Private Lives,Public Lives: Surveillance,Identity and Self in the Work of Beginning Physical Education Teachers

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to knowledge of teacher socialization, and in particular, current understandings of sources of teacher dissatisfaction. It focuses on the experiences of beginning physical education teachers working in non‐metropolitan schools. While lining and working in small conservative communities, these teachers were subject to a variety of pressures relating to their isolation, beginning professional status, and personal lifestyle choices. These pressures to conform are explored using Foucault's [FOUCAULT, M. (1977) Discipline and Punish (New York, Pantheon] account of the processes of regulation and surveillance, and by drawing on data which illustrates how teachers’ work practices, appearance and lifestyles were being watched by the school and outside community.     

Analysis of Event-Related Potentials to Filmed Action Situations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how one secondary physical education teacher understood gender at her school and how that understanding developed. Theoretical perspectives on feminism and the nature of teachers' knowledge guided the inquiry. Data were collected through 20 teacher observations and 60 interviews over 4 months and analyzed using constant comparison with frequent member checks to facilitate accuracy. Three main findings emerged. First, this teacher identified two aspects of the broader school culture, which she believed sent students, particularly girls, gendered and patriarchal messages of social positions. Second, she described a number of practices in the traditional physical education program, which she believed contributed further to girls' disempowerment. Finally, this teachers' stance in the political structure of the school both constrained and enhanced the development of her understanding of gender. Findings are discussed in relation to feminist theoretical stances and feminist teacher knowledge development.     

Differential Treatment of Whole Classes by a University Dance Teacher

abstract

The purpose of this case study was to examine whether a university dance teacher treated students in two dance classes differentially. Based on instructor feedback results, it was found that students were treated differentially. Students in the beginning jazz class received less instructive feedback than students in the beginning modern dance class. Data were collected through informal interviews and analysed following tenets of qualitative research. Themes which emerged from the interviews included the teacher's teaching philosophy, her style of teaching, her preference for one dance style over the other, her physical limitations, and the mixture of student abilities. It was suggested that this differential treatment was the result of the teacher viewing the two classes differently through her own lenses composed of her beliefs, curricular knowledge, values, movement preferences, and experiences as a student herseff. Findings from this study have relevance for teacher educators, dance teachers, and pre‐service teachers. The importance of personal teaching philosophy, teaching style, preference for a specific dance style, and specific movement preferences cannot be overlooked as factors affecting one's teaching. When these factors impact instructive feedback negatively then alternative measures must be considered to enhance the teaching‐learning environment.     

Physical Education Teacher Role Identification Instrument

Abstract

A teacher competency questionnaire consisting of 89 statements was designed to elicit responses on the degree of importance assigned to various professional competencies that a female teacher of high school physical education might be expected to possess. The questionnaire's content validity was established by a detailed review of the appropriateness and inclusiveness of the statements in light of related literature and by an examination of the instrument by a panel of competent judges. Test-retest reliability was determined by field-testing the instrument on a group of subjects that included both undergraduate physical education major students and their faculty. Pearson product moment correlations of test-retest scores for each subject yielded a reliability coefficient of .99. The questionnaire may prove useful in identifying the role of the female high school physical education teacher and in determining the role expectations held for her by various groups of university and public school personnel involved in the teacher education process.     

Recent Influences on the Training of Physical Education Teachers in England and Wales

abstract

There are many factors which impinge on the training of physical education teachers. These include factors in the internal environment, such as changes of philosophy impacting on the curriculum, and factors in the external environment most notably those relating to the political, social and economic context. Recent changes in the political environment in England and Wales have had an obvious and major impact on physical education. This paper considers the effects of some of these changes on physical education teacher training, for example, the increase in the amount of time students must spend in schools as part of initial teacher training, the introduction of the National Curriculum and the introduction of the Teacher Training Agency. The paper examines some of the implications of these changes, particularly with regard to the extent to which the political environment may be limiting the effectiveness of initial teacher training programmes to adequately prepare teachers to achieve the aim of developing a physically educated population.     

