Changing the Hong Kong Physical Education Curriculum: A Post-Structural Case Study

In order to understand the factors thatsignificantly influence the implementation ofeducational policy, this paper has concentratedon the subjective experiences of physicaleducation teachers who were faced withcurriculum change. An improved understanding oftheir experience has been achieved through ananalysis of their discursive practices. Thisawareness has occurred in a micro-politicalenvironment of a physical education departmentin a Hong Kong secondary school. Extensiveinterviews of school and government personnel,observation and document analysis have provideda database from which a post-structuralanalysis has emerged. A focus on teachers aspotential key players in the implementationprocess has revealed the binary relationshipsthat form the power arrangements, whichprivilege certain discourses-practices whilemarginalizing others. The conclusions reachedby this paper are that innovation with realchange depends on the transformation of thesubjective realities experienced by teachers,in conjunction with the willingness of thepolicy makers to fully understand those realities and to include teachers in the process.