Reconfiguring competence and participation in physical education: an inclusive sociomaterial study of school–university orienteering

This study examines how a school–university orienteering partnership incorporating interdisciplinary checkpoint tasks shaped inclusive participation and recognition in physical education (PE) in Taiwan. Using a convergent mixed-methods design with 196 students aged 11–17, the study analysed how bodies, tools, rules, time pressure, and campus terrain organised movement, interaction, and opportunity-to-learn. Survey data indicated high levels of engagement and collaborative satisfaction; however, participation was unevenly shaped by sociomaterial conditions, such as spatial dispersion, checkpoint timing, navigation literacy, and device dependency. Crucially, facilitation practices – including role rotation, interpretive reasoning tasks, low-tech alternatives, and reflective debriefs – expanded what counted as competence beyond athletic performance and enabled more equitable recognition pathways. Students’ emotional trajectories and adaptive strategies further revealed that inclusion was negotiated in motion rather than guaranteed by access alone. The findings suggest that school–university outdoor pedagogies can function as participation architectures that either reproduce or redistribute opportunity. This study outlines design principles for outdoor PE and orienteering learning environments that diversify valued competencies and strengthen inclusive participation.