Concerns about racism, coupled with the persistent gap between a largely white profession and ethnically diverse school populations in developed countries, have brought renewed calls to support teachers’ critical engagement with race.  Anti-racist programmes examining the effects of racism have had limited effect on practice, with teachers responding either with denial, guilt or fear (Gillborn 2008).  Such programmes also contribute to a deficit view of minority ethnic students in relation to an accepted white ‘norm’, and position white teachers ‘outside’ of race. Recent theoretical reframing shifts the focus towards an examination of the workings of the dominant culture through a critical engagement with whiteness, centralising white teachers and white curricula within processes of racialisation (Levine-Rasky 2002). Although still in its infancy in Europe and not without challenges, it shows promise.

There has been little sustained attention paid to race in Physical Education (PE), despite its colonial history and close relationship to sport - a key practice dominated by whites, and where racialised discourses about the body contribute to shaping common sense ideas about race (Carrington 2010). Consequently, similar to the research described above, studies can be described as having contributed to the racialization of the ‘Other’ (e.g. with a focus on particular religious groups) and nourishing a ‘deficit’ view of pedagogy.

From a critical whiteness perspective (Levine-Rasky 2002), and as part of a project that explores how physical educators make sense of race in contemporary policy contexts, this paper focuses upon the ‘official’ discourses of race in Norway’s national PE curriculum and surrounding policy texts. It asks, ‘how is race constructed in contemporary PE curriculum policy’?

Carrington, B. (2010) Race, Sport and Politics: The Sporting Black Diaspora, London, Sage Gillborn, D. (2008) Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy? London, Routledge Levine-Rasky, C. (2002) (Ed) Working Through Whiteness. International Perspectives. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. MacLure, M. (2003) Discourse in Educational and Social Research. Buckingham: Open University Press. Penney, D. and Evans, J. (1999) Politics, Policy and Practice in Physical Education. London: E & FN Spon. Utdanningsdirektoratet Core Curriculum for primary, Secondary and Adult Education in Norway. http://www.udir.no/Upload/larerplaner/generell_del/5/Core_Curriculum_English.pdf