What Is the Problem? : Dis/Ability in Swedish Physical Education Teacher Education Syllabi

This article discusses dis/ability and physical education teacher education (PETE). The aim is twofold. First, I explore how dis/ability is problematised in PETE syllabi from nine Swedish universities. Bacchi's What's the problem represented to be? approach for analysing policy texts is used. The centre of attention thus shifts from a problem and its solution, to how a phenomenon is made into a problem and to the effects of this problematisation. Second, a theoretical framework that corresponds better with the aims of the steering documents advising Swedish compulsory schools and PETE is proposed. In the analysis, two dominant problem representations were discerned. First, pupils with impairment or special needs are constructed as the problem. When pupils with impairment are problematised, they risk being constructed as deviant and marginal in PE. This is reinforced by the fact that, in some cases, the subject is dealt with in only a few pages of text and as part of a single course. Second, power relations, norms or inequality are constructed as the problem. Thus, the focus shifts from the pupils’ reduced physical, cognitive or neuropsychiatric ability to the interactions with able-bodied teachers and peers. Bacchi also asks where the silences are in the texts. The notion of disability, caused by social barriers such as inaccessibility and prejudices, is completely missing. Moreover, ableism – discrimination that favours being able-bodied – is not explicitly dealt with, not even when the syllabi bring up power relations or norms. A change within PETE is required, with inclusive education as the goal. I suggest that both the effects of impairment and ableism, which lead to disabilities, need to be taken into account. Cripistemologies – that is, the knowledge of disabled people – would be useful in this process, as a way to dismantle ableism and appreciate differences.