Classroom life and the importance of context in physical education: From ecological approaches to situationist theories

• Vors Olivier
• Kirk David

The complex character of classroom motion can be captured by its immediacy, multidimensionality, unpredictability, history and simultaneity (Doyle, 1980). Classroom life is complex. In educational research, this complexity cannot be captured without close attention to the context in which life in classrooms takes place. This theoretical article shows different ways to analyse this complexity through various ecological approaches, qualitative research frameworks, and situationist theories from the latest international developments. The starting point for these researches is the relationship individual / context, where theory emerges from contextualized practice and practices are informed by theory in a back and forth process of self-construction and constitution. Those studies could provide a basis for a new theory of practice.