Teachers' stories: physical education teachers' constructions and experiences of masculinity within secondary school physical education

Physical education (PE) and sport have traditionally been identified by scholars as a key mechanism for the production and reproduction of a culturally esteemed ideal of masculinity, premised upon being stoic, strong, competitive, sexist and homophobic. Yet, more recent research reflects a change in valued masculinity as a response to declining cultural homohysteria. As such, this preliminary study looks to establish how PE teachers understand and construct masculinities within the educational environment. Through in-depth interviews, we find participants recognised many elements of softer masculinities, described in inclusive masculinities literature, as being performed by contemporary teenagers. This includes being emotionally open, embracing a more effeminate taste in dress and being increasingly physically tactile. However, we also found that the PE teachers have a cohort variance in their masculine values, with those socialised in sport through the 1980s showing the most orthodox and oppressive views.     

PE is not for me: when boys' masculinities are threatened

This study used hegemonic masculinity theory to examine the intersection of masculinities and school physical education from the perspectives of boys who embodied masculinities that were marginalized. Over a 13-week period using present-focused, student-centered, qualitative methodological approaches, we observed, interviewed, and worked in small groups with 5 middle school boys from two schools. We identified three significant themes that merge the stories and experiences of masculinity hierarchies in sport-based physical education. First, we found that four social practices (content, pedagogies, teacher-student relationships, and peer cultures) in these physical education settings privileged some masculinities over others. Second, we examined the role that embodiment played, both in how the boys wore their oppression and in how their bodies resisted marginalizing situations. Third, we describe the contrasts these boys drew between physical activities experienced in sport-based physical education and physical activity experiences in other areas of their lives. We used Connell and Messerschmidt's (2005) reconceptualization of the theory of hegemonic masculinity for understanding how competitive sport-based physical education functioned to oppress boys with masculinities that were deemed abnormal. Additionally, we introduce feminist poststructuralism as a possible theoretical lens for interpreting boys' bodies as also being active agents in social practices rather than being only passive objects who are oppressed and dominated.     

重塑“阳刚之气”：学校体育教育改革新探

以学校体育教育改革为切入点,对青少年阳刚之气匮乏的原因、如何重塑阳刚之气以及需要注意的问题进行探讨。研究认为:(1)当代青少年阳刚之气的匮乏是社会文化长期漠视身体、社会环境和计划生育政策的影响及学校体育实践的局限共同作用的结果。(2)重塑阳刚之气,需要在文化上加强引导,在思想上转变对学校体育作用的认知,并且对幼儿、中小学、高校体育教育的内容进行相应的调整和改革。(3)学校体育在重塑阳刚之气过程中,需要注意矫枉过正、正视安全、家庭和社会通力配合等方面的问题。     

Me,osteogenesis imperfecta,and my classmates in physical education lessons: a case study of embodied pedagogy in action

Pupils with disabilities have been found to experience a narrower physical education curriculum and participate less frequently than pupils without disabilities. A lack of knowledge, skills, relevant experiences and confidence amongst physical education (PE) teachers has been said to contribute to these differential educational experiences. This article adds to the paucity of research that analyses the PE experiences of pupils with disabilities while, at the same time, evaluating embodied pedagogy as a tool for better preparing PE teachers for their role as inclusive educators. Specifically, the article aims to: (1) explore the PE experiences of a university student named Violeta who lives with the condition of Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI); (2) analyse the views of a group of prospective teachers who participated in a PE lesson (Experience 1) which included Violeta; and (3) examine the perceptions of a group of prospective teachers who participated in a simulated attempt at embodied pedagogy (Experience 2). Data were gathered using field notes, observations and interviews with Violeta and the prospective teachers who participated in Experience 1 and Experience 2. The findings suggest that in both Experience 1 and 2, the prospective teachers developed a greater aware of OI and a more positive attitude towards inclusive PE. That said, the nature of the student learning experience and their ability to empathetically imagine themselves in, and through, the bodies of others that were different from themselves varied significantly in Experience 1 and 2. Such a contrast, especially in relation to notions of alterity, related to the presence or absence of the other as a corporeal entity involved in the lessons. Neither Experience 1 or 2 was found to be ‘better’ than the other, they simply provided different contexts, resources and opportunities for learning to take place. We discuss some implications of these differences for those wishing to engage in embodied forms of pedagogy as a way of helping prospective teachers to have the knowledge, skills and experience to develop a more inclusive culture in school PE.     

