledgeable about their own experiences and
communities. As teachers and researchers, we must offer opportunities to promote this additive
perspective. As Alim and Paris (2017, p. 12) state,
We are in many ways at the asset-based, critical pedagogical edge. For us, as
we hope is clear by now, we are not interested in offering pedagogical quick xes
or “best practices” that teachers can drop into the same old tired curriculum that
deadens the souls of vast numbers of children of color in U.S. schools.
REFERENCES
ALIM, H. Samy; PARIS, Django. What is culturally sustaining pedagogy and why does it matter.
In: PARIS, Django; ALIM, H. Samy. Culturally sustaining pedagogies: Teaching and learning
for justice in a changing world. New York: Teachers College, 2017. p. 1-21.
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AU, Kathryn; KAWAKAMI, Alice. Cultural congruence in instruction. In: HOLLINS, Etta; KING,
Joyce; HAYMAN, Warren. Teaching diverse populations: Formulating a knowledge base.
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