At all levels of education, the concept of social justice and what it is that teachers can do in the name of teaching for, and about social justice is both ubiquitous and simultaneously poorly understood. If social justice is an aspiration of education (Freire, 1970), the understandings of what it is take on importance as it will inevitably inform the pedagogical work of teachers. This presentation draws on data from an ongoing international collaborative study that explores teaching for social justice in the subject of Health and Physical Education (HPE). In this presentation, we report on New Zealand Health and Physical Education teachers’ perceptions of social justice and social justice pedagogies Participants were 20 secondary school HPE teachers from New Zealand, a country where social justice is an espoused orientation of national health and Physical Education curriculum (Ministry of Education, 2007). Participants were selected through purposive sampling (Denzin & Lincoln, 20012), with a requirement to be fully registered secondary school HPE teachers with at least three years teaching experience, who were interested in sharing their perspectives on social justice. Data were collected though individual semi structured online interviews and transcribed for analysis. Data were analysed through a six-phase thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2017). Although the participants teachers were not able to articulate a clear understanding of social justice, they provide insights into how issues of inclusion and equity can/are addressed in everyday HPE practice. In this presentation we report three themes. The first theme, ‘Social justice – good question,’ highlights that social justice is not a concept that is commonly used in HPE departments. The HPE teachers suggest that social justice is important but the meaning of the concept is unclear. The second theme ‘ Equity and Inclusion’ highlights the most common understanding of social justice. The final theme, ‘Acting on difference’ conveys how teachers endeavour to teach for equity and inclusion in their classrooms. We discuss these findings through Nancy Fraser’s (2014) theories of justice. The discussion highlights how the pedagogies of HPE teachers can contribution to recognition, redistribution and representation.

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