Reflecting on the moral bases of critical pedagogy in PETE: toward a Foucaultian perspective on ethics and the care of the self

In teacher education and in physical education teacher education (PETE), the possibilities and pitfalls of critical pedagogy (CP) for transforming society have been frequently debated. From these debates, it has become quite clear that the lines separating ‘technocrats’ from ‘radicals’ are so strongly drawn that limit the advance of PETE. In the spirit of collegiality, we offer an alternative approach to CP based on Foucault's genealogical work on the History of Sexuality. It promotes a pedagogical perspective toward the development of ethics and the care of the self. We argue that this approach, far from discrediting what non-critical pedagogues do, can not only advance the practice of CP, but also open up new ways of conceptualizing PETE that are worth considering both by critical pedagogues and by the members of other pedagogical camps. We discuss the implications of this approach in the personal, social–professional and political spheres.     

The politics of pleasure: an ethnographic examination exploring the dominance of the multi-activity sport-based physical education model

Kirk warns that physical education (PE) exists in a precarious situation as the dominance of the multi-activity sport-techniques model, and its associated problems, threatens the long-term educational survival of PE. Yet he also notes that although the model is problematic it is highly resistant to change. In this paper, we draw on the results of a year-long visual ethnography at an all-boys secondary school in Aotearoa New Zealand to examine the workings of power that legitimate this model of PE. Our findings illustrate that the school conflates PE and sport, to position PE as an appropriate masculine endeavour and valued source of enjoyment, as it articulates with good health, social development and competitiveness. We argue that student experiences of pleasure within PE—as co-constitutive with discourses of fitness, health, sport and masculinity—(re)produce the multi-activity sport-based form of PE as educationally appropriate and socioculturally relevant, thus making the model somewhat resistant to change. We stress that our study should not be read as a vindication of this PE model.     

Telling physical education teacher education tales through pedagogical case studies

This paper analyses two pedagogical case studies (PCS) from a multidisciplinary perspective to highlight the problems of theoretical knowledge in tertiary physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes, school-based physical education (PE) practice and continuous professional learning (CPL) in PE. We argue that a critical view of tertiary PETE and PE teacher educator CPL practice or practices is particularly important if PETE programmes want to develop future PE and current teacher practitioners who are transformative agents. In setting up the pedagogical case study accounts, we recall common conversations about the bodies of knowledge in tertiary PETE programmes that have been positioned as problematic. The accounts highlight the existence of an artificial divide between PE educators as theory generators and both pre-service PE teachers and school-based PE practitioners as theory appliers. We suggest that part of the reason why this divide exists can be attributed to a general misunderstanding of theoretical and practical knowledge that have been wrongly compartmentalised into ‘theory’ and ‘practice’, and hence erroneously taught as isolated entities without any connection or direct link with each other, or the former considered to be less relevant and perhaps even irrelevant in practice.     

Inclusive and accessible physical education: rethinking ability and disability in pre-service teacher education

This paper identifies and explores emergent themes in inclusive PE in the specific context of pre-service teacher preparation programs. Fully inclusive PE encompasses four areas: knowledge and curricula related to ability and disability, teacher attitudes, pre-service teacher education and a reframing of our understandings of multiple perspectives on physical literacy. Fully accessible PE involves material and attitudinal conditions configured to render these programs actually usable by all those whose ‘inclusion’ is intended. Access is, indeed, conceptually implied in ‘inclusion’, however, in practice the latter can easily become more of a slogan naming an aspiration than a realizable state of affairs. Unless an organization or individual brings a universal commitment to access, attitudinal barriers may prevent full inclusion from becoming a reality. The paper uses qualitative case study methodology to examine pre-service teacher education students’ preconceptions about ‘dis’ability and analyses heuristically how pre-service teachers pre-conceived notions of ability and disability may be challenged through an intervention. 21C PE programs can move towards an emphasis on inclusive activities which are not based on traditional conceptions of physical competence, size, shape, appearance and ability, but instead focus on how all bodies can develop fundamental movement skills, functional fitness and physical literacy. The author challenges pre-service students to address issues of accessibility, normative notions of ability, body equity, social justice and inclusion, as well as the need for multiple definitions of physical literacy. The paper is a case study of the specific phenomenon of ‘broadening student teachers’ understandings of ability and disability in PE’ as a necessary condition for preparing students to work in schools where full inclusion may not have been integral to PE policies, programs and practices.     