‘Disable them all’: SENCO and LSA conceptualisations of inclusion in physical education

There is a propensity for academics and policy makers in Britain to use the terms integration and inclusion synonymously, possibly resulting in diverse interpretations of the inclusion principles laid out in the new National Curriculum. Much of the research available relating to conceptualisations of inclusion in physical education (PE) is from the perspective of teachers. Moreover, PE as a relatively unique learning environment is often neglected in much of the research that does analyse educational inclusion. In this paper, the key theoretical tools of cultural studies, in particular the concept of cultural hegemony, are used to analyse how special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) and learning support assistants (LSAs) conceptualise inclusion in mainstream secondary school PE in Britain. Semi-structured, individual interviews explored SENCO (n?=?12) and LSA (n?=?12) educational ideologies and experiences of SEN and inclusion in PE. Open, axial and selective coding was undertaken to systematically analyse (textual) data. The research found that most conceptualisations reflected a social ideology because they focused on how educational arrangements can be made to ensure that pupils with SEN have comparable learning experiences to their age peers. Emphasis was placed on the power and influence of PE teachers, and the importance of identifying the specific needs and capabilities of pupils with SEN, as ways of ensuring that an inclusive culture can develop and is maintained in PE. The paper concludes by arguing that PE teachers and LSAs need access to PE-specific and up-to-date guidance and learning targets so that they can use the influence they have over the norms and values of PE to cultivate an inclusive culture in that subject.     

Boys,Masculinities and PE

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study which aimed to explore boys' perceptions and experiences of school-based physical education (PE) and involvement in extra-curricular and out-of-school physical activities. Drawing on group and individual interviews with 22 15-year-old boys in four inner-city comprehensive schools, it explores the nature, purposes and experiences of their physical education involvement both in and out of school. The data collected highlighted the need both to explore and to deconstruct the concept of a dominant hegemonic masculinity. Boys are generally 'censorious' of others who resist and spoil PE lessons. Games, sport and physical activity are shaped by masculine identities and are mediated by diverse processes that involve staff competence, pupil friendship networks, class membership and ethnic identity.     

Ethnomethodology at Play

Writing over a decade ago, Penney and Harris examined extra-curricular physical education (ECPE) provision in state schools in England and Wales and focused, in particular, on issues of inclusion, equality and equity. They concluded, among other things, that ECPE provision was highly gendered, characterised by a disproportionate emphasis on traditional team games and competitive sport and provided a limited number of opportunities to only a minority of pupils. Although Penney and Harris were less concerned with reflecting upon how the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE may come to impact the involvement and experiences of young disabled people and those with special educational needs (SEN), their analysis nevertheless has important implications for understanding this largely under-explored and neglected aspect of research. In this paper, therefore, we draw upon some key aspects of Penney and Harris's analysis to examine the extent and ways in which physical education (PE) teachers have endeavoured to incorporate disabled pupils and those with SEN in ECPE. In particular, by drawing upon the findings of a study conducted with 12 PE teachers working in five secondary schools in north-west England, the central objectives of this paper are to: (i) examine the ways and extent to which teachers have endeavoured to incorporate young disabled people and pupils with SEN in ECPE; and (ii) explore the extent to which the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE impacts on pupils’ involvement and experiences. The findings suggest that the trend towards including disabled pupils and those with SEN in mainstream schools has not radically altered the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE which, according to PE teachers, continues to be heavily dominated by competitive team sports that retain a strong emphasis on performance, excellence and skills. This provision, it is claimed, appears to have done more to reduce, rather than enhance, the opportunities for pupils to participate in the same activities and to the same extent in ECPE than they might have done in the special school sector. Indeed, when compared to their non-disabled peers, some disabled pupils and those with SEN typically tended to be provided with a limited and somewhat narrow range of sports and physical activities in which to participate. Teachers also suggested that some pupils rarely participated, if at all, in ECPE and, in some cases, they were often taught separately from other pupils in clubs and teams that were developed specifically for them in an effort to cater more adequately for their needs and abilities. It is concluded that until PE teachers and schools are willing and/or able to bring about desired change in the content, organisation and delivery of ECPE, rather than developing more inclusive and non-segregated forms of provision, teachers in many schools will be constrained and/or inclined to continue providing programmes that, in effect, continue to provide what Penney and Harris call ‘more of the same for the more able’ pupils in ECPE.     

