Physical education, learning and the theory of practice architectures – a productive combination?

Ideas and assumptions about learning underpin much research in the field of physical education and sport pedagogy whether implicitly or explicitly. Despite a growing body of literature pointing to learning as being a social, embodied and situated phenomenon, the default setting for learning in many contexts still seems to be an ‘epistemic download’ from expert to learner. When learning is discussed, it often lacks theoretical rigour and is frequently overshadowed by what those discussions might mean for teaching or coaching practice. This conceptual paper keeps the spotlight on learning – arguably the heart of any pedagogical enterprise, in a theoretically robust way. By foregrounding and conceptualising practice, this paper asks the question ‘what is the value of taking an ontological view of learning in physical education?’ The paper leverages the conceptual apparatus articulated in the theory of practice architectures to examine how various arrangements present in physical education lessons act to enable and constrain learning. This particular theory of practice casts a different light on learning because of its emphasis on ‘the site’ and the rich empirical material available there. The theory’s conceptualisation of practice as having discursive, material and social dimensions moves possible analyses beyond individual and cognitive constructions of learning which dominate educational spaces. A vignette crafted from field notes gathered in a primary school in New Zealand, is used as a platform to demonstrate the analytic value of the theory for scholars of physical education. Undergirded by Lave & Packer’s framing of learning as an ontological transformation, this paper reaches the conclusion that physical education learning is site-based, collective, emergent, consequential and ultimately world changing.