Looking back into trans persons’ experiences in heteronormative secondary physical education contexts

Background: School is one of the primary settings where non-gender conformer children and adolescents emerge as vulnerable groups at high risk of suffering violence and harassment. Within schooling contexts, embodied experiences in physical education (PE) may become particularly problematic for trans students. However, there is little research focusing on trans persons’s experiences in PE. The purpose of this paper is to gather memories and impressions of a group of adult trans persons on their experiences in secondary PE.

Theoretical framework: The concept of heteronormativity is used as a theoretical framework to provide insights and understanding to trans persons’s experiences in PE. It is used to characterize inequalities and hierarchies derived from the intersection of the dualistic logic of gender binarism with other social categories and ideologies. Heteronormative discourses also act regulating the way of looking at and over trans persons’ bodies, categorizing some of them as queer or abject.

Participants and methodology: Study is based on semi-structured interviews to nine participants (five trans women and four trans men) from 23 to 62 years of age. A thematic analysis was carried out in order to flexibly and directly identify interpretative patterns of meaning within data, as well as to open them to interpretative frameworks. The categories were grouped into four themes best gathering the experiences of participants in PE.

Results and discussion: (1) Hindering desired gender: In daily practices, participants felt in ‘the middle’ of activities, spaces and gender groups, experiencing aloofness, isolation and loneliness. Participants complained about the fact that they could not perform gender segregated activities with their desired gender group. PE teachers played an important role in supporting heteronormative system. (2) Preferences, aversions and opportunities: All participants experienced hegemonic forms of gender and sexuality linked to PE programme activities in different ways. For most trans boys, sport-based PE was their favourite subject, while trans girls found it particularly negative and demotivating. Exceptionally, some aesthetic and dance activities were recalled as nearly non-heterosexual practices. (3) Confronting transgression. Situations of stigmatization and bullying in PE were frequent as a result from situations in which gender norms were eventually transgressed. Teachers impeded any attempt of trans persons to overcome heteronormativity in PE lessons. (4) Intimacy struggles: Body intimacy was crucial for participants. Different strategies were used for the search of intimacy. Changing rooms were the most problematic spaces for trans students in educative contexts. The worse trans participants felt about their bodies, the more uneasy they felt in these facilities.

Conclusions and final comments: Heteronormative contexts strongly determined trans persons’ experiences in PE. Trans participants, especially those not performing gender conforming practices, were abjectified in PE lessons. This situation generated multiple forms of exclusion and rejection, as well as episodes of harassment. However, some practices counteracted the dominance of the heteronormative system, showing their potential to destabilize this ideology in PE.     

Outdoor play as a mean to achieve educational goals - a case study in a Portuguese day-care group

This study aims to explore the pedagogical potential of outdoor play situations, considering the educational goals established in the Portuguese Pedagogical Guidelines for 0–3-year-old children (ongoing work), namely development of a sense of security and positive self-esteem; development of curiosity and exploratory impetus; and development of social and communication skills. Following a qualitative methodology, during a period of 9 months, the outdoor play experiences of 14 children from a day-care centre were observed and monitored and the professionals were interviewed. The data shows that outdoor experiences can contribute to the achievement of the educational goals, enlarging opportunities for creative play, problem solving, experimentation, inquiry, dialogues and collaboration. The achievement of the educational goals is facilitated through supportive and positive relationships with adults and peers, provision for proper equipment, and contact with nature. This study offers a deep insight into how educational policies can be put into practice in the outdoor area.     

Combination of logical conditions and arithmetic operations to assign a mark to a course based on multidimensional learning outcomes

Assessment is a notorious source of preoccupation for faculty and university governing bodies, especially when an institution initiates curricular reforms which shift the programme learning outcomes for knowledge to competencies. One obstacle to acceptance arises from a culture of quantitative assessment (often represented by a single mark), which is at odds with the concept of outcome assessment which is by essence subjective, qualitative and multidimensional. The method presented here is specifically concerned with learning activities where students need to demonstrate competency in learning outcomes of different natures. It describes a methodological framework that can be used in any programme that aims at developing multidimensional learners, but operates in a context where the final assessment product is a single quantitative grade. This method follows a classical approach to the evaluation of each learning outcome. It then proposes an innovative way of ranking students by categorising their overall performance based on conditions that reflect the integral nature of the learning process, to allow teaching staff to assign a range of marks for each student. Finally, a last step allows a quantitative ranking of students within each category, yielding a single quantitative mark for the course while remaining coherent with the learning goals.     

