Beyond the Limits of Technocratic Physical Education

As part of their quest to secure academic credibility, physical educators in Australia, Canada, Britain, and the United States have increasingly privileged empirical–analytical forms of research. We argue that this strategy has resulted in a montage of professional values and practices that we term technocratic physical education (TPE). We contend that TPE is based on ideologies of professionalism, scientism, and instrumental rationality, which articulate one-dimensional definitions of excellence in teaching, the body, and sport and also marginalize issues related to political and moral ends. By drawing on the traditions of critical pedagogy and reflective teaching, we suggest some ways in which the limits of TPE can be transcended in pre- and inservice teacher education curricula.