Ken Green, Physical Education Teachers on Physical Education: A Sociological Study of Philosophies and Ideologies

This book discusses the results of a research study undertaken in the North West of England in the late 1990s, in which 35 practising PE secondary school teachers were interviewed about the nature of their subject. Their responses are analysed in terms of the theories of figurational sociology of Norbert Elias.

Dr Ivan Waddington, formerly Director of the Centre for Research into Sport and Society, University of Leicester, said of the work: 'By applying a sociological perspective to what are conventionally thought of as philosophical problems, Professor Green provides valuable new insights into some important conceptual issues. At the same time, his thought-provoking analysis of his research data reveals much about the processes underlying the experience of PE that secondary schools offer to their pupils.

This is an original and timely contribution to the ongoing debate about the nature of the subject, underpinned by detailed qualitative research with day-to-day practitioners. It should be essential reading both for academics and for practitioners of physical education.'