Narrative inquiry in physical education research: the story so far and its future promise

At a recent international education conference, current life history and narrative research within Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) was criticised for its seeming inability to ‘produce anything new’ and for lacking ‘rigour’. This paper aims to respond to the criticism and to reassert the strengths of narrative inquiry in the current moment. It maps out narrative and life history research (published in English) carried out in PETE, illuminating a spectrum of narrative approaches and a richness of theoretical perspectives. It underscores the need for PETE scholars to acknowledge the broad range of philosophical assumptions about knowledge and how we come to know as this underpins all research, whether carried out within a qualitative or quantitative research tradition, and to develop a climate of mutual respect for these various positions if we are to avoid stagnation, hegemony or blind spots in our research agendas.     

新形势下高校体育教师职业道德研究

跨入新世纪,我们有必要用超前眼光,对新形势下我国高校体育教师应具备的职业道德进行分析与探讨,规范体育教师职业的必要性,提高体育教师职业道德的水准,道德在体育教师中的体现,以促进高校体育事业良性发展。     

Points of tension and possibility: boundaries in and of physical education

This article offers a conceptually based commentary that addresses a longstanding dilemma for physical education, of what theoretical insights can usefully be pursued as a basis for advancing physical education curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. It utilises the work of Basil Bernstein to argue that structural and symbolic boundaries are key to understanding and productively engaging with stability and change in physical education. Relations between curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are examined in terms of their linkages with legitimate knowledge structures and knowledge relations in/of physical education, and in turn, with equity in physical education. While curriculum, pedagogy and assessment are each identified as important avenues for critically informed pedagogic action, the collective dynamic is identified as over-riding any single influence. Furthermore, that dynamic is shown to be inseparable from the knowledge structures in/of physical education.     

Organizational justice and commitment in interscholastic sports

The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of three organizational justice dimensions on the commitment of high school student athletes (N?=?480) to continue playing a referent sport. The athletes were asked to complete an instrument designed to assess their perceived levels of justice displayed by their coaches in three justice dimensions—procedural justice, distributive justice and interpersonal justice. The findings indicated that justice perceptions did significantly (p?<?0.05) influence their intent to continue playing a specific sport. Further analyses found fairness perceptions differed significantly (p?<?0.05) when considering the students’ grade level, gender and referent sport, while no differences existed based upon the race of the student athletes. These findings provide insight into organizational justice in sport.     

Complex and nonlinear pedagogy and the implications for physical education

There is increasing support to describe and examine the teaching of game skills in physical education from a complex and nonlinear perspective. The emergence of game behaviours as a consequence of the dynamic interactions of the learner, the game environment and the task constraints within the game context highlights the nonlinear and complex nature of how learning of game skills can occur. While there is increasing recognition that teaching and learning should be seen from a complex and nonlinear perspective, the challenge is to provide teachers with ideas on how to deliver lessons and activities that are underpinned by specific pedagogical practices from this perspective and in alignment with emerging curricular guidelines. In this paper, key features of complex and nonlinear pedagogy are discussed and exemplified through a Singaporean PE context. Practical implications are shared on how lessons/activities (soccer) based on aspects of complex and nonlinear pedagogy can be delivered in the school.     

Imploding the boundaries of transformative/critical pedagogy and research in physical education and sport pedagogy: looking inward for (self-)consciousness/knowledge and transformation

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the concept of ‘transformative pedagogy’ (TP) in physical education and sport pedagogy (PESP) and research in order to provide an alternative perspective on freedom, justice and the limits of transformation. Although some of the limits of TP have already been pointed out in the literature, such limits have been presented as though originating and having to be resolved out there, in socio-cultural–political contexts. In an attempt to redirect the attention from the social to the personal, this paper points out the possibility of TP's limits being also within critical pedagogues and researchers ourselves. After analyzing three barriers to (self-)consciousness/knowledge (SC/K), two viable methods for developing SC/K and transformation are provided.     

