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Purpose: To examine the influence of occupational socialization on the beliefs and actions of six sport pedagogy doctoral students (DSs) in terms of physical education (PE) teaching and physical education teacher education (PETE). Method: Data were collected with five qualitative techniques and analyzed by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. Results: DSs had conservative or liberal views about PE and endorsed hybrid forms of PETE, which included elements of the behavioristic, traditional/craft, and critical inquiry orientations. Patterns of socialization that shaped these beliefs and actions were both congruent and contrasting with those described in past research. Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of asking potential DSs about their beliefs and the forces that shaped those beliefs during recruitment. In addition, it indicates that the potency of doctoral education can be enhanced when it has a dual focus on PETE and research and when DSs experience it within a cohort.

Purpose: To determine the influence of an elementary methods course and early field experience on eight preservice teachers’ (PTs’) value orientations. Method: The theoretical perspective employed was occupational socialization. Data were collected with the short form of the value orientation inventory and five qualitative techniques (formal and informal interviews, nonparticipant observation, critical incidents, and stimulated recall). The value orientation inventory profiles for the instructor and PTs were visually inspected for similarities and changes. Analytic induction and constant comparison were employed to analyze the qualitative data. Results: Value orientations of PTs with teaching and moderate coaching orientations were influenced by the methods course and early field experience, while those of PTs with strong coaching orientations were not. Factors leading to this evolution were the curriculum model employed, the instructor, and PTs’ increased confidence and knowledge of students. Summary and Conclusions: The study highlights the importance of faculty facilitating reflection on connections between instructional models and value orientations and how these relate to PTs’ beliefs.

Purpose: To determine the impact of two preservice teachers’ value orientations on their interpretation and delivery of the skill themes approach. Method: The short form of the value orientations inventory and five qualitative techniques were used to collect data. Participants’ value orientations inventory profiles were illustrated graphically. Interpretive data were analyzed using analytic induction and constant comparison. Findings: Results from the short form of the value orientations inventory indicated that Meagan prioritized social responsibility, learning process, and disciplinary mastery, while Jared favored social responsibility, self-actualization, and ecological integration. Qualitative data largely supported these value orientation profiles and indicated that the preservice teachers’ approaches to teaching skill themes differed and were influenced by their pedagogical beliefs. Moreover, qualitative data illustrated how Meagan’s and Jared’s value orientations and interpretations of the skill themes approach had changed and developed. Conclusions: These findings emphasize the importance of preservice teachers engaging in philosophical reflection on the connections between their beliefs and their interpretations of curriculum models.

Purpose: To describe the influence of negotiations on instruction when preservice teachers taught elementary students using a skill theme approach. Methods: Participants were nine preservice teachers from one physical education teacher education program enrolled in a 9-week early field experience. They taught kindergarten, first-, and second-grade students (N = 203). Constructs from the ecology paradigm and previous research on negotiations guided data collection and analysis. Data were collected through nonparticipant observation, informal interviews, critical incident reflections, document analysis, and formal interviews. Deductive and inductive qualitative techniques were employed to code and categorize the data. Findings: A unique and mainly positive pattern of negotiations was revealed as were some new forms of negotiation. Students were also shown to initiate negative negotiations to change content they perceived as gender inappropriate. Conclusion: These findings could be used as the basis for educating preservice teachers to negotiate more effectively when teaching by skill themes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the patterns of teacher–student negotiation that occurred when preservice teachers (PTs) taught within the teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model.Method: The participants were seven PTs enrolled in an elementary early field experience. They taught three to four mini-units of TPSR. Seven qualitative techniques were employed to collect data, and standard interpretive techniques were used to analyze them.Results: Three general patterns of negotiation were identified. In the units taught by two of the PTs, the negotiations became more positive. For three of the PTs, the rates of negotiation were constant. In the units taught by the remaining two PTs, the negotiations became more negative. Key factors influencing the patterns of negotiation were PTs’ comprehension of and comfort with the TPSR model; class size; and students’ age, gender, and skill level.Conclusion: These findings may help faculty develop more nuanced and effective training for PTs learning to teach through TPSR.

