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Teaching with the test: Using fitness tests to teach paradoxically in physical education
The Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences, Stockholm (SWE) Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences (NOR).
Oslo Metropolitan University, Oslo (NOR).
University West, Department of Social and Behavioural Studies, Division of Social Work and Social Pedagogy.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2589-0631
University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg (SWE).
2024 (English)In: European Physical Education Review, ISSN 1356-336X, E-ISSN 1741-2749Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

In many countries, fitness testing is used in physical education (PE). Advocates of fitness testing maintain that testing promotes physical activity and has long-term health benefits. Other scholars question using fitness tests for children in educational contexts and describe them as demotivating, embarrassing, and humiliating. The purpose of the study is to contribute to this educational dilemma with knowledge on the use of “fitness tests” in PE practice. This is done by exploring a pedagogical intervention in Sweden where tests were used to teach from a norm-creative perspective and considering how bodies with different weight and form could be included. We draw on “new materialist” methodologies, asking what tests do and can do in PE practice. In our analysis, we brought together six affective elements of what tests do. Many tests produced traditional PE practices, and there were apparent silences regarding body hierarchies, which often render big bodies invisible. Teaching tests paradoxically, however, also produced opportunities for creativity in moving and opportunities to reflect upon norms about justice and “normal” bodies. This analysis highlights the potential of teaching with the test in order for fitness tests to become educational. 

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
SAGE Publications Ltd , 2024.
Keywords [en]
Teaching, learning, fitness tests, physical education, norm-creative
National Category
Sport and Fitness Sciences Pedagogy
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hv:diva-22662DOI: 10.1177/1356336X241283796ISI: 001346817200001Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85208075640OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hv-22662DiVA, id: diva2:1926305
Funder
Swedish Research Council, 2017-03476
Note

CC-BY 4.0 

Available from: 2025-01-10 Created: 2025-01-10 Last updated: 2025-09-30

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Johansson, Anna

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