Abstract:
This paper illustrates how the concept of ‘creative ecologies’ (Harris, 2016) can be used as a framework for better understanding the intersection between policy work, change and creativity in Physical Education (PE). In doing so it presents a counter-narrative to the long-held belief that PE is impermeable to change (Stolz and Kirk, 2015). This paper adds nuance and detail to existing scholarship related to the source, nature and impact of resources that allow for creative approaches to curriculum transformation and enactment. We do so with reference to interview data and field notes from an exemplary case study that involved Secondary PE teachers from one Australian Secondary school engaging in a process of curriculum transformation and enactment over the course of two years. We, the researchers, adopted a contextualised (Braun, Ball, Maguire and Hoskins, 2011; Thrupp & Lupton, 2006) and relational approach (Hickey and colleagues, 2021) to supporting and exploring the reform. The findings suggest that it was the interplay of resources across the dimensions of the creative ecology (policies, processes, products, partnerships and physical environment) that supported the process of curriculum transformation and enactment in the case-study school.