Purpose: In this paper, we describe the study of one teacher as she attempted to purposefully negotiate the curriculum (e.g., goals, content, tasks, and evaluation) with one of her middle school classes. We used key concepts, constructs, and ideas from hegemonic masculinity and feminist theory to guide us in this endeavor. Method: We used seven qualitative techniques to gather data during an 18-lesson unit taught by the teacher Joanne to 37 girls. We employed standard interpretive methods during the analysis. Findings and Conclusions: Both high-skilled and low-skilled passive girls became more motivated to take part in physical education, although low-skilled girls generally had less voice in the negotiation process than their high-skilled peers. Key reasons for Joanne’s success were her skill, the support provided by the school’s leadership team, and the fact that the unit took place within a single-sex class. Conversely, the unit was constrained by Joanne’s and the girls’ socialization and Joanne’s focus on state and local standards.

Purpose: To describe the patterns of negotiation engaged in by preservice classroom teachers (PCTs) and their students during a physical education early field experience. Method: The participants were 16 PCTs enrolled in the early field experience. They taught a variety of content within six lessons to second- and fourth-grade students. Data were collected using six qualitative methods and analyzed using analytic induction and constant comparison. Results/Conclusions: Seven PCTs were relatively effective negotiators, whereas nine PCTs were relatively ineffective. The PCTs’ negotiation skills were influenced by their comfort with physical education, pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, and pedagogical content knowledge. The negotiations initiated by the PCTs and their students were similar to those described in previous studies. The type and amount of student-initiated negotiation was influenced by their gender, age, skill level, and content taught. The implications for preparing PCTs to teach physical education are discussed.

A growing body of research has suggested that teachers who give their students the opportunity to voice their opinions by purposefully negotiating the curriculum can improve engagement and realize ...

Purpose: To examine the impact of a physical education teacher’s age on students’ learning and perceptions of the teacher.Method: A total of 188 elementary students were randomly assigned to view one of two virtually identical filmed swimming lessons. In the young-appearance lesson, the teacher was youthful. In the middle-aged lesson, he had been aged by a theatrical make-up artist. Following the viewing of their assigned lesson, students completed an examination covering lesson content and a questionnaire about their perceptions of the teacher.Results: Inferential statistical tests indicated that students who watched the young-appearance lesson scored significantly higher on the examination and perceived the teacher to be significantly more likable, more competent, and a better role model than those who viewed the middle-aged lesson.Discussion: These findings could be interpreted as supporting either a sociological or psychological/developmental explanation for how and why students respond to and learn from older and younger physical educators.

Previous research on negotiations between physical education teachers and students has been purely qualitative. The purpose of this study was to produce a quantified negotiation profile for one preservice teacher (George) while he taught three sport education (SE) seasons. The specific research questions we attempted to answer were as follows: (a) What forms did negotiations between the preservice teacher and his students take during the SE seasons? (b) To what extent did negotiations take place across the SE seasons? (c) How did negotiations differ between grade levels? The 47 lessons in George’s 6th, 7th and 8th grade SE season on handball were filmed and coded with the negotiation instrument, an event-recording systematic observation instrument designed to classify and categorize negotiations as they occur. A number of descriptive analyses were completed and Kruskal–Wallis tests were employed to determine whether there were differences between grades. Results revealed that negotiations initiated by George and his students were relatively infrequent and that there were few differences between the SE seasons. The types and foci of the negotiations initiated by George and his students were similar to those described in previous qualitative studies, as were the tactics used to initiate the negotiations. The patterns were of the negotiations in this study were also similar to those in previous qualitative research focused on SE. Suggestions for future research and the use of the negotiation instrument as a training tool are made.

Background: Teaching for social good and inequity has been presented as needed in sport pedagogy research. However, very little is known how transformative pedagogical practices that teach for soci...

