Call for Papers | “Lifestyle Sports and Physical Education”, Special Issue of Education Sciences. Call ends September 30, 2022

In this Special Issue, we are seeking to unite international lifestyle sports and physical education (PE) scholars with the purpose of exploring the amalgamation of these areas in creating curricula that will be fit-for-purpose in the twenty-first century. Despite the rapid global growth in young people’s participation in lifestyle sports over the last 30 years, and the ability for these activities to contribute to national physical activity and health agendas, schools have been cautious and somewhat uneasy with the incorporation of such activities within the PE curriculum. PE teachers have been reluctant to move too far from traditional mainstream sports even though they have been aware of this phenomenon for some time. This is not surprising, as PE has changed little in 30 years and is often reported as being ‘out of step’ with youth culture, especially with regard to the activities and sports offered within and beyond the curriculum. Clearly, some lifestyle sports may be somewhat difficult and unfeasible to include in PE lessons; however, the range of activities available makes it possible for more ‘conventional’ and ‘regulated’ lifestyle sports to be incorporated into PE curricula. Schools that have expanded their lifestyle sports provision within the realms and constraints of the timetable and curriculum have included activities, such as parkour, skateboarding, street surfing, ultimate Frisbee, and unicycling, to name but a few. The promotion and implementation of lifestyle sports in PE is a relatively uncharted area and one that requires further exploration, especially as lifestyle sports have the potential to provide young people with an alternative to traditional mainstream team-based sports.

We invite papers that contribute to and extend the debate surrounding the inclusion of lifestyle sports in physical education, at primary (elementary) and/or secondary (high) school level, either by revisiting or rethinking what is currently known about lifestyle sports and applying this to the PE context or by considering new and innovative methods and ways for incorporating lifestyle sports in PE. The papers must be original and can be either theoretical or empirical in nature. Examples of areas of interest for this Special Issue are highlighted in the keywords below. It is hoped that the articles in this Special Issue will stimulate discussion and debate amongst researchers and practitioners on the effective promotion and implementation of lifestyle sports in PE, leading to curriculum development and reform, especially for students that are ‘turned off’ by the current menu of activities they are offered.

Keywords

Special Issue Editors