What should a physical education teacher know? An analysis of learning outcomes for future physical education teachers in Sweden

Background: Research indicates that physical education teacher education (PETE) has only limited impact on how physical education (PE) is taught in schools. In this paper, our starting point is that the difficulties of challenging the dominating subject traditions in PE could be due to difficulties of challenging certain epistemological assumptions recurring in significant PETE subject matter and didactics courses.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to scrutinise how knowledge is expressed in learning outcomes formulated in curriculum documents at PETE institutions in Sweden and to discuss the potential educational consequences of the epistemological assumptions underlying the analysed expressions of knowledge.

Setting and participants: This paper offers possible explanations for the difficulties of influencing subject traditions in PE through analysing learning outcomes formulated in PETE curriculum documents. The analysis is based on 224 learning outcomes collected from a total of 18 course syllabi, spread at 6 PETE institutions in Sweden.

Research design, data collection and analysis: The documents have been collected through contact by e-mail with representatives for each institution. Through the analysis different themes in the material have been identified and clustered together. Inspired by Fenstermacher's ideas about teacher knowledge as propositional knowledge and performance knowledge, our ambition is to discuss the potential educational consequences of the epistemological assumptions underpinning the analysed learning outcomes.

Findings: In the collected learning outcomes, the following themes were identified: teaching PE, interpreting curriculum documents, physical movement skills, science, social health, pedagogy, critical inquiry, and research methods. In most of the identified themes, the learning outcomes represent both subject matter knowledge and general teacher knowledge and are also formulated with an integrated perspective on so-called performance knowledge and propositional knowledge. However, particularly in the themes science and physical movement skills, two very influential themes, the learning outcomes are limited to subject matter knowledge and the concept of knowledge in these themes is also limited and unilateral in relation to ideas of different forms of teacher knowledge.

Conclusions: We argue that a decontextualisation of knowledge, in this paper identified through dissolving science from its use in practice and through detaching physical movement skills from other conceptual foundations, contributes to the reproduction of subject traditions that render PE teachers incapable of critically reflecting over their practice, for instance how different groups of students benefit or suffer from the teaching of certain content. Drawing on the work of Tinning, we offer an explanation as to how teacher knowledge in the themes science and physical movement skills, emanating from behaviouristic and craft knowledge orientations, is formulated.     

One Teacher’s Experience of Teaching Physical Education and Another School Subject: An Inter-Role Conflict?

Purpose: This study was situated within a longitudinal study of 5 teachers examining the realities of teaching physical education by determining the impact of individual dispositions and contextual factors on the career trajectories of postprimary physical education teachers in Ireland (Iannucci & MacPhail, 2017). One of these participants, Jane, was examined in this study to gain a greater understanding of the realities and tensions experienced by a postprimary teacher enacting 2 distinct sets of role expectations when teaching physical education and another school subject concurrently. Method: Data reported in this article were collected through a semistructured interview and living graph. An interpretative framework was used for analysis, assessing Jane’s perceived meanings of the identified critical incidents in relation to role theory. Results: Teachers timetabled with physical education and another subject concurrently may be expected to navigate and negotiate 2 distinctly different roles within the school community causing difficulty in assuming both roles simultaneously. Short narratives were used to convey 2 themes: (a) role prioritization and (b) role performance. Conclusion: The study results suggest that the already complex and multifaceted role of a school teacher (Richards, Templin, Levesque-Bristol, & Blankenship, 2014) seems to be further complicated when teachers are tasked with simultaneously teaching physical education and another school subject. With the presence of a role conflict management strategy such as role prioritization (Stryker, 1968), one can presume that teachers who are tasked with teaching physical education and another school subject may experience some level of role conflict.     

Factors Affecting the Creation of a New Ecology in a Boys-Only Physical Education Class at a Military School

Abstract

This study describes the changes which occurred in the instructional ecology of a boys' physical education class with a change of teacher. Moreover, it examines the critical incidences which promoted and inhibited that teacher's attempts to change the accountability system of the class from one of attendance and minimal participation to one of performance quality. Twenty-two eighth and ninth grade boys participated in a 6-week program of physical activity with the researcher as the new teacher. Through an action research methodology, using the teacher's reflective accounts of lessons together with formal and informal interviews with the students, it was determined that three factors were critical in the change process: the students' previous history with the subject, the nature of the set tasks, and the emotional climate of the class.     