The purpose of this study was to describe sport pedagogy faculty members’ (FMs) efforts at engaging in transformative physical education teacher education (T-PETE). T-PETE stresses the importance o...

Previous research of why inexperienced adventure educators’ (AEs) think and teach as they do had provided findings that suggested how AE instructor education (AEIE) might be improved. The purpose of this study was to build on this work and determine how occupational socialization shaped the perspectives and practices of two experienced and expert AEs. Six qualitative techniques were used to collect data. Analysis involved using analytic induction and constant comparison to categorize these data. Categories were then collapsed into meaningful themes. Results revealed how the AEs’ acculturation, professional socialization, and organizational socialization led them to possess sophisticated and advanced but slightly differing perspectives on adventure education, pedagogies for teaching adventure education, and AEIE. Key factors in the development of these perspectives and practices were the AEs’ early and positive experiences of adventure and the outdoors and their master’s degree programs.

Few studies have focused on the issues older physical education (PE) teachers encounter which may limit their effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a PE teacher’s apparent age on high school pupils’ learning and perceptions of the teacher. Participants were 114 ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade pupils. They were randomly assigned to watch one of two virtually identical filmed swimming lessons taught by the same teacher. In the young-appearance lesson, the teacher taught as his normal and relatively youthful self. In the middle-aged lesson (MAL), his appearance had been aged by a theatrical makeup artist. Following the viewing of their assigned lesson, pupils completed an examination over lesson content and a questionnaire asking them about their perceptions of the teacher. Inferential statistical tests indicated that the pupils who watched the MAL perceived the teacher more favorably. Performance on the content examination was similar for pupils who watched either film. These findings provided support for a psychological/developmental explanation of how and why pupils respond to and learn from PE teachers of different ages.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to examine the influences of occupational socialization on 11 sport pedagogy internationally born faculty members’ (IFMs) perspectives and practices regarding physical education teaching and physical education teacher education (PETE). Method: Data sources were formal and informal interviews and documents illustrating the IFMs’ practices. They were analyzed using constant comparison and analytic induction. Findings and Conclusions: All of the IFMs’ possessed progressive teaching orientations and were committed to carrying out high-level PETE. There were few differences between the current perspectives and practices of IFMs who originated from different regions of the world. The acculturation, professional socialization, and organizational socialization of a significant proportion of IFMs had been positive and led to them possessing strong traditional teaching orientations early in their careers. IFMs’ secondary professional socialization generally played a crucial role in their development of progressive ideas about physical education and PETE. IFMs’ secondary organizational socialization was also largely supportive of these progressive beliefs.

Little research on the socialisation of adventure educators into their craft has been conducted. The purposes of this study were to describe (a) the perspectives and beliefs of preservice adventure educators as they began adventure education training (AET) and (b) the elements within their acculturation that led to these perspectives and beliefs. Participants were 20 preservice adventure educators at the beginning of their AET. Data were collected with three types of interview. They were coded, categorised, and reduced to meaningful themes by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. Results revealed that preservice adventure educators possessed one of three orientations. These were a leisure orientation, outdoor pursuits orientation, or adventure orientation. Factors shaping these orientations were family and friends, experiences of outdoor and adventurous activities, experiences working as counsellors, timing of occupational selection and age, and a number of secondary attractors inc...

In this article, the authors examine work conducted on 6 value orientations in physical education pioneered by Dr. Catherine D. Ennis and her colleagues. After providing an overview they focus on areas and methods of VOI research, specifically descriptions and comparisons (gender, teachers’ experience, school level, nationality, location, level of training, race, and physical activity background), the influence of value orientations on pedagogy (content and instructional models), and interventions (curricula and physical education teacher education). They conclude with suggestions for further research.