‘We are getting there slowly’: lesbian teacher experiences in the post-Section 28 environment

Prior to the subtraction of Section 28 from the 1988 Local Government Act in 2003, a substantial amount of research was published that specifically examined the experiences of lesbian physical education (PE) teachers. This article contributes to the existing academic literature by exploring the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual teachers working in a post-Section 28 school environment. Drawing on life history interviews of two lesbian PE teachers, we offer insights into how the abolition of Section 28 has affected their lives. Comparable to previous studies, both women reported feeling fearful of the consequences of identifying as lesbian and employed various strategies in order to maintain a divide between their public and private lives so as to conceal their sexual identities from colleagues, pupils and parents. However, in contrast to much of the previous literature, we found that the teachers in this study also identified with narratives of resistance. Despite being fearful of coming out at work, they nevertheless remained committed to coming out when the context is appropriate, to challenging the heteronormative symbolic order configured around the heterosexual/homosexual binary and to more proactively promoting sexual diversity and tolerance in schools.     

Special educational needs in mainstream secondary school physical education: learning support assistants have their say

Learning support assistants (LSAs) gained more political and academic attention in Britain after Estelle Morris announced that schools of the future would include more trained staff to support learning to higher standards. LSAs, thus, should form an integral part of the culture of all school departments in Britain, including physical education (PE). The paper uses Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony to explore the processes and practices that shape the views and experiences of LSAs and ultimately the extent to which they facilitate an inclusive culture in PE. A web survey gathered the views and experiences of LSAs vis-à-vis the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream secondary school PE in North-West England. A modified version of the tailored design method participant contact strategy resulted in 343 LSAs starting the web survey, with 154 (45%) following it through to completion. All quantitative data were analysed using Microsoft Excel whilst qualitative data were subjected to thematic analysis. This entailed the identification of recurring themes and patterns present in the data. The findings highlight the hegemonic status of English, maths and science when it comes to the allocation of SEN resources, which most LSAs support and often reinforce. PE is particularly disadvantaged in this hierarchy of subject priority. The majority of LSAs have not received PE-specific training, which brings into question their ability to facilitate inclusion in PE. Moreover, many schools do not appear to value the involvement of LSAs in the planning of differentiated lessons, which could have a negative impact on the PE experiences of some pupils with SEN given that LSAs are perhaps most aware of the specific learning needs of the pupils they support.     

体育教学的社会人文心理环境

在体育课堂教学中，良好的教学环境使得体育课教学事半功倍。人文教育、全纳教育、生命教育、个性教育、自由教育的视角，构建体育教学的社会人文心理环境，以促进学生身心全面、健康发展。     

Masculinity in Singapore: the residual culture of the Chinese martial artist

The study set out to understand the complex landscape of masculinities in Singapore. In particular, it sought to investigate whether, apart from the common muscular and powerful dominant form, there are traditional views of masculinity sustained by Chinese cultural influence, in particular, the culture of Chinese martial arts. Open-ended survey responses from 48 male and female Singaporean first and second year undergraduate students on a sport and critical thinking course were elicited and then followed up by focused online asynchronous discussions to further elaborate understandings. Informants reflected on elements that construct masculinity in Chinese martial arts and how these may differ to what they consider to be the dominant or hegemonic masculinity, related in particular to the body builder. Responses indicate that a residual culture persists nourished by traditional Chinese culture and that this is quite different to the contemporary male identities of metrosexuals and spornosexuals revered in the West.     

‘(Simply) the best’, or remembering when tina turner met the winfield cup: Nostalgia and the construction of authenticity in rugby league online spaces

Abstract

This is an online content analysis using Discourse Tracing to make sense of how rugby league fans talk about changes in the game since the 1980s. Specifically, we are interested in how fans discuss Tina Turner singing ‘(Simply) the Best’ and another song in a famous marketing campaign for Australian rugby league’s professional Winfield Cup. We will use comments below the line on YouTube and in two public fan chat-rooms to explore how the remembering the video constructs a shared myth of Australian and British white working-class masculinity. We argue that while alternative constructions of Australian and British masculinity and national identity are present in this nostalgia, there is also a yearning for a time when hegemonic masculinity intersected with white, working-class nationalist identities and which was reflected in the imagery in the promotional videos.     