Teachers' perceptions of in-service teacher training to support curriculum change in physical education: The Hong Kong experience

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an in-service training program and understand teachers' receptivity to curriculum change in physical education. A total of 183 primary school teachers were recruited as participants on a voluntary basis. They were asked to respond to a questionnaire about their receptivity to changes in the current physical education curriculum as well as their views on the effectiveness of a teacher development program that was organized by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The results showed that the participants felt that in-service training was needed to equip them to implement a physical education program in line with the curriculum reform. The in-service training program was deemed to be practical and effective, bringing about good communication among school teachers, educational experts, and government curriculum officers. In terms of their receptivity to curriculum change, the participants generally had positive attitudes to the innovation and showed further support for the change after attending the program. The role of the principal and the need for school support for the reform are discussed in the concluding section.     

Creating a Culturally Relevant Curriculum for Disengaged Girls

ABSTRACT

Findings from physical education research conducted over the last two decades suggest that girls' experiences in and perceptions of physical education in many team sport‐based programs are less than satisfactory. Team sports taught within a traditional multi‐activity format often permit dominant aggressive male players to control the game, marginalizing and alienating low‐skilled girls and boys. This paper critiques the circumstances often found in sport based physical education and reports the use of an innovative approach to team‐sport curriculum entitled, ‘Sport for Peace’, to enhance girls' levels of engagement and satisfaction in urban high school physical education. In this research, seven teachers and 15 girls were involved in the curriculum innovation in three urban high schools. Teachers trained and mentored using the curriculum implemented the program in two classes in each school. The implementation process was described using observation protocols and the teachers and girls were interviewed formally at the conclusion of the observation period. Data were analysed using constant comparison. Findings suggested that the Sport for Peace curriculum improved the sport environment for girls by enhancing their perceptions of success, promoting ownership of the sport content and the class processes, creating authentic cooperative environments for boys and girls, and encouraging the use of second chances to promote understanding and learning. Boys' altitudes towards girls' ability and motivation became more positive and girls indicated that they enjoyed participating with boys in these sport programs. The findings were analysed within Ladson‐Billings' conceptualization of culturally responsive

     

Interpretation and enactment of Senior Secondary Physical Education: pedagogic realities and the expression of Arnoldian dimensions of movement

Background: New curriculum developments present opportunities for established thinking and practice in physical education to be reaffirmed or challenged in government, professional and institutional arenas. The introduction of a new official text for the Victorian Certificate of Education Physical Education [VCEPE] in 2011 provided a prompt for renewed debate about the ways in which ‘multiple ways of knowing' could prospectively find expression in senior secondary physical education. Previous analysis of the new VCEPE official text and associated assessment requirements led to a prediction that a theoretical–practical binary may well be reaffirmed amidst implementation of the new course in schools, such that senior secondary physical education (SSPE) in Victorian schools may remain an essentially propositional/theoretical subject.

Purpose: This paper reports on research that has pursued this prediction and specifically explored the expression of Arnold's three dimensions of education in, through and about movement, in teachers’ interpretation and enactment of the new VCEPE Study Design. The research sought to pursue the potential for originality and creativity in SSPE amidst the introduction of a new official curriculum text, examine factors facilitating or limiting this and document the ‘pedagogic realities’ of SSPE in Victorian schools.

Methodology: The study used a case study approach, involving two government and two independent secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. Data gathered from teacher interviews, classroom observations and documentary sources in 2012–2013 are reported. Analysis pursued internal and external factors framing the curriculum and pedagogical practices prominent in enactment of the new course in the case study schools, and the individual and collective representation of Arnold's three dimensions of movement in the schools’ curriculum and teachers’ pedagogical practices.