A recent innovation in the United States is for university faculty to deliver models-based physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. The study described in this paper evaluated the effe...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to describe the influence of occupational socialization on the perspectives and practices of two female German sport pedagogy faculty members, Heidi and Lisa, regarding physical education (PE) and PE teacher education (PETE). Method: The main data sources were six formal interviews. Supplementary data were generated through informal interviewing, field notes made while observing and interacting with the two faculty members, document analysis, and electronic journaling. Data were coded and categorized by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. Findings: Findings illustrated the cyclical nature of the two faculty members’ occupational socialization. Heidi and Lisa gained traditional sport-focused teaching orientations from their acculturation that were mainly reinforced during subsequent phases of socialization. Conclusion: Key reasons for the perpetuation of the traditional sport-focused teaching orientation was the generic nature of PETE and doctoral pr...

Purpose: To examine the influence of negotiations between students and graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) on GTAs’ instruction within university physical activity classes. Method: Participants were 10 GTAs working in one university. Data collection and analysis were guided by constructs from the classroom ecology paradigm. Data collection techniques employed were non-participant observation, informal and formal interviews, and document analysis. Data were analyzed using analytic induction and constant comparison. Results: The type, focus, and extent of negotiations in GTAs’ activity classes varied considerably depending on whether or not they had received prior pedagogical training, gained experience of teaching physical education in schools, and were familiar with the content. Conclusion: Our findings suggest two courses of action be taken if quality activity courses are to be delivered. First, such classes should be taught by GTAs with pedagogical training and teaching experience. Alternatively, previo...

© 2018 Human Kinetics, Inc. Purpose: We conducted a retroactive analysis of teacher and student data from two randomized group trials and one wellcontrolled quasi-experimental group trial focused on improving pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and student performance. Method: Seven teachers and 32 classes were investigated. PCK was measured using four variables: task selection, representation, adaption, and an aggregate variable called total PCK. Student data are reported as percentages of correct performance. Data are reported descriptively using effect sizes (ES). Results: The studies generated 35 ES across four teachers and one student performance variable. All ES exceeded the U.S. Department of Education's What Works Clearinghouse.25 standard deviation criterion for a "substantively important" effect and all ES exceeded Cohen's criteria of.8 for a large effect. Discussion: Findings from this study support a focus on professional development of teachers' content knowledge as an evidenced-based practice for improving the PCK of teachers and in turn student performance. ispartof: Journal of Teaching in Physical Education vol:37 issue:2 pages:133-143 status: published

Purpose: Previous research has indicated that preservice teachers (PTs) and students take part in negotiations during the instructional process which can significantly impact the nature and quality...

The purpose of this study was to describe and examine the occupational socialization of nine adapted physical educators (APEs). The questions we attempted to answer were (a) What were the perspectives and practices of the APEs? and (b) What factors influenced these perspectives and practices? Data were collected through six qualitative techniques and analyzed by using analytic induction and constant comparison. At the time the study was conducted, the APEs possessed traditional or progressive teaching orientations. They had been attracted to a career as an APE through their participation in sport and physical activity and interactions with persons with disabilities. The quality of adapted physical education teacher education the APEs received varied, but high-quality adapted physical education teacher education appeared to exert a powerful influence on their values and pedagogies. The school cultures and conditions in which the APEs worked on entry into the workforce either served to support or negate their programs. We conclude the paper by providing several hypotheses regarding the influences of occupational socialization on in-service APEs’ teaching.