Preschool policy and bilingual education in the United States

In 1976, Head Start introduced a “Strategy for Spanish-Speaking Children.” The strategy provided support in four areas of activity, which included: (1) Basic and applied research on the developmental progress of Spanish-speaking children; (2) Regional Resource Centers intended to provide access to bilingual/bicultural materials and assistance in their implementation; (3) Head Start staff training; and (4) Curriculum model development in two languages, permitting individualized instruction in either language, and incorporating multicultural resources that facilitate cognitive and social growth.The most significant outcome of the strategy for the Spanish-speaking has been the curriculum development effort and its accompanying evaluation. The remainder of this paper will describe the curriculum development effort, th evaluation results, and some policy implications for national efforts in bilingual education.     

Identifying Temporary and Permanent Gaps in Universal Service

This article examines the nature of the gap in household telephone penetration among Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics. By analyzing historic and current penetration levels of the radio, television, and telephone, it suggests that most information technology gaps are amalgamations of smaller socioeconomic trends and can be discerned and reduced only with careful historical analysis of both technology choices and living patterns. It proposes localized universal service strategies, since the penetration gaps are affected by a complex array of factors more particular to localities than to the country as a whole and as such must be investigated with rigor and caution if progress toward the elimination of penetration gaps is to occur.     

A conceptual framework to understand student volunteerism

Tertiary Education and Management - This paper develops a conceptual framework to understand the value of an increasing number of university study programmes that send students to the global south...     

Detection of Invalid Test Scores: The Usefulness of Simple Nonparametric Statistics

In recent guidelines for fair educational testing it is advised to check the validity of individual test scores through the use of person‐fit statistics. For practitioners it is unclear on the basis of the existing literature which statistic to use. An overview of relatively simple existing nonparametric approaches to identify atypical response patterns is provided. A simulation study was conducted to compare the different approaches and on the basis of the literature review and the simulation study guidelines for the use of person‐fit approaches are given.     

A Systematic Approach to Designing,Implementing, and Evaluating Learner-Generated Digital Media (LGDM) Assignments and Its Effect on Self-regulation in Tertiary Science Education

Research in Science Education - This study explored the self-regulation strategies and learning experiences of undergraduate science students completing Learner-Generated Digital Media (LGDM)...     

Perceived effects and uses of the national teacher evaluation system in Chilean elementary schools

This paper addresses the perceived consequences of the Chilean national teacher evaluation system. We interviewed 57 school leaders in 30 schools across 10 municipalities about effects and uses of the assessment in their schools. Results show that in the large majority of schools our interviewees observe positive effects such as increased teamwork and internal reflection processes based on the assessment results. Reports about effects at teacher level far outnumber institutional effects, and are mixed. In all schools our interviewees report on teachers’ negative emotions and work overload due to the assessment process, but also about their internalization of the underlying professional standards. The paper analyzes differences among schools and offers suggestions for the development of large-scale standardized teacher evaluation systems.     

Determinants and patterns of physical activity practice among Spanish university students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the socio-demographic and lifestyle determinants of physical activity practice, as well as the motivations for being or not being physically active in Spanish university students. A representative sample of students from a Spanish university (n = 2,051; 42.1% males; mean age 21.9, s = 4.8 years) participated in the present cross-sectional study. A questionnaire including questions regarding lifestyle, dietary habits, parents' characteristics, and physical activity habits was administered to the students. The socio-demographic and lifestyle determinants of physical activity practice were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. 68.4% of men and 48.4% of women reported to practise physical activity in the present sample. Those who practised physical activity consumed more fruits and were less likely to be smokers compared to non-physically active students. Also, physically inactive men spent more time in front of the computer and physically inactive women spent more time in front of the TV and were more likely to be frequent alcohol consumers. Maternal educational level and maternal physical activity habits were also important determinants of physical activity practice among men and women respectively. In conclusion, physically active students tended to engage in other healthy habits in the present population, suggesting the clustering of healthy or unhealthy lifestyle factors among specific subgroups.