Background: This paper develops an analysis of how "educability" and "physical ability" are socially configured through the practices of physical education (PE) in schools. We pursue this interest as part of a broader project, shared by many in the wider community of social science researchers in PE, to better understand how…

Using data from a study of the National Curriculum Physical Education for state schools in England and Wales, the paper examines how the political right has attempted to regulate and control the remaking of the National Curriculum and embed the principles of cultural restoration in the physical education curriculum. (SM)