Sport education (SE) is considered to be an excellent medium through which to develop students’ concepts of moral and sporting behavior. Previous research, however, indicates that teachers interpret SE differently, depending on their occupational socialization, which may hinder their fostering of these constructs. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which Lindsey, a coaching-oriented preservice teacher, promoted or negated moral and sporting behavior while teaching middle school girls within two 18-lesson SE seasons. The theoretical perspectives guiding the study were social learning theory and structural development theory. Data were collected using eight qualitative techniques. Data were reduced to key themes by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. The majority of the girls began the study at the preconventional level of moral development with limited understanding of moral and sporting behavior. Many girls did not improve during the course of the SE seasons, although a few displayed understanding at, and acted in accordance with, the postconventional level of moral development. Lindsey struggled to influence her students’ sporting and moral behavior because her previous socialization had resulted in her holding similar beliefs. In addition, her moderate coaching orientation led to her delivering a conservative, watered-down version of SE. Consequently, she did little to change the core cognitive structures guiding her students’ views. While SE offers opportunities for teachers to promote and develop sporting and moral behavior, this is not automatic and, as illustrated in this study, using the model may have a negative impact on students.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of acculturation on parents’ readings of and expectations for physical education. Method: Participants were 39 parents of pupils enrolled at one public middle school. Data were collected with an open-ended questionnaire and follow-up formal interviews. They were analyzed using constant comparison and analytic induction. Findings: Key findings were that the parents perceived physical education to be concerned with playing sports and participating in physical activities, health-related fitness, and personal and social development. These perceptions were shaped by parents’ relatives and peers, experiences of physical education, participation in organized and informal sport and physical activity, and the media. Conclusion: Collectively, while these factors led to many of the parents viewing physical education positively and being supportive of it, they also served to limit the ways in which they envisaged the subject might influence their childre...

Understanding how physical education (PE) teachers in a particular culture are socialised into the profession can lead to improvements in PE teacher education (PETE) and professional development. M...

Studies of prospective physical education teachers’ (PPETs’) acculturation have been useful in terms of facilitating the development of effective physical education teacher education (PETE) programmes because they provide teacher education faculty with a description of incoming recruits’ values and beliefs and an understanding of how these values and beliefs are shaped. Research exclusively focused on the acculturation of PPETs is, however, scarce. Research on pre-service and in-service physical education (PE) teachers that has included an acculturation component has mostly been completed in the United States. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to examine the acculturation of 10 German PPETs. The two research questions we attempted to answer were: (a) “What were the PPETs’ values, beliefs, and perspectives regarding PE?” and (b) “What factors shaped these values, beliefs and perspectives?” Data were collected using three types of interviewing. Analysis involved coding and categorizing data with analytic induction and constant comparison and reducing them to meaningful themes. Findings revealed that eight PPETs had well-developed and comparatively sophisticated conservative teaching orientations primarily focused on teaching traditional German sports. Two PPETs had more progressive teaching orientations in that they favored teaching a wider range of content and were more focused on health-related fitness. The key subsidiary attractors to a career in PE for this group of PPETs were remaining connected to sport and working with young people. Three factors that shaped the PPETs’ values and beliefs were similar to those revealed in previous research. These were family and friends, the apprenticeship of observation, and youth sport. The people and institutions that comprised these factors, however, operated in different modes within the German context. In addition, PPETs’ career choices were solidified by their experiences of teaching, coaching, and officiating, and the type of teaching orientation they possessed reflected the timing of these choices. The study also revealed that the PPETs entered PETE with a solid foundation of beliefs, values and perspectives regarding PE on which faculty could build. Findings also suggested, however, that German PETE faculty may have to deconstruct their charges’ conservative teaching orientations to some extent in order to create space in which to teach them new instructional models. The most important implication of this study for PETE in other countries is that the PPETs’ teaching orientations resulted primarily from a system that did not pit curricular PE against extracurricular sport.

To date, most of the work on the occupational socialization of physical education (PE) teachers has been completed in the United States and Britain. The purpose of this study was to examine and des...

