A Genealogy of Child-Focused Ethnography Research: Questioning the Significance of its Use in Pedagogy of Physical Education

This study aimed to organize and examine the trend of ethnographic research in education and its use in physical education pedagogy. The results clarified the following points. First, ethnography in education can be applied to describe a wide range of events related to children from the micro to the macro levels; Second, it can be used in physical education pedagogy to approach problems that are difficult to visualize, such as "educational disparities" in physical fitness and disparities in interest regarding exercise, from an academic perspective. Ethnography in physical education pedagogy can be used to investigate the root causes of children's dislike of physical education and exercise, and clarify issues that are not easily revealed, such as dealing with children who do not want to be talked about in terms of gender in physical education, that is, gender binaries. This can be done by observing and analyzing children.