Indigenous Students’ Experiences in Physical Education Across Canada, the United States of America, Australia, and New Zealand: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Positive experiences in Physical Education (PE) throughout one’s childhood encourages life-long interest and participation in exercise and movement, as well as increased mental and physical well-being (Akbar & Tsuji, 2020). However, for many Indigenous students’ a positive PE experience may not be a reality. Research has demonstrated that Indigenous students have negative experiences in traditional Western education programs (McHugh et al., 2019). Therefore, this study aimed to gain a better understanding of Indigenous students’ experiences in public school PE in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.

This scoping review was conducted guided by Arksey & O’Malley’s (2005) framework. Fifteen pieces of literature were identified that met the inclusion criteria for the scoping review. A descriptive analysis of these pieces of literature identified key descriptors from each and a Thematic analysis was conducted, and two overarching themes were identified: (1) Experiencing a cultural disconnect in the PE curriculum and the content being taught and (2) Connections between students’ and the PE environment.

The results of this study demonstrate that although research presently exists with regards to Indigenous students’ sharing their experiences in PE, there is still a need for more work specifically focused on this topic.