Previous research on school principals' thoughts, perceptions, and views about physical education (PE) is limited. Much of the interpretive work conducted with young in-service PE teachers, however, suggests that the majority of principals have a poor understanding of the subject's goals, pedagogies, and curricula; do not regard it as being on the same level as other "academic" subjects; and see little educational value in it other than to keep students under control and entertained while teachers of other subjects take a break (Curtner-Smith, 1997, 1999, 2001; Curtner-Smith, Hastie, & Kinchin, 2008; Lee & Curtner-Smith, 2011; O'Sullivan, 1989; Smyth, 1995). In addition, there is some indication that principals are more concerned about PE teachers' ability to coach extracurricular sport than their capacity to teach PE (Dillon, McCaughtry, & Hummel, 2010). Furthermore, principals with these faulty perceptions regarding PE are more likely to offer exemptions to the subject, even if they are trained physical educators themselves (Sims, 2003).Conversely, some research indicates that more enlightened and knowledgeable principals positively affect PE teachers' beliefs and curricula, providing that the teachers are innovatively oriented (Bechtel & O'Sullivan, 2007). Moreover, there appears to be a positive relationship between the extent to which principals support PE programs and the degree to which PE teachers follow state-mandated curricula and requirements (Sims, 2003).Given principals' obvious influence on the teaching of all school subjects and their duty to hold teachers accountable for delivering a high class curriculum, a potentially fruitful area for policy-oriented researchers hoping to improve the standard of PE is further investigation of how principals interpret, "read," or perceive the subject (Curtner-Smith, 2009). The purposes of this study, therefore, were to (a) examine school principals' perceptions of and expectations for PE and (b) describe the factors influencing school principals' perceptions of and expectations for PE.Theoretical FrameworkIn prior sport pedagogical research, occupational socialization theory (Curtner-Smith, 2009; Richards, Templin, & Graber, 2014; Templin & Richards, 2014) has generally been used to explain the beliefs and actions of teachers (e.g., Curtner-Smith et al., 2008; Vollmer & Curtner-Smith, 2016). Within this study, however, we employed it in an attempt to explain school principals' readings of and expectations for PE. Specifically, in line with the thinking of Gore (1990), we explored how principals' beliefs about PE and the degree to which they value the subject were shaped by their acculturation (i.e., social and cultural influences prior to teacher education) and professional socialization (i.e., the influence of their formal teacher education and administrative training).Past research suggests that the views of key socializing agents including parents, siblings, and peers are responsible for shaping future principals' values during the acculturation period. This research also suggests that future principals' own schooling, particularly their experiences of PE and school sport, is a major influence on their beliefs about the subject. For example, experiences during this "apprenticeship of observation" (Lortie, 1975) could lead to principals forming the view that PE is either a high or low priority subject and deciding what constitutes good or bad pedagogical practice within the subject.Past research also suggests that future principals' professional socialization will have less effect on their values and beliefs about PE than acculturation will. Conversely, the degree to which future principals undergo specialist training in PE teaching during their initial undergraduate preparation, in any graduate work in a teaching field, and in administrative certification courses should increase the potential for alteration of beliefs about the subject that were formed during acculturation. …

A small body of previous research suggests that teachers who purposefully negotiated the physical education curriculum empowered their pupils and enhanced the quality of their experience. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of one purposefully negotiated season of sport education (SE) on one teacher and his 18 male eighth grade pupils. Data were collected by employing seven qualitative techniques. These included extensive non-participant observation and formal interviews with the teacher and pupils. Data were coded, categorized, and reduced to themes using standard interpretive techniques. The purposefully negotiated SE season was largely successful and the indications were that SE provided an excellent framework on which to build such a unit. Unlike more direct models of instruction in which teachers make most of the decisions, there was no contest, in the form of negative negotiation, between the teacher and his pupils. Rather, most negotiations were positive and involved discussions among and between pupils. Key pedagogies employed by the teacher were the indirect teaching styles of guided discovery and divergent production, and the ability to avoid interfering with the pupils as they designed and implemented their SE season.

The purpose of this study was to examine middle school students’ recollections of their participation in a significant number of Sport Education seasons over a period of five years. Thirty-one (18 boys and 13 girls) eighth-grade students (average age at data collection = 13 years) who had all participated in at least 17 Sport Education seasons served as the participants in this study. Autobiographical memory theory guided qualitative data collection, which included surveys, formal interviews, focus group interviews, and autobiographical critical reflections. Student responses were categorized into general events, which had a focus on evaluating, preparation, first season, integrity, competition, and gamesmanship. Descriptive event-specific memories included authenticity and gameplay as most memorable aspects of students’ experiences within multiple Sport Education seasons. The findings suggested that participating in multiple Sport Education seasons leads to better developed student roles and a stronger sense of fair play. More importantly, adherence to the central features of Sport Education and meaningful participation in several iterations of quality Sport Education seasons may be required for students to move closer to achieving the lofty goals of the model for students to become competent, literate, and enthusiastic sportspeople.

