Critical inquiry and problem-solving in physical education

[Extract] Whether they agree that we are now in a period of postmodernity, late modernity or high modernity (Kirk 1997), social commentators do agree that we live in times characterised by profound social and cultural changes which are recognisable globally but reach into the everyday lives of individual. The nature of these changes is in large part attributed to enormous advances in technology which have allowed for the rapid processing and transmission of information within and across countries and cultures. On one hand, the greater accessibility of information from a larger range of sources has exposed different points of view and thus provided more spaces for the challenging of taken-for-granted truths. At the same time, however, the ubiquitous presence of television and other forms of electronic media have provided a context in which populations can be persuaded to particular points of view, which include ways of understanding health and the values and meanings associated with physical activity and sport.