Professor David Kirk
Education
Personal statement
I am currently Professor of Education and former Head of the School of Education (2014-17) at the University of Strathclyde. I am an educational researcher with teaching and research interests in educational innovation, curriculum history, and physical education and sport pedagogy. I am founding editor of the peer reviewed journal Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (Routledge) and editor of Routledge Studies in Physical Education and Youth Sport. I have held academic appointments previously in universities in England, Australia, Ireland and Belgium and am currently Honorary Professor of Human Movement Studies at the University of Queensland. My most recent single-authored book Precarity, Critical Pedagogy and Physical Education was published by Routledge in 2020. My most recent co-authored book with Professor Ash Casey, Applying Models-based Practice in Physical Education, was published by Routledge in 2024.
Area of Expertise
- Curriculum historian
- Qualitative researcher
- Curriculum designer
- School-based intervention designer
- Physical education teacher educator
Prize And Awards
- Best Paper Award by the American Educational Research Association Special Interest Group in Research on Instruction and Learning in Physical Education 2017
- Recipient
- 27/4/2017
- Fritz Duras Memorial Lecture
- Recipient
- 22/11/2013
- International Fellow
- Recipient
- 1/9/2012
- Fellow
- Recipient
- 1/7/2010
- Fellow
- Recipient
- 1/7/2005
Publications
- Chinese students' experiences of 'high-stakes' assessment : the role of fitness testing
- Yang Jing, Bartle Gillian, Kirk David, Landi Dillon
- Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2025.2449664
- Review : An Activist Approach to Physical Education and Physical Activity: Imagining What Might Be
- Kirk David
- Journal of Teaching in Physical Education Vol 44, pp. 172-173 (2025)
- https://doi.org/10.1123/jtpe.2024-0241
- Enacting a new curriculum : Chile's social uprising and the reshaping of physical education
- Barquero-Ruiz Carmen, Castro-García Marina, Moreno-Doña Alberto, Kirk David
- Sport, Education and Society (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2024.2441987
- 'Fighting like a girl' : qualitative analysis of the gendered movement learning in the Spanish Olympic karate team
- Turelli Fabiana Cristina, Vaz Alexandre Fernandez, Tejero-González Carlos María, Kirk David
- Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Vol 29, pp. 521-538 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17408989.2022.2125947
- Applying Models-Based Practice in Physical Education
- Casey Ashley, Kirk David
- Routledge Focus on Sport Pedagogy Routledge Focus on Sport Pedagogy (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429347078
- Psychometric validation of the tactical assessment instrument in football for use in physical education and with youth sport teams
- Barquero-Ruiz Carmen, Kirk David, Meroño Lourdes, Arias-Estero José L
- Perceptual and Motor Skills Vol 131, pp. 589-611 (2024)
- https://doi.org/10.1177/00315125231225579
Teaching
- Physical education and sport pedagogy
- Curriculum change, including curriculum history
- Curriculum design
Research Interests
Professor Kirk has research interests in curriculum innovation and change, curriculum history, and physical education and sport pedagogy.
Professional Activities
- L’utilisation des méthodes mixtes dans un paradigme socio-constructiviste de recherche en éducation physique et pédagogie du sport
- Speaker
- 25/2/2020
- Promouvoir une éducation physique de qualité en intégrant la théorie de l'activité: inviter l'élève à devenir agent de son apprentissage au 21 ème siècle
- Contributor
- 25/2/2020
- SERA Network - Health and Wellbeing Research in Education (External organisation)
- Member
- 2018
- Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (Journal)
- Editor
- 1/7/2004
Projects
- Literacies for Health and Life Skills
- Kirk, David (Co-investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2023
- Literacies for Health and Life Skills
- Kirk, David (Principal Investigator)
- 01-Jan-2020 - 31-Jan-2023
- Female Sports Fandom in the North East: A Historical study of Female Fandom & the Critical Intersections Between Sports Spectatorship and Participation (Mentor for Stacey Pope)
- Kirk, David (Principal Investigator)
- Female Sports Fandom in the North East: A Historical study of Female Fandom & the Critical Intersections Between Sports Spectatorship and Participation (Mentor for Stacey Pope)
- 31-Jan-2016 - 28-Jan-2021
- Autism Network Scotland - Scottish Strategy for Scotland administration of National Governance Group, consultation forum and sub group activity and coordination activity
- Christie, Donald (Co-investigator) Hanley, Emma Mairi (Co-investigator) Kirk, David (Co-investigator)
- 15-Jan-2014 - 31-Jan-2021