Sport education (SE) has been touted as a model particularly conducive to realizing affective objectives. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the influence of a training programme on one preservice physical education (PE) teacher’s ability to promote moral and sporting behaviour in SE. The participants in the study were the teacher, Alex, and the 75 middle school students he taught within two 20-lesson SE Ultimate Frisbee seasons. The theories of structural development and social learning guided data collection and analysis. Data were collected with nine qualitative methods and reduced to themes by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. Many of the students in the study had been socialized into norms of sporting participation that were mostly negative and believed that it was acceptable to behave in an unfair and unsporting manner. During the course of the two seasons, Alex managed to get many of them to question this thinking and to engage in positive sporting behaviours. That he did not change the thinking or behaviours of some highly skilled students, and that the behaviours of other students of similar skill level regressed once the seasons became more competitive, illustrated how powerful the negative influences of the institution of organized youth and school sport can be.

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of middle school pupils’ acculturation on their readings of and expectations for physical education. Participants were 94 pupils attending one public middle school. Data were collected using five qualitative techniques. They were analysed by employing analytic induction and constant comparison. Findings indicated that the majority of pupils read the subject positively and in terms of four outcomes. These were learning and experiencing sports, health and fitness, socialising, and enjoyment and excitement. A minority of pupils, however, was more negative about physical education and viewed the subject as being of little worth. Differences in the ways in which pupils read and the expectations they had for physical education emerged based on age, gender, and ability. Key socialising agents that appeared to shape the beliefs and views of the pupils were their physical education teachers, peers, parents, coaches, and prevailing culture.

Research on how preservice teachers (PTs) learn to employ the teaching games for understanding (TGfU) model is in its infancy. The purpose of this study was to examine the combined effects of a package of university-based methods and the employment of the model during an early field experience (EFE) on PTs’ delivery of TGfU during the teaching internship. The theoretical framework employed was occupational socialization. Participants were 2 PTs. Data were collected with 7 qualitative techniques and analyzed using analytic induction and constant comparison. Although the PTs understood elements of TGfU, a combination of their pedagogical struggles with and misconceptions of TGfU and their prior and concurrent socialization served to mediate and reduce the effects of their initial training. Consequently, neither PT was able to deliver the full version of TGfU during the internship. We suggest that faculty who are training PTs focus on a number of areas including recruiting teaching-oriented PTs, emphasizing the origins of the model in sport, contrasting TGfU and traditional pedagogies, debunking the idea that TGfU and foundational pedagogies are oppositional, providing a graded series of EFEs, teaching within small-sided games, and identifying tactical problems.

The primar y purpose of this explorator y study was to determine the percentage of time in which school pupils coached by teachers were engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) during extra-curricular spor t practices. Three secondar y purposes of the study were to determine (a) the percentage of time allocated by teachers for pupils to engage in fitness activity or acquire health-related knowledge, (b) the percentage of time in which teachers used behaviours likely to encourage pupils to par ticipate in health-promoting physical activity, and (c) whether the percentages of time in which pupils were engaged in MVPA, allocated by teachers for pupils to par ticipate in fitness activity or acquire health-related knowledge and in which teachers promoted health-related physical activity, changed during the course of a spor ts season. Par ticipants were 20 high school teachers from Alabama responsible for coaching high school girls' basketball. One practice coached by each teacher was videotaped during the early-season, mid-season and late-season. Practices were coded with SOFIT, a systematic obser vation instrument designed to quantify factors thought to promote health-related fitness in instructional spor ting/activity contexts. Results indicated that pupils engaged in MVPA for 50.47 percent of their time but that ver y little time was allocated for fitness activity (1.96%) or for providing fitness knowledge (2.54%). In addition, teachers spent ver y little time promoting (0.52%) or demonstrating (0.18%) fitness. Patterns of pupil activity, practice context and teacher behaviour were consistent across the season.

