Research and policy statements argue that school Health and Physical Education (HPE) can make a unique contribution to the physical, cognitive, emotional and social development of young people (Opstoel et al., 2020; UNESCO, 2015). It can also provide opportunities for young people to develop the knowledge and skills needed to navigate and respond to the inequities and precarity (Kirk, 2020) that can negatively impact health, and that have been amplified in a COVID-19 era. Despite the aforementioned potential of HPE, it does not always provide equitable opportunities for all students, and often excludes on the basis of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, religion and social class (e.g., Gerdin & Larsson, 2018; Landi, 2019; Mooney & Gerdin, 2019; Walseth, 2015). Due to a range of socio-historical, political and contextual factors, many HPE teachers have not had the opportunity to develop the necessary pedagogical knowledge and skills to teach in inclusive and socially just ways (Gerdin et al., 2018; 2019). Exacerbating this challenge is the limited scholarship focusing on empirically-based, social justice pedagogies in HPE, particularly as informed by teacher and student perspectives.

This proposed symposium will report on the ongoing work of the EDUHEALTH 2.0 project. This project builds on the findings and outcomes of the previous EDUHEALTH project that called on HPE teacher observations and post observation critical incident interviews (Philpot et al, 2020), and identified how broader curricular and school policy interact to facilitate the enactment of social justice pedagogies in HPE. These pedagogies include building goodrelationships, teaching for social cohesion and explicitly teaching about and acting on social inequities (Gerdin et al., 2020). The aim of EDUHEALTH 2.0, which brings together researchers from Sweden, Norway, Spain, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, is to identify, compare, co-design and support the enactment of social justice pedagogies in HPE that promote equitable learning experiences and outcomes. Data will be collected in these countries by; (i) drawing on critical incident technique methodology to observe and identify teaching practices that promote social justice and explore the teachers’ and students’ experiences of these practices; and (ii) doing participatory action-research together with teachers and students in developing social justice pedagogies for HPE practice.

The strength of this research project lies in being able to examine and curate examples of HPE practices across different countries and collectively learn more about social justice pedagogies in practice. Our conception of social justice pedagogies is built on Wright’s (2004) call for teaching practices that assist ‘students to examine and challenge the status quo, the dominant constructions of reality and the power relations that produce inequities, in ways that can lead to advocacy and community action’ (p. 7). That is, social justice pedagogies are about identifying inequalities and empowering individuals and groups to take social action to achieve change (Freire, 1970). Ultimately, the goal of this research project is to inform educational policy, curriculum makers, HPE teacher education and the further development of social justice pedagogies that support HPE teachers in practice.

The session will begin with a brief introduction to the symposium and overview of the project rationale and methodology. This overview will be followed by four separate presentations from four of the participating countries in the EDUHEALTH 2.0 project. Each country will present initial findings from the work has been done to date within their context. At the conclusion of the fourth presentation we will present the future direction and intended goals of the project. Finally, a discussant will reflect on the work presented and the nature of the project before opening the floor to the audience for the final 15 minutes of the symposium.

Freire, P. (1970). Cultural Action for Freedom. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review. Gerdin, G., Larsson, L., Schenker, K., Linnér, S., Mordal Moen, K., Westlie, K., et al. (2020). Social justice pedagogies in school health and physical education—building relationships, teaching for social cohesion and addressing social inequities. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 17:6904. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17186904 Kirk, D. (2020). Precarity, Critical Pedagogy and Physical Education. London: Routledge. Landi, D. (2019). Queer men, affect, and physical education. Qualitative Research in Sport Exercise and Health, 11, 168–187. Opstoel, K., Chapelle, L., Prins, F. J., De Meester, A., Haerens, L., van Tartwijk, J., et al. (2020). Personal and social development in physical education and sports: a review study. European Physical Education Review, 26, 797–813. Philpot, R., Smith,W., Gerdin, G., Larsson, L., Schenker, K., Linnér, S., et al. (2020). Exploring social justice pedagogies in health and physical education through critical incident technique methodology. European Physical Education Review. 27, 20-51. UNESCO (2015). Educational Policy Statements. Wright, J. (2004). Critical inquiry and problem solving in PE”. In Critical Inquiry and Problem Solving in Physical Education. Wright, D. Macdonald and L. Burrows (Eds.) (pp. 3-15). London: Routledge.