An economy of gendered practices? Learning to teach physical education from the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu's embodied sociology

This paper draws on Pierre Bourdieu's embodied sociology to construct a conceptual view of gender relations in Physical Education (PE) in England and Wales as one of a cultural economy of gendered practice. The argument presented retains, considers, and applies the interdependent concepts of field, habitus and capital that lie at the heart of Bourdieu's theoretical gaze. A process is then articulated that draws attention to a multi-stage cycle of the gendered cultural economy of practice. Over a period of engagement with the overlapping fields of PE, sport, and education, a gendered habitus is generated that becomes recognized as physical capital. This capital then becomes converted in the dual sense that it contributes strongly towards the formation of a sporting social identity and powerful scheme of valued, internalized dispositions for action that both qualify and pre-dispose the individual for entry into future fields of physical activity and sport. Having entered the de-limited field of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE), student teachers then refine and reinforce their gendered habitus in ways which closely ‘fit’ those demanded by the field. It is suggested that this process orientates student teachers towards existing practice and prepares them to teach in ways which tend towards continuing rather than changing the existing gendered status quo in the subject. In conclusion, the utility of this conceptual approach and the insights it might generate are reflected upon.