An appreciative inquiry exploring game sense teaching in physical education

This paper reports on research framed as a strengths-based appreciative inquiry (AI) into the use of a game sense (GS) approach for sport and games teaching in physical education (PE). The aim of this research was to find the elements which sustain teachers in the use of a GS approach. This is particularly pertinent given strong advocacy for GS as a preferred sport pedagogy but slow acceptance in Australian PE. Through the story of experience that emerged the common elements giving ‘life’ to the PE teachers' pedagogical practice, and thus sustaining the use of GS teaching, is illuminated. AI has not been previously used to case study games and sport teaching in schools generally and a GS approach specifically. Further research examining the long-term and accumulated benefits of AI for qualitative PE pedagogical is proposed, as is further investigation of teachers' experience with a GS approach from primary to secondary PE teaching.     

Physical education teacher education in Norway: the perceptions of student teachers

A feature of academic literature on physical education teacher education (PETE) is the expectation that it can and should impact upon student teachers' beliefs and prospective practices in some significant ways. This is despite research over the last 20 years or more alluding to the apparent failure of PETE to ‘shake or stir’ (Evans et al., 1996) what might be termed the (typically conservative and conventional) pre-dispositions of student and early career PE teachers. In this article, we examine the perceptions of PE student teachers in Norway in order to ascertain just what it is that makes them so resistant to change and, for that matter, such infertile ground for sowing the seeds of reflexivity. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 41 PE student teachers from the three routes through teacher education available at Nord University College (Nord UC). Among the main themes identified in the data were the PE students' perceptions of: the purposes (and ostensible benefits) of school PE and PETE as well as the nature of PETE itself (including subsidiary themes of sporting and teaching skills, other ‘competencies’, school placements, mentoring and mentors, PETEs' (physical education teacher educators) teaching styles and the students teachers' relationships with the PETEs). The article concludes that, as far as the students at Nord UC were concerned, the significance of PETE revolved around the programme's efficacy in developing the sporting skills and teaching techniques they viewed as central to their preparation for teaching. The minimal impact of the more theoretical aspects of PETE appeared to be partly attributable to the students' perceptions of PE as synonymous with sport in schools and partly to their particularly pragmatic orientations towards PETE. In this vein, the students viewed experience as the most important, most legitimate ‘evidence’ on which to base their beliefs and practices and were resistant to the ‘theory’ of teacher education, rationalising their tendencies to select the evidence that suited them.     

Providers,consumers and the horizons of the possible: a case study of marketization and physical education teacher education pedagogical discourse

Framed within a shift from a highly centralized system of higher education (HE) to a de-regulated system in Norway, this article addresses how the foci upon student recruitment and incentives in the governmental funding of HE have stimulated market dynamics which affect local configurations of bachelor degrees in sport, physical education and outdoor pursuits, which in turn, can affect the content knowledge of physical education teacher education (PETE) degree. Analyzing data generated via in-depth interviews with Deans and Heads of programs at three significant national providers in the field of HE sport and physical education, this article illuminates how marketization permeates the communication of education values and, thus, the institutional pedagogical discourse. This article problematizes the ways in which PETE pedagogical discourse currently reflects market values embedded in new managerialism in local strategies to recruit students at university colleges in Norway, rather than educational or professional values.     

Predicting motivational regulations in physical education: the interplay between dispositional goal orientations,motivational climate and perceived competence

In this study, we examined the main and interactive effects of students' goal orientations, perceived competence and perceptions of the motivational climate on the motivational styles advanced by self-determination theory. The participants were 328 British secondary school students aged 13.6±0.6 years (mean±s). Moderated hierarchical regression analyses revealed task orientation, perceived competence and perceptions of a mastery climate to be positive predictors of self-determined styles of motivation. Perceived competence in physical education was negatively associated with amotivation. Significant interaction effects for mastery climate×task orientation and for ego orientation×perceived competence emerged. The results indicate that: (1) for students endorsing a high task orientation, the perception that the class climate was high in mastery cues was associated with increased intrinsic motivation; and (2) for students high in ego orientation, the belief that one was competent increased, while perceptions of incompetence attenuated intrinsic motivation. Additionally, a three-way interaction between ego orientation, performance climate and perceived competence emerged. In light of achievement goal and self-determination frameworks, we propose that studying the potential interplay between both individual and situational goal perspectives and the moderating effect of perceived competence may further enhance our understanding of motivation in physical education.     