Findings: The findings reveal complexities and tensions associated with the representation of new curriculum policy in school curriculum and teachers’ pedagogic practices. Attention is drawn to ways in which the interplay between official texts, accompanying assessment requirements, other professional texts and the wider educational context variously shape the ‘pedagogic realities’ of the VCEPE in practice. The discussion explains how this interplay influences (and limits) the expression of Arnold's dimensions in VCEPE.

Implications: This paper reaffirms previous work in SSPE that has highlighted the need for conceptual coherence between curriculum texts and assessment frameworks. This research directs attention to opportunities for development of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment, through both official and professional channels, in ways that facilitate teachers’ professional learning about the potential expression of Arnold's dimensions in VCEPE. It also calls for curriculum authorities, professional learning associations and teacher education institutions to work more coherently to be at the fore of thinking about pedagogic possibilities in senior secondary physical education.     

大学体育课程改革问题剖析

走进当今大学体育课程,针对课程目标的细化、平等（教师与学生、学生个体与个体）概念对教育主体与客体的迷惑,理论研究与课程实施对象和实践环境的不和谐,对终结性评价的盲目否定等现状,从体育课程文化的传承与促进人的发展出发,提出了以教师为主体和丰富课程内容、构建新的课程评价体育的观点.     

The Korean national curriculum for physical education: a shift from edge to central subject

Background: Within the last half century, the Korean national curriculum has undergone seven periods of reform, each at intervals of just 6–8 years. The most recent ‘seventh curriculum’ was developed in 1997, and implemented in schools from 2001. Continual curriculum change has been driven by national and social needs, keeping in line with the philosophical and theoretical positions popular in the field of education. The main theme for the seventh curriculum that sets it apart from previous curriculum reform is it is a ‘differentiated curriculum.'

Purpose: This study is intended to reflect and analyze the historical change of the Korean National Curriculum for Physical Education (KNCPE) over the past 60 years, covering the first through to the seventh curriculum reform phases, and then to propose the shaping and future directions of physical education (PE) national curriculum in Korea in a context of demonstrable global academic achievement among other neoliberal concerns.

Discussion and conclusions: Fifteen years have passed since the inception of this ‘new’ curriculum. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate its educational effects. Nevertheless, the results are unclear and many problems exist in this area. First, PE is still regarded as a minor subject area compared with other subjects such as mathematics or science. Second, major philosophies and principles employed to construct the framework for movement activities are heavily based on Western concepts and approaches. And lastly, many students are still physically unfit and passive in their daily life suggesting that the curriculum messages have not been effective. Now, further change is needed to refocus the PE curriculum, arguing that PE in Korea is at a curriculum cross-roads.     

‘I took this picture because … ’: accessing teachers' depictions of change

Background: Achieving teacher change and the lofty goals of educational reform initiatives necessitates professional development (PD) designed to help teachers rethink their practice. A key implication for physical education, therefore, is that PD must be organized in ways that utilize teachers' voice, providing opportunities for teachers to build or extend their own capacity to engage in ongoing learning. Yet, while the desired outcome of PD is capacity-building resulting in teacher change, teachers' needs and interests remain largely ignored.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the potential of using participatory visual methods as a pedagogical and methodological tool to facilitate teacher articulation of change. Specifically, we sought to understand teachers' depictions of their own change.

Theoretical framework: The project was grounded in constructivist learning theory as the pedagogical use of visual methods provided teachers a way to understand, interpret, and think about the curriculum change and their teaching.

Participants and setting: Four physical education teachers, all female, were the participants.

Data sources: Data sources included (a) participants' digital photographs, (b) photo-elicitation interviews, and (c) field notes from observations of all PD sessions, conference presentations, and multiple lessons taught by the teachers.

Data analysis: Data were analyzed using two distinct yet overlapping processes derived from grounded theory: open and axial coding.

