“Children Who Drill, Seldom Are Ill.” Drill, Movement and Sport: The Rise and Fall of a Female Tradition in Ontario Elementary Physical Education (1850s to 2000)

This paper presents an analysis of the Province of Ontario’s elementary school physical education curriculum with respect to the dominant discourses that framed policy documents from the 1850s to 2000. Through an examination of curriculum documents, archival materials, and interviews with those who were teachers and lecturers at the time, the paper argues that a male-centered physical education agenda—dominated by fitness and competitive sport—eclipsed a female-centered tradition, characterized by more broadly conceived movement curriculum of dance, games and gymnastics. This paper examines these competing ideologies in the waves of curriculum reform that characterized Ontario elementary school physical education curriculum during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.