Re-engaging disengaged pupils in physical education: an appreciative inquiry perspective

Many children and young people enjoy physical education (PE), yet many do not, and subsequently become disengaged from PE. Previous research that has explored pupil disengagement from PE has focused on what teachers should do to re-engage their pupils, or has encouraged dis-engaged pupils to create a curriculum that they perceive to be socially and culturally relevant. While this research is extremely important, it does not highlight enough what teachers bring to the teaching and learning process. An alternative approach to understanding (dis)engagement in PE is to start by asking both teachers and pupils: what is currently working, why is it working, and what could be in the future? This ‘appreciative inquiry’ (AI) approach is underpinned by the belief that everyone and everything has strengths that can be developed, and that those strengths should be the starting point for change. Consequently, in establishing the use of AI as an important means of understanding and potentially enhancing PE pedagogy, this research sought to understand the successful teaching strategies developed by PE teachers to re-engage disengaged pupils. Importantly, in recognising the value of understanding pupil experiences we also explored and shared the success stories of the ‘re-engaged’ pupils. Finally, in extending the research in this area, we examined the impact that teacher engagement in the AI process had on their professional learning. As the teachers engaged in the AI process, they discussed, listened to (each other and their pupils), reflected and shared their success stories. This, in turn, appears to have encouraged them to re-articulate and re-enact their practice and learning within the context of a more positive future. They designed (and in some cases, co-design with their pupils) meaningful and empowering PE programmes for their ‘disengaged’ pupils and have subsequently made a commitment to future professional learning and inquiry.     

The boxing gym as masculine space

ABSTRACT

This paper is divided into five parts. Parts I and II place the discussion in the context of anthropological spaces and more specifically sports spaces, including discussion of the extent to which these may be gendered. Part III focuses on the question of the nature of masculinity, while Part IV investigates the status of boxing as expression of masculine identity. Part V looks further into boxing and the spaces of boxing as an expression of modern masculinity, with part VI considering women’s recent appropriation of pugilism. The paper finishes with a brief reflection leading to the conclusion that although the boxing gym remains a masculine space it is no longer an exclusively male preserve.     

Daps,Dykes and Five Mile Hikes: Physical Education in Pupils' Folklore

abstract

This paper explores the relationship between the school and the body. It does so by considering the transfer from primary to secondary school. Analysing children's and young adult's stories about transfer reveals that physical education (PE), and more generally the body, are central to pupils’ anticipations and anxieties about the move to secondary school. The paper argues that the fears pupils express about the dangers associated with secondary school PE should be placed within the context of the transition to adulthood. Secondary school PE is an integral part of the status passage to adulthood, during which the recognition of the body as physical, social and sexual is central.

     

Muslim girls' experiences in physical education in Norway: What role does religiosity play?

Recent years have seen an increase in scholarly attention to minority pupils and their experience of physical education (PE). UK research identifies specific challenges related to Muslim pupils' participation in PE. In Norway, little research has been undertaken on Muslim pupils' experiences in PE, something this paper hopes to redress in part. In particular, it addresses the role and significance of religiosity to their experience of PE. The work is positioned within third-wave feminism; as such it aims to be sensitive to issues of cultural and religious diversity. The study is based on life-history interviews with 21 Muslim girls aged between 16 and 25. All the girls had attended PE lessons at school, mostly in mixed-gender classes, but with some gender-segregated PE as well. In terms of religious affiliation, the girls describe themselves as Muslim, though their degree of religiosity varies. Five wear the hijab. The general picture drawn by the data shows that the Muslim girls enjoy their PE lessons and the majority preferred gender-mixed PE. Religiosity seems to have little influence on Muslim girls' experience of PE, with the exception of swimming lessons and showering facilities. We can understand the objections of some of the girls to gender-mixed PE by looking at the dominance of the male gender, and, as such, their experiences are similar to those of non-Muslim girls. However, objections to gender-mixed swimming classes are best explained by the girls' gendered religious identities and embodied faith. In term of intersectionality, the study shows that different categories dominate in different PE contexts. As such, what Muslim girls make of PE is not always dictated by religiosity.     