Findings: Visual methods allowed participants to articulate three distinct changes as a result of the curriculum development PD process: (a) changes in practice, (b) changes to interpersonal working relationships, and (c) intrapersonal changes. First, the use of visual methods allowed these teachers to identify four multidimensional student learning-focused changes to their teaching practice: outcomes based instruction, increased and differentiated practice, deliberate focus on the affective domain, and assessment to document learning. Second, changes to interpersonal working relations as a result of the curriculum development were documented. These changes provided the initial forum for collaboration as well as solidarity among the teachers to complete a defined task. Third, empowered by their increased skills and knowledge, these teachers experienced intrapersonal changes as they embraced their roles as teachers, professionals, and leaders. All four teachers expressed increased sense of self as a result of their changes in curriculum, assessment, and approach to teaching.

Conclusions: These teachers accomplished a great deal as they departed from what they knew well to try new practices and strategies. The use of visual methods documented this complex process. This study has several implications for the use of visual methods. The first is their value as a way for teachers to discuss their own learning and reflect on their practice. Second, the use of photographs and associated photo-elicitation interviews served as a valid research tool which successfully accessed teachers' implicit learning. Finally, a combination of methodologies provided different, yet complimentary information about teachers' depictions of change.     

Participation Profiles and Socialisation into Dance Among Non‐Professional Dancers

Abstract

The study was designed to determine how individuals become socialised into folk, competitive ballroom, ballet and modern dance through an investigation of background variables, the influence of significant others and the participation profiles of dancers, and the identification of those socialization and involvement variables that best discriminate among different groups of dancers.

The subjects were 308 adolescent and adult dancers of at least 16 years of age who had pursued their main dance form for a minimum of three years. The data were collected by questionnaire, supplemented with some additional data gathered through personal interviews. Differences between the four dance groups were analysed using t‐test, Chi Square analyses, analyses of variance, Scheffe's multiple‐range test and discriminant analysis.

Most subjects were from the middle or upper socio‐economic classes. Most art dancers were women while social dancers displayed a more even distribution of sexes. Ballet dancers were youngest and ballroom dancers oldest when they started dancing. Mother's influence was significant among those who had started dancing at a young age while a friend of the same sex was influential among all respondents regardless of the age at which they had taken up dancing. Among men the influence of a friend of the opposite sex was also significant. The involvement of other family members in dance correlated most strongly with folk dancing, least strongly with modern dance. The dance teacher or coach was perceived as the most encouraging person in every dance form.

The most wide‐ranging past and present dance activities were found among modern dancers. The variables which best discriminated between dance forms were starting age, the variety of present dance activities and the intensity of practising one's main dance form. Such differences in socialisation into different dance forms should be taken into account when developing dance and dance teacher education curricula, teaching dance and planning recreational dance activities.

     

The influence of stretching and warm‐up exercises on Achilles tendon reflex activity

The aim of this study was to investigate the acute effects of prior exercise (warm‐up and stretching) on the electromyographic and force output of mechanically elicited triceps surae reflexes. Fifty male subjects performed eight reflex experiments under each of three successive conditions in one session: (1) no prior exercise, (2) after static stretching of the passive triceps surae (3 min) and (3) after a 10‐min warm‐up run on a treadmill. Tendon tap reflex force was elicited in the triceps surae of the right leg by means of a standardized reflex hammer and measured in a custom‐built fixture. Electromyographic (EMG) signals were recorded with surface electrodes over the medial head of the gastrocnemius (G) and the soleus (S). Low coefficients of variation within subjects contrasted with high between‐subject variations, indicating highly individual reflex characteristics. After stretching, reductions in the peak force (‐5%; P < 0.05), the force rise rate (‐8%; P < 0.01), the half relaxation rate (‐5%; N.S.), the EMG amplitudes (G, ‐16%; S, ‐17%; P < 0.01) and integrals (G, ‐15%; S, ‐18%; P < 0.01), and an increase in EMG latencies (G, +3%; S, +1%; P < 0.01), were found compared with the values obtained without prior exercise. After running, the peak force reached the values obtained without prior exercise (‐2%; N.S.), the force rise rate and half relaxation rate increased by 8 and 12%, respectively (P < 0.01), and the impulse (force‐time integral; ‐12%), EMG amplitudes (G, ‐20%; S, ‐23%; P < 0.01), integrals (G, ‐18%; S, ‐23%; P < 0.01) and latencies (G, ‐1%; S, ‐2%; P < 0.01) decreased significantly. The changes in the force characteristics observed after the stretching treatment indicate improved muscle compliance that might reduce the risk of injury. On the other hand, the changes after the additional warm‐up run had a more pronounced influence with regard to improved force development and a decreased EMG activity, which can be viewed as a performance‐enhancing effect.     

