A Critical History of Health, Sport, and Physical Education: The Three-legged Curriculum in Australia

By: Jorge Knijnik and Michelle Gorzanelli

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Synopsis: This book fills a gap in literature by generating a combined history of Physical Education (PE), School Sport (SS) and Health Education (HE) in New South Wales (NSW) public schools from 1880 to 2024. It includes broad discussions on how political issues such as the World Wars influenced (i) the PE curriculum, which was used as a medium to prepare a &‘fit&’ army, (ii) the school sport system, which acted as an expression of national strength via showcasing sporting prowess on the international stages of the Olympic Games, and (iii) the health education curriculum, which addressed infectious diseases resulting from poor hygiene associated with poverty. The book also adopts a socio-cultural perspective to the constructs of PE, SS, and HE curricula and highlights significant local, national, and international historical events and issues as factors driving curriculum developments and paradigm shifts in these subjects in the NSW public education and beyond. It brings new and engendering socio-historical findings to the discipline fields of PE, SS, and HE, combined with an innovative methodology in critical historiographical studies.