This paper describes the Physical Education Climate Assessment Instrument designed for systematic observation and to quantify variables associated with different types of objective motivational climates created by teachers and coaches in physical education and sports practices. The theoretical framework which guided the development is outlined with recording procedures and methods by which data can be summarized. In addition, estimates of validity, reliability, and feasibility are reported.

The primary purpose of the study was to ascertain whether manipulating the motivational climate of physical education units would influence sixth grade pupils’ goal orientations. A secondary purpose was to assess the influence of the motivational climate on the goal orientations of boys and girls. Twenty-seven girls and 45 boys were randomly assigned to a control group or one of two experimental groups. Experimental groups were taught modified field hockey within an ego- or task-involving climate. Pupils’ goal orientations were measured before and after instruction with the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire. Group gender test analysis of variance tests indicated that the two experimental treatments had the expected influence on pupils’ goal orientations but that there were no differential effects on male and female pupils.

The main purpose of this study was to describe the teaching styles employed by a sample of 18 teachers working in an urban setting under the conditions of the first revision of the National Curriculum for Physical Education. A second purpose was to compare the teaching styles used by this urban sample of teachers with those employed by a rural sample we had studied previously. Two lessons taught by each teacher to pupils in Years 7, 8, or 9 during one summer term were videotaped and coded with the Instrument for Identifying Teaching Styles, a systematic observation instrument designed to record the percentages of time in which teachers employ each of eight teaching styles. Descriptive statistics were computed across all 36 lessons and for lessons on striking/fielding games, track and field events, and tennis. Independent t-tests were used to compare the teaching styles used by the urban sample of teachers in the present study and those used by the rural sample previously studied. Results indicated that the teachers in the present study spent most of their time using direct styles of teaching. Their pattern of teaching style use was very similar to that of the rural teachers observed in the earlier study. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed.

This study examined the quality of instruction provided by a sample of teachers working in a depressed urban setting and within the confines of the National Curriculum for Physical Education in terms of use of behaviours related to pupils' psychosocial development. Subjects were 18 specialist physical education teachers working in seven mixed-sex secondary schools in one large city in southeastern England. Two lessons of each teacher's choice, in which they taught any activity to pupils in Years 7, 8, or 9, were videotaped during the summer term of 1996. Lessons were coded with the Coaching Behavior Assessment System, an observational procedure designed to record the rate at which teachers use behaviours positively and negatively associated with pupils' psychosocial development. Descriptive statistics indicated that teachers used behaviours linked with pupils' positive psychosocial development much more frequently than they used behaviours associated with pupils' negative psychosocial development. A comparison of the data collected at these seven urban schools with those collected previously in a rural setting (Curtner-Smith, Kerr, & Hencken, 1995) suggested that, in general, British physical education teachers' behaviours are similar across the locations.

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of British National Curriculum Physical Education on the quality of physical education instruction in the five state secondary schools in one southwestern English town in terms of teachers' use of behaviours related with pupils' psychosocial development during the 1994 summer term. Subjects were the 20 physical education teachers employed at the five schools. Two lessons of each teacher's choice in which they taught any activity to pupils in Years 7, 8, and 9 were videotaped. Lessons were coded with the Coaching Behavior Assessment System, an observational instrument designed to record the rate at which teachers use behaviours positively and negatively related with pupils' psychosocial development. Data generated by this system were entered into an SPSS programme to produce descriptive statistics. Regardless of the activity being taught, teachers used behaviours related to pupils' positive psychosocial development much more frequently than they used behaviours linked with pupils' negative psychosocial development. A comparison of the data collected at these five schools during the present study with those collected in the summer term of 1992 indicated that the introduction of the National Curriculum Physical Education did not affect teachers' use of behaviours associated with pupils' psychosocial development when teaching summer activities.