A critical inquiry approach is one of five key characteristics that have shaped the development of the new Australian Curriculum: Health and Physical Education (AC: HPE). However, what this means is open to interpretation. In the various documents leading to the consultation draft AC: HPE and in this document itself, critical inquiry is used in varying ways with differing intentions. In this paper, we examine the conditions of possibility for particular understandings of critical inquiry in the AC: HPE and the shifts in meaning over time in the AC: HPE documentation that has been publicly available for consultation. We examine the potential for particular versions of critical inquiry to be translated from curriculum documents to classroom teaching through an examination of how critical inquiry has been deployed by HPE preservice teachers in their teaching during their final professional experience.