Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Aim

The purpose of this study is to examine in witch way teachers in physical education practice swim- and water education in physical education in upper secondary school.

• How do physical education teachers reason when it comes to swim- and water education in upper secondary school?
• How do the teachers motivate the choices to either include or exclude swim- and water education in physical education?

Method

The study builds on a qualitative research design where we have interviewed six teachers in physical education in upper secondary school with semi-structured interviews. A strategic choise decided that the participants works in schools in the Stockholm County. The theoretical perspective of this study originates from the works of Basil Bernstein's theory of framing and coding.

Result

Teachers in the study reason that swim- and water education is important. They argue that knowledge of swimming in physical education are essential knowledge. The teachers continues to argue of the positives effects, beyond safety, which swimming education contributes to. Some of the teachers also shed some thoughts on the negative aspects of swim education where the teachers in question points to the lack of swimming in the upper secondary school's curriculum of physical education 1. The teachers think that the blue outdoor living should be included in the teaching, due to how the Swedish nature looks like. Five of six teachers includes swimming in their curriculum and motivates this out of a securitization aspect. They argue that life guarding are a skill that is essential here and now but also for the students future life. One of the teachers excludes swim and water education in upper secondary school, due to frame factors as lack of economic resources and access.

Conclusion

The study shows that five teachers see the topic weakly framed when they choose to interpret the curriculum so that they include swim- and water education. However, the study shows that one teacher sees the topic as strongly framed, where the curriculum clarifies the contents and that leads to the excluding of swim- and water education. The majority of the interviewed teachers have a mixed code over their teaching. It switches between competencescode and performancescode depending on the teaching situation, method and framing.