Sport, Health and Physical Education
Sport, Health and Physical Education examines how the body, wellbeing (hauora), culture, identity, pedagogy, policy and physical environments come together to shape how people learn, move, engage and flourish.
It enables educators, practitioners and researchers to design inclusive, culturally‐responsive, pedagogically sound and socially-just programmes that support lifelong physical activity, health and wellbeing.
Our research and teaching in Sport, Health, and Physical Education are deeply informed by our unique setting in Aotearoa, New Zealand, particularly in Tāmaki-Makaurau Auckland and Tai Tokerau Northland, as well as in Te Moana nui a kiwa, the Pacific region. These contexts enhance our commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, inclusive, community-centred and culturally-responsive approaches, and our collective aims to create equitable and meaningful pathways in sport, health, and physical education that resonate with and serve our communities.
Our vision is to be a vibrant intellectual hub that collectively nurtures a scholarly community and culture that sustains high-quality, critically-oriented research and teaching, which is impactful for communities. We use a range of theoretical perspectives and research methodologies to better understand the interdependence of the embodied and moving individual, hauora (wellbeing), education, policy and society within a socio-critical and educative focus. The centre of this hub is The Richard Tinning Research Unit.