A Changing Culture? Interrogating the Dynamics of Peer Affiliations Over the Course of a Sport Education Season

This article focuses on the effects of pupils’ social involvement goals and the peer culture on behaviour and participation in physical education (PE). The extent to which sport education (SE) disrupted peer power relations and reconfigured dominant social groupings is examined and the potential of SE to establish a culture in PE where pupils of both genders value participation in PE and sport is discussed. The article draws on data gathered during a seven-month case study with Year 7 pupils (age 11–13 years) in mixed and single-sex PE classes in one secondary school in the East Midlands as pupils followed their traditional PE curriculum for a term and followed an SE season for an additional term. It explores how peer interaction, acceptance, and rejection contribute to the development of team affiliation. Analysis of the data suggests that the social goals pupils bring to the PE class are important determinants of participation in PE, and that over the course of an SE season the salience of particular goals were gradually modified.