This article presents a case study concerning biographical learning as health promotion among 16–18-year-old school girls in a Danish upper-secondary school. The case study shows a conflict in the students' perception of the learning in traditional physical education (PE) compared to a four-week pilot project employing dialogue groups as a didactic method in PE, which focused on the actual telling and listening to stories about sport and physical activity. The discussion of the results has its starting point in the concept of biographicity as the raw material of a learning process. By exploring the narrative structure of biographical learning, the article develops pedagogical considerations and discussions surrounding the case study, especially concerning biographical learning as an evident educational framework, in which the student has the opportunity to ‘stop, think and tell’ about what matters to him or her as a physical active person and a ‘healthy citizen’.
Alheit, P. (1995) ‘Biographical Learning. Theoretical Outline, Challenges and Contradictions of a New Approach in Adult Education’, in P. Alheit , A. Bron-Wojciechowska , E. Brugger and P. Dominicé (eds) The Biographical Approach in European Adult Education, pp. 57–74. Vienna: Verband Wiener Volksbildung .
2.
Alheit, P. , Bron-Wojciechowska, A. , Brugger, E. and Dominicé, P. (1995) The Biographical Approach in European Adult Education. Vienna: Verband Wiener Volksbildung .
3.
Alheit, P. and Dausien, B. (1999) ‘Biographicity as a Basic Resource of Lifelong Learning’, in P. Alheit , J. Beck , E. Kammler , R. Taylor , and H. Salling Olesen (eds) Lifelong Learning Inside and Outside Schools. Roskilde: Roskilde University, Universität Bremen and Leeds University .
4.
Arnold, P.J. (1979) Meaning in Movement, Sport and Physical Education. London: Heinemann .
5.
Arnold, P.J. (1990) Education, Movement and the Curriculum. London: Taylor and Francis .
6.
Bale, J. , Christensen, M.K. , and Pfister, G. (2004) Writing Lives in Sport. Biographies: Life-Histories and Methods. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press .
7.
Biddle, S.J.H. and Mutrie, N. (2001) Psychology of Physical Activity: Determinants, Well-Being and Interventions. London and New York: Routledge .
8.
Biesta, G. (2004) ‘Against Learning: Reclaiming a Language for Education in an Age of Learning’ , Nordisk Pedagogik24: 70–82 .
Chamberlayne, P. , Bornat, J. and Wengraf, T. (2000) The Turn to Biographical Methods in Social Science. London: Routledge .
11.
Coakley, J. and Donnelly, P. (1999) Inside Sports. London and New York: Routledge .
12.
Cohen, L. and Manion, L. (1994) Research Methods in Education. London and New York: Routledge .
13.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990) Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: Harper and Row .
14.
Daykin, N. (2005) ‘Disruption, Dissonance and Embodiment: Creativity, Health and Risk in Music Narratives’ , Health: An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health, Illness and Medicine9(1): 67–87 .
15.
Dewey, J. (1963) Experience and Education. New York: Collier Books .
16.
Engel, L. (2001) ‘Dance in Sport Education’ , Movement and Dance: Quarterly Magazine of the Laban Guild20: 6–7 .
17.
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and Self-Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Cambridge: Polity Press .
18.
Giorgi, A. (1975) ‘An Application of Phenomenological Method in Psychology, II’, in A. Giorgi , C. Fisher and E. Murray (eds) Duquesne Studies in Phenomenological Psychology, pp. 82–103. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University .
19.
Hardman, K. and Marshall, J. (2000) ‘The State and Status of Physical Education in Schools in International Context’ , European Physical Education Review6(3): 203–229 .
20.
Jakobsson, B.T. (2005) Hälsa – vad är det i ämnet idrott och hälsa? En studie av lärares tal om ämnet idrott och hälsa. Stockholm: Idrottshögskolan i Stockholm .
21.
Järvinen, M. (2000) The Biographical Illusions: Constructing Meaning in Qualitative Interviews. Copenhagen: Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen .
Kretchmar, R.S. (2000) ‘Moving and Being Moved: Implications for Practice’ , Quest52(3): 260–272 .
24.
Krüger, A. and Trangbæk, E. (1999) The History of Physical Education and Sport From European Perspectives. Copenhagen: European Committee for the History of Sport in Europe and Institute of Exercise and Sport Sciences, University of Copenhagen .
25.
Kvale, S. (1996) InterViews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing. London: SAGE .
26.
Lake, J. (2001) ‘Young People's Conceptions of Sport, Physical Education and Exercise: Implications for Physical Education and the Promotion of Health-Related Exercise’ , European Physical Education Review7(1): 80–91 .
27.
Lewis, N. (2000) ‘The Climbing Body, Nature and the Experience of Modernity’ , Body and Society6(3–4): 58–80 .
28.
Miles, M.B. and Huberman, M.A. (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE .
29.
Otto, L. (2001) ‘Livshistorier og biografisk subjektivitet’ , Dansk Pædagogisk Tidsskrift1: 3–11 .
30.
Pineau, G. (1995) ‘Life Histories Considered as an Art of Existence’, in P. Alheit , A. Bron-Wojciechowska , E. Brugger and P. Dominicé (eds) The Biographical Approach in European Adult Education, pp. 44–56. Vienna: Verband Wiener Volksbildung .
31.
Ricoeur, P. (1990) Time and Narrative. Chicago: University of Chicago Press .
32.
Ryle, G. (1963) The Concept of Mind. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books .
33.
Sparkes, A.C. and Silvennoinen, M. (1999) Talking Bodies: Men's Narratives of the Body and Sport. Jyväskylä: SoPhi, University of Jyväskylä .
34.
Stake, R.E. (1995) The Art of Case Study. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE .
35.
Stelter, R. and Roessler, K.K. (2005) New Approaches to Sport and Exercise Psychology. Oxford: Meyer and Meyer Sport .
36.
Tinning, R. (2002a) ‘Engaging Siedentopian Perspectives on Content Knowledge for Physical Education’ , Journal of Teaching in Physical Education21: 378–391 .
37.
Tinning, R. (2002b) ‘Towards a “Modest Pedagogy”: Reflections on the Problematics of Critical Pedagogy’ , Quest54(3): 224–240 .
38.
Vogensen, N. (2004) ‘Idræt, sundhed og de nye læreplaner’ , GISP, Gymnasieskolernes Idrætslærerforening118: 29–35 .
39.
Weddington, H.S. (2004) ‘Education as Aesthetic Experience: Interactions of Reciprocal Transformation’ , Journal of Transformative Education2(2): 120–137 .
40.
Wenger, E. (2003) Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press .
41.
Williamson, B. (1998) Lifeworlds and Learning: Essays in the Theory, Philosophy and Practice of Lifelong Learning. Leicester: NIACE (National Institute of Adult Continuing Education) .
Zahavi, D. and Christensen, G. (2003) Subjektivitet og videnskab: bevidsthedsforskning i det 21. århundrede. Frederiksberg: Roskilde Universitetsforlag .
