This academic review critically examines the theoretical and empirical bases of claims made for the educational benefits of physical education and school sport (PESS). An historical overview of the development of PESS points to the origins of claims made in four broad domains: physical, social, affective and cognitive. Analysis of the evidence suggests that PESS has the potential to make contributions to young people’s development in each of these domains. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, there is suggestive evidence of a distinctive role for PESS in the acquisition and development of children’s movement skills and physical competence. It can be argued that these are necessary, if not deterministic conditions of engagement in lifelong physical activity. In the social domain, there is sufficient evidence to support claims of positive benefits for young people. Importantly, benefits are mediated by environmental and contextual factors such as leadership, the involvement of young people in decision‐making, an emphasis on social relationships, and an explicit focus on learning processes. In the affective domain, too, engagement in physical activity has been positively associated with numerous dimensions of psychological and emotional development, yet the mechanisms through which these benefits occur are less clear. Likewise, the mechanisms by which PESS might contribute to cognitive and academic developments are barely understood. There is, however, some persuasive evidence to suggest that physical activity can improve children’s concentration and arousal, which might indirectly benefit academic performance. In can be concluded that many of the educational benefits claimed for PESS are highly dependent on contextual and pedagogic variables, which leads us to question any simple equations of participation and beneficial outcomes for young people. In the final section, therefore, the review raises questions about whether PESS should be held accountable for claims made for educational benefits, and about the implications of accountability.

A models-based approach has been advocated as a means of overcoming the serious limitations of the traditional approach to physical education. One of the difficulties with this approach is that physical educators have sought to use it to achieve diverse and sometimes competing educational benefits, and these wide-ranging aspirations are rarely if ever achieved. Models-based practice offers a possible resolution to these problems by limiting the range of learning outcomes, subject matter and teaching strategies appropriate to each pedagogical model and thus the arguments that can be used for educational value. In this article, two examples are provided to support a case for educational value. This case is built on an examination of one established pedagogical model, Sport Education, which is informed by a perspective on ethics. Next, I consider Physical Literacy which, I suggest, is an existentialist philosophical perspective that could form the basis of a new pedagogical model. It is argued, in conclusion, that a models-based approach along with a reconstructed notion of educational value may offer a possible future for physical education that is well grounded in various philosophical arguments and the means to facilitate a wide range of diverse individual and social educational ‘goods’.

The PESSCLS strategy for physical education and youth sport in England has received an unprecedented level of funding from the Blair government during its term in office. In this article, it is proposed that there are structural problems with the delivery of physical education and school sport in England that the PESSCLS strategy and associated policies such as Game Plan may not have accounted for. It is argued these problems become evident through a review of research on the importance of early learning experiences for lifelong participation in physical activity. In addition, the impact of perceptions of competency on young people's motivation to participate is discussed, prior to exploring the influence of gender, socio-economic status and sociodemographic factors on participation. Further evidence is reviewed that suggests secondary school physical education programmes have in their traditional form been ineffective in promoting lifelong physical activities. The article concludes with the identification of some alternatives to the traditional approach to PE and youth sport that could enrich some of the PESSCLS initiatives.

Bunker and Thorpe first proposed Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) in 1982 as an alternative to traditional, technique-led approaches to games teaching and learning. Despite interest from teachers and researchers, there has been no attempt to review the TGfU model. This is an oversight, given the important advances in educational learning theory and ecological approaches to motor control since the early 1980s. The purpose of this paper is to present a new version of the TGfU model that draws on a situated learning perspective. The paper describes the TGfU approach, overviews recent research on TGfU, and outlines a situated learning perspective. This perspective is then applied to rethinking the TGfU model. The intended outcome of the paper is the provision a more robust and sophisticated version of the TGfU model that can inform future directions in the practice of and research on TGfU.

Can we imagine a future in which physical education in schools no longer exists? In this controversial and powerful meditation on physical education, David Kirk argues that a number of different futures are possible. Kirk argues that multi-activity, sport-based forms of physical education have been dominant in schools since the mid-twentieth century and that they have been highly resistant to change. The practice of physical education has focused on the transmission of de-contextualised sport-techniques to large classes of children who possess a range of interests and abilities, where learning rarely moves beyond introductory levels. Meanwhile, the academicization of physical education teacher education since the 1970s has left teachers less well prepared to teach this programme than they were previously, suggesting that the futures of school physical education and physical education teacher education are intertwined. Kirk explores three future scenarios for physical education, arguing that the most likely short-term future is ‘more of the same’. He makes an impassioned call for radical reform in the longer-term, arguing that without it physical education faces extinction. No other book makes such bold use of history to interrogate the present and future configurations of the discipline, nor offers such a wide-ranging critique of physical culture and school physical education. This book is essential reading for all serious students and scholars of physical education and the history and theory of education.

Background: During the last 30 years, several theories of motivation have generated insights into the motives underlying learners' behavior in physical education. Self-determination theory (SDT), a general theory on social development and motivation, has enjoyed increasing popularity in physical education research during the past decade. SDT states that for students to be optimally motivated for physical education, it is critical to support the satisfaction of their innate, psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness by being autonomy-supportive, by structuring the environment, and by creating a warm and solid relationship with the students. Purpose: Our goal was to provide a critical review of 74 SDT-grounded peer-reviewed studies in the field of physical education, to identify research gaps, and to provide suggestions for moving this line of research forward by discussing how insights from a pedagogical view can contribute to the development of SDT-based research. Findings: The included studies confirmed the motivational sequence as proposed by SDT. It was revealed that future research can be of extra value if (a) combinations of the three dimensions of need-supportive practices are addressed, (b) more intervention and experimental studies are conducted, (c) more insight is gained into antecedents of teachers' behaviors, (d) a broader set of learning outcomes is investigated, and (e) relevant physical education-related contextual factors are taken into account. Conclusions: Given the increasing number of SDT studies in the context of physical education, this review recommends a better integration of pedagogical and psychological knowledge in future SDT-grounded work in the context of physical education. A better integration is needed because it can lead to ecologically valid and practical recommendations on how to enhance students' motivation taking into account the pedagogical context of physical education.