Addressing gender issues in PDHPE

A gender inclusive approach takes into account the needs of all students, whether they are boys or girls. The focus of educational activities should be to provide the same opportunities and access for all students regardless of gender. Current research identifies gender as being socially constructed. The notion of the ‘social construction of gender’ is premised on the assumption that what it means to be female or male is not fixed, but changes over time and can even be enacted differently by the same person in different contexts. What becomes important, then, are resources or sets of meanings that individuals have to draw upon to shape how they act, think, feel, understand and evaluate the actions of others. These meanings are developed from their interaction with others, with electronic and print media, with social structures and institutions and from their physical and emotional experiences.

The social construction of gender must be dealt with explicitly in PDHPE as it pertains to particular topics. Teachers need to provide structured opportunities for their students to investigate how gender is constructed and what strategies can be used to challenge the narrow understandings about masculinity and femininity that exist.

This section of the PDHPE Unit web site explores gender in the new PDHPE Years 7–10 Syllabus and looks at resources available to support teachers to understand gender construction and how to implement explicit teaching of gender in the PDHPE curriculum.

Implications for PDHPE

The new PDHPE Years 7–10 Syllabus includes content and outcomes linked to gender. Through their study of PDHPE, students should be given the opportunity to explore their understandings of femininity and masculinity. This process should occur through explicit teaching and learning activities about gender. In particular, students develop understandings about the influences in society that create gender stereotypes and mould an individual’s gender identity, the role of the media in the construction of gender, methods by which gender discrimination and sex-based harassment can be alleviated, and strategies to challenge the unequal life opportunities based on gender.

Thinking it through

When exploring the new PDHPE Years 7–10 Syllabus, recently released to schools, PDHPE faculties may like to revisit information around gender and particularly, what is meant by the social construction of gender. To help explore this area, refer to Gender Equity at Work in Secondary Schools which is available in all NSW secondary schools. This may provide a useful starting point for teachers to revisit some of the issues around language and interactions, and the link to gender construction. There are also a number of Internet sites and publications that will provide faculties with useful information to guide their planning and teaching in the area of gender. These include:

Getting to grips with gender: Education Queensland

The Boys Gender and Schooling website has been developed in response to school and community concerns about boys' education in Queensland. It rejects the competing victims approach adopted by some commentators in favour of a commitment to gender equity and improved outcomes for all students, male and female. The site contains downloadable professional development activities that could be used by faculties to work through issues related to gender. Some of these activities include:

Sex, gender and equity
Understanding gender
Social construction of gender
Gender construction and school strategies
Good gender policies at school

Girls and boys at school: Gender equity strategy

This kit, that was distributed to all schools, addresses four focus areas for action in the area of gender. The areas are:

teaching and learning
school culture and organisation
school and it’s community
monitoring, evaluation, review and development.

PDHPE faculties will find this resource particularly helpful when analysing current practices and planning for the inclusion of gender within their PDHPE program.

Exploring gender: For everyone with a girl or boy at school

This resource is a package designed for teachers and parents to increase their understanding of gender issues. The resource includes a booklet of professional development activities to assist teachers to explore issues of gender.

It may also be useful for PDHPE faculties to use these reflective questions when evaluating current units of work in preparation for programming with the new PDHPE Years 7–10 Syllabus. For example:

How does the content and assessment procedures challenge or reinforce narrow understandings of masculinity and femininity?
Does the content and assessment procedures recognise and provide opportunities to meet the interests of different groups of girls and boys?
Who benefits from the content and assessment procedures? Who is left out?
Does the teaching and learning activities and assessment procedures selected acknowledge the range of capabilities and interests girls and boys bring to the classroom?

Individual staff members could also explore how their own behaviour may be creating, perpetuating or breaking down stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, by reflecting on their personal practice. For example:

Choice of language used when talking to students or when referring to males and females
Interactions with students and whether they differ depending on the gender of the students
Choice of personal dress and expectations about student uniforms
Management strategies used when disciplining students and whether they differ for male and female students
Choice of teaching and learning activities used in PDHPE
Choice of roles allocated to males and females e.g. collecting equipment, setting-up playing spaces, recording information.

To assist teachers in selecting teaching and learning activities with a specific focus on gender the following resources may be a useful starting point.

Teaching and learning resources in schools

No Body is Perfect and Unreal Images

The No Body is Perfect and Unreal Images resources focus on challenging the narrow understandings of masculinity and femininity. They provide a collection of teaching and learning activities to support teachers when incorporating gender into their PDHPE program. The resources will help develop a greater understanding of the links between body image and gender.

A-Level physical education – Online study guide

This website has been designed for A-Level physical education teachers and students in England. There are case studies and activities for many areas of PDHPE. In particular Part 6: Chapter 6.3, deals with the social construction of gender in physical education and sport, and will be useful for exploring content in the new PDHPE Years 7–10 Syllabus.

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