Understanding pupils' hiding techniques in physical education

Previous research shows that some pupils find physical education (PE) demanding and difficult. Some pupils use strategies to avoid participation in PE when it is demanding and difficult. The present study aims to illuminate and describe strategies used by pupils to avoid negative self-perception in difficult situations and activities in PE classes. This behavior, called hiding techniques, arises out of the need to protect self-perception and save academic or social face in the PE subject. Interviews and focus groups have been used with six PE teachers in Norwegian primary and lower secondary school to illuminate hiding techniques. Ten former pupils have also been interviewed about their experience of PE classes in primary/lower secondary school and upper secondary school for the same purpose. The results show that hiding techniques are experienced and practised in many different ways, and that there is a wide range of causes behind hiding techniques. Pupils' hiding techniques are categorized into main types, and the causes underlying the hiding techniques are summarized. This study provides insight into educational challenges that need to be highlighted to help all pupils in school, not just those who complete the PE subject without any real problems, to realize an important aim of the subject and to experience the joy of movement and lasting physical activity. It also highlights hiding techniques that are sophisticated, clever and deliberate actions pupils use to take control over the social setting in PE through the covert act of resistance rather than passively allowing the oppressive social setting to overpower them.     

Non-disabled secondary school children's lived experiences of a wheelchair basketball programme delivered in the East of England

Frequently an unquestioned belief is held in British schools in the value of ‘normalized’ ability in physical education (PE). Consequently inclusion of disabled students can be problematic. Negative perceptions of disability are rarely challenged. This study investigated the embodied experiences of 49 non-disabled secondary school pupils during a programme designed to introduce disability sport to non-disabled school children entitled ‘The Wheelchair Sports Project’. Funded by a County Sports Partnership, Wheelchair Basketball sessions were delivered by trained coaches during PE for a 12-week period. Forty-nine pupils aged between 10 and 12 years took part in the study. Non-participant observations were completed during the programme, and semi-structured group interviews were completed with 24 participants pre- and post-project. Bourdieu's theoretical framework guided data analysis. The impact of the project on pupils' perceptions of physical disability was investigated. Prior to the project, pupils emphasized the ‘otherness’ of disabled bodies and described disability sport as inferior and not ‘real’. Observations highlighted how pupils experienced physical challenges adapting to wheelchair basketball. Pupils struggled to control wheelchairs and frequently diverged from acceptable behaviour by using their lower limbs to ‘cheat’. Post-programme group interviews demonstrated that, due to their own embodied experiences, pupils began to question their perceptions of the potential ability of participants with physical impairments. Pupils described high physical demands of wheelchair basketball and began to focus upon similarities between themselves and physically disabled individuals. However, participants made no reference to impairments other than physical disability, emphasizing the specificity of the effects of pupils' embodied experiences on their embodied habitus, which, although difficult to assess over the long term, appeared to have an impact on self-perceptions over the short term.     

‘It's not like you are less of a man just because you don't play rugby'—boys' problematisation of gender during secondary school physical education lessons in New Zealand

Despite clear messages from current physical education (PE) curricula about the importance of adopting socially critical perspectives, dominant discourses of gender relating to physical activity, bodies and health are being reproduced within this school subject. By drawing on interview data from a larger ethnographic account of boys’ PE, this paper aims to contribute to our understanding of boys’ experiences of gendered discourses in PE, particularly by acknowledging boys not only as docile or disciplined bodies but also as active subjects in negotiating power relations. In the analysis of the data, particular emphasis is placed on whether the boys recognise the influence of gendered discourses and power relations in PE, how they act upon this knowledge and how they understand themselves as gendered subjects through these particular discourses/power relations. Using Foucault's (1985. The use of pleasure: The history of sexuality, vol. 2. London: Penguin Books) framework related to the ‘modes of subjectivation’, this paper explores boys’ problematisation of dominant discourses of gender and power relations in PE. In summary, these boys perform gendered selves within the context of PE, via negotiation of gendered discourses and power relations that contribute to an alternative discourse of PE which creates spaces and opportunities for the production of more ethical and diverse masculinities.