Fears of an 'obesity epidemic' in New Zealand and elsewhere have led to a growing focus on children's weight, diet and activities. The aim of this research project was to highlight children's voices, stepping back from obesity interventions to explore how health and obesity discourses are taken up by young primary school children. Nine 6 and…

Physical education (PE) is often perceived as a learning area of lesser importance than others, for instance literacy and numeracy. Arguments for raising its status and gaining a greater share in the school day founder on uncertainty as to just what is educational about it, and on the view that really it is no more than skill acquisition and…

Current concerns about a childhood obesity crisis and children's physical activity levels have combined to justify fitness lessons as a physical education practice in New Zealand primary (elementary) schools. Researchers focused on children's understandings of fitness lessons argue that they construct fitness as a quest for an "ideal"…