小学体育学习探析

本文以构成体育教学的四个基本要素 (即教师、教材、学生、媒介 )展开探析 ,认为教师转换视角和思维方式 ,对传统教学方法创造性突破将有利于让学生主动积极地进行体育学习 ,提高教学效果     

Learning movement culture: mapping the landscape between physical education and school sport

This article examines Movement Culture as an approach to support teachers in exploring the integration of Sport as a medium for learning within Physical Education. By avoiding the need to draw clearly defined lines between Physical Education and Sport, Movement Culture embraces both. It acknowledges the need for subject matter in Physical Education to reflect societal shifts towards greater individualisation and means of seeking self-realisation, through individual and collective movement practices. Movement Culture maintains the educational purpose of Physical Education by developing meaningful subject matter and contextualised learning that reflect contemporary and evolving participation in Sport. Structural components for two frameworks are developed from an analysis of learning within Movement Culture. The frameworks are then employed to explore potential subject matter drawn from Sport. It is argued the structure of these frameworks retain sufficient portability to different Sports or groups of Sports and thus track developments in Movement Culture. Such structures also have the potential to support a more coherent rationale for pedagogical practice across Physical Education curricula.     

Narratives from the road to social justice in PETE: teacher educator perspectives

Developing teacher education programmes founded upon principles of critical pedagogy and social justice has become increasingly difficult in the current neoliberal climate of higher education. In this article, we adopt a narrative approach to illuminate some of the dilemmas which advocates of education for social justice face and to reflect upon how pedagogy for inclusion in the field of physical education (PE) teacher education (PETE) is defined and practiced. As a professional group, teacher educators seem largely hesitant to expose themselves to the researcher's gaze, which is problematic if we expect preservice teachers to engage in messy, biographical reflexivity with regard to their own teaching practice. By engaging in self- and collective biographical story sharing about ‘our’ teacher educator struggles in England and Norway, we hope that the reader can identify ‘her/his’ struggles in the narratives about power and domination, and the spaces of opportunity in between.     

Goal orientations,self-determination and pupils' discipline in physical education

In this study, we examined the patterns of goal orientations, perceived competence, reasons for behaving well and self-reported discipline in school physical education among 511 pupils from years 8 and 9 (mean age 14.2 years). Cluster analyses were conducted on two randomly split subsamples to identify homogeneous groups of pupils on these measures of achievement motivation and discipline. Three meaningful clusters emerged for the first subsample, which were then cross-validated for the second subsample. One group of pupils revealed low scores on task and ego orientations, perceived competence and feelings of self-determination about their behaviour in lessons. These perceptions were related to lower ratings of discipline in physical education than pupils who scored more highly on these variables. The highest discipline scores were reported by pupils with high task and ego orientations, perceived competence and feelings of autonomy. The results are useful for teachers and other physical activity leaders in enhancing motivation and disciplined behaviour in young people. Promoting more self-determined reasons for being disciplined, for example, could lead to more orderly classes.     

Centralising space: the physical education and physical activity experiences of South Asian,Muslim girls

This paper explores the physical education (PE) and physical activity experiences of a group of South Asian, Muslim girls, a group typically marginalised in PE and physical activity research. The study responds to ongoing calls for research to explore across different spaces in young people's lives. Specifically, I draw on a ‘middle-ground’ approach, using Hill Collins' matrix of domination and the notion of intersectionality. These concepts offer the possibility to explore the kinds of settings (physical, social and cultural) in which girls undertake PE and physical activity, how these spaces influence experience and how the girls navigate these spaces. The study is based in a large, urban, co-educational, secondary school in Yorkshire, England (95% of the students are from minority ethnic communities, 91% are Muslim and 63% live in the top 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in the country). Data generation involved three phases: observations, creating research artefacts in focus groups and in-depth interviews. The findings reveal the diverse ways the girls are physically active. They also demonstrate a complexity to their involvement which is contingent upon space, discourses and people. For example, discourses of competition, ability and peers are more significant within PE; whilst family, religion and culture feature beyond this context. The paper concludes by acknowledging the girls' heterogeneity and agency in the ways they strategically navigate spaces in their quest to be physically active on their terms.