Importance of Selected Competencies and Relationship to Corresponding Coursework in Programs of Teacher Preparation

Abstract

This investigation utilized factor analytic procedures to identify areas of coursework perceived as important for undergraduate majors in teacher preparation to acquire. Nonparametric correlation procedures were then used to compare the importance attributed to identified factors with the status of corresponding course offerings. A sample of 546 physical educators responsible for teacher preparation programs at four year colleges/universities responded to two separate questionnaires: (1) a Comptency Questionnaire concerning the importance of 20 selected competencies for future teachers to attain, and (2) a Content Questionnaire which determined the courses offered and their status in each curriculum. The analysis of data revealed three factors which accounted for 41% of the total variance in the importance attributed to competencies. The three factors (in order of mean scores of importance) were Science of Movement, Pedagogy, and Coaching. Kendall's Tau correlation procedure between factors of competencies and corresponding status of courses resulted in low coefficients ranging from .15 for Science of Movement to .22 for Pedagogy. It was concluded that the courses offered in programs of teacher preparation are not determined according to the importance attributed related competencies.     

Do as we do and not as we say: teacher educators supporting student teachers to learn on teaching practice

This paper reports data from a larger study into the ways in which Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students engaged in professional learning during teaching practice (TP) in Ireland. The study comprised one umbrella case study of Greendale University, schools and PETE students that consisted of five individual cases: tetrads of PETE student teacher, cooperating teacher (CT), University tutor (UT) and School Principal (SP). Each tetrad was defined as a unique community of practice located within the wider structures of school, education and university policies on teacher education. Data were collected over one academic year using qualitative research methods and grounded theory as a systematic data analysis tool.

Findings indicate that in each of the five cases, support for PETE student learning was, to some degree, dysfunctional. In particular, it became evident that there were two conflicting teacher-learning curricula in operation. The official curriculum, expressed in policy and by SPs, UTs and CTs (also referred to as mentors), valued a PETE student who cared for pupils, had a rich pedagogical content knowledge, knew how to plan for and assess pupils’ learning, valued reflection, and was an active member of a community of practice. The unofficial but essentially more powerful enacted curriculum, encouraged PETE students to draw upon their own resources to learn pedagogical content knowledge in an isolated and unsupported manner.

The data highlight the force of the unofficial curriculum and the ways in which PETE students were guided to the core of the dysfunctional community of practice by untrained CTs (mentors) and untrained UTs. PETE students in this study learned to survive in a largely unsupportive professional learning environment and, just as theories of social reproduction intimate, indicated that they would reproduce this practice with PETE students in their care in the future.

The findings suggest that in cases similar to those studied, there is a need for teacher educators in Ireland, (in both universities and schools) to critically interrogate their personal practices and implicit theories of teacher education and to engage in training for their role. There is also evidence to suggest that PETE students in Ireland could benefit from the development of school–university partnerships that act as fundamental units of high quality professional learning. In the cases studied, this may have led to a stronger focus on the intended or official curriculum of TP, led by the revised maxim: ‘Do as we say and as we do’.     

Media systems and their effects on women's sport participation in Taiwan

Much of the research on teachers' work is informed by role theory that assumes teachers' identity is largely ascribed. When there are inconsistencies in teachers' and others' expectations for different occupational roles such as physical education teacher and sports coach, 'role conflict' is said to occur. This study sought to investigate if role conflict was a major concern for Australian physical education teacher/coaches. Findings, informed by case studies with five teacher/coaches, challenge the assumption that moving between professional responsibilities causes role conflict. Rather, in moving across contexts, the physical education teachers managed inconsistencies in ways that resulted in positive and rewarding work experiences.