Questioning the no-touch discourse in physical education from a children's rights perspective

In this paper we question the rationality of 'no-touch policies' and offer an alternative approach to the matter of physical contact between teachers and students in the context of physical education (PE) in schools. Earlier research has drawn attention to how a discourse of child protecti...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sport, education and society education and society, 2017-04, Vol.22 (3), p.305-320
Main Authors: Öhman, Marie, Quennerstedt, Ann
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alternative approaches
Caring
Child Abuse
Child protection policy
Child welfare
Children
Children & youth
Children's rights
Childrens Rights
Debates
Education
Educational Policy
Educational Practices
Fear
Foreign Countries
Human Body
Intergenerational touch
Interviews
Pedagogik
Pedagogy
Physical contact
Physical Education
Physical Education Teachers
Protection
Rationality
Rights
Risk
Safety
Schools
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher Student Relationship
Teachers
Teaching
Teaching Methods
Touch
Touching
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Summary:In this paper we question the rationality of 'no-touch policies' and offer an alternative approach to the matter of physical contact between teachers and students in the context of physical education (PE) in schools. Earlier research has drawn attention to how a discourse of child protection is starting to affect how physical contact is viewed in PE practice. The avoidance of intergenerational touch is increasingly justified by referring to the children's rights agenda. Here, arguments for 'no-touching' are linked to children's right to be protected from harm. In the paper we explore a children's rights-based viewpoint that supports the use of and need for physical contact in PE teaching by developing theoretical and practice-based arguments. An alternative children's rights perspective, based on rights theorising, is used to formulate the theoretical argument. Interviews with 16 PE teachers about their experiences of physical contact in their pedagogical work form the practice-based arguments. The two arguments provide a way of looking at intergenerational touch in education from the vantage point of children's human right to develop to their full potential, which can support a need for physical touch in pedagogical situations.
ISSN:1357-3322
1470-1243
1470-1243
DOI:10.1080/13573322.2015.1030384