Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Background

Although the theory/practice dualism seems difficult to deal with in physical education (PE) practice, this paper posits that there are ways in which teachers can enable students to develop holistic competencies that encapsulate elements of both theoretical and practical knowledge. We therefore seek to rethink the relationship between theory and practice in PE practice and present ways in which PE teachers can connect these forms of knowledge with their students. We do so by looking at one of the historically most favoured means of bridging theory and practice: reflection.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute with knowledge about student reflection in PE practice. First, we discuss the concept of reflection to clarify how student reflection might be understood in the embodied and situated context of PE practice. Then, we reconceptualise reflection in a way that might enable teachers to bridge the gap between theory and practice in new and hopefully fruitful ways with their students.

Theory and methods

We draw on various theoretical traditions on reflection to present a reconceptualisation of reflection that encapsulates the practical, situated and embodied nature of PE.

Theoretical discussion

We present the following four key ideas pertaining to reflection that together create a framework for conceptualising student reflection in the PE context: 1) Why reflection is important: a matter of intelligent practice; 2) Students must learn to reflect – in relation to what?; 3) What should students reflect on?; and 4) The how questions: creating conditions for reflections through indeterminate situations. Drawing on these four key ideas, we present an example of how our theoretical discussions can form the following three intertwined principles for a pedagogy of student reflection in PE practice for PE teachers moving beyond a theory-and-practice divide in PE: 1) a pedagogy of becoming through reflection; 2) a pedagogy of reflecting on the plurality of embodied and situated meaning; and 3) a reflective pedagogy of enquiry and discovery.

Conclusion

Throughout this paper, we argue that students need to learn to reflect, we suggested how reflection could be facilitated and we proposed that the why(s), what(s) and how(s) should be the objects of student reflection in PE. It is necessary to highlight that our suggestions for a pedagogy of student reflection are not complete nor definite but could serve as points of departure for future discussions of student reflection in PE.

High attrition rates among early career teachers (ECTs) remain a major global concern, emphasizing the need for strong and sustained support during the induction phase. Existing research on induction support has primarily focused on ECTs' own perspectives, overlooking those of supporting actors such as mentors, pedagogical supervisors, school leaders, and colleagues. To strengthen induction practices, it is essential to understand how these actors perceive their roles in providing formal and informal support and which contextual factors shape their actions. Drawing on Self-Determination Theory, this study explored how different actors support or hinder ECTs' basic psychological needs for autonomy, relatedness, and competence. Twelve individual semi-structured interviews with mentors, pedagogical supervisors, school leaders, and colleagues revealed that competence support was most frequently discussed, followed by relatedness and autonomy support. Mentors, school leaders, and pedagogical supervisors mainly emphasized competence and autonomy, whereas colleagues primarily focused on relatedness. Formal professional support was largely provided by school leaders and pedagogical supervisors, while mentors and colleagues offered informal emotional and social support. These findings provide insight into how various actors conceptualize their supportive roles, the tensions and contextual influences they encounter, and offer practical implications for schools and policymakers aiming to enhance ECTs' induction experiences.

As part of a longitudinal research project on the transition from physical education teacher education (PETE) to school physical education (PE) in Sweden and exploring whether and how PETE matters, this article uses narrative inquiry to ‘represent’ a PE teacher’s professional journey from PETE to the induction phase of PE teaching. The study focuses on his use of, and reflections on, ‘assessment for learning’ (AfL) at different stages of his teaching experience. The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about how positive experiences of AfL during PETE can enable the use of AfL in school PE for a newly qualified teacher. This is done by analysing one male PETE student’s reflections on AfL in the context of a campus-based course on PE assessment, his use of and reflections on AfL during his practicum, and in school PE as a newly qualified teacher. The data generation consisted of recordings of a PETE seminar, a stimulated recall interview with the participant during his final school placement, and two interviews with him in his role as a newly qualified PE teacher at two different schools. Through the PE teacher’s tale, we show how the campus-based course on PE assessment in PETE and the student teacher’s positive experience of using AfL during his practicum seem to have inspired him in his later positions. The results are discussed in relation to the perspective of occupational socialisation theory. This narrative inquiry suggests that PETE can make a difference for student teachers who are prepared to face the challenges of the induction phase of PE teaching and are able to navigate between the barriers that get in their way. We conclude the paper with some considerations regarding the study’s potential strength (trustworthiness), sharing (transferability) and service (usefulness).

Supporting the healthy development of children requires an approach to smartphone and social media use underpinned by age appropriate design and education, argue Victoria Goodyear and colleagues

In 1983, Judith Placek published “Conceptions of success in teaching: Busy, happy, and good?” Placek’s arguments have been picked up widely in research and are often used as a catchphrase to represent bad teaching. Our purpose in this paper is to revisit Placek’s argument and “update” it for modern times. We first contextualize “Busy, Happy, and Good” by exploring the sociopolitical “setting” in which it came from and examine the literature to investigate how the concept has been used. We then outline three challenges physical education faces regarding success in teaching. Lastly, we propose a framework using a revised version of Placek’s concept that engages in the complexities of student learning. In doing so, we discuss five learning “bodies”: (a) Moving Body, (b) Thinking Body, (c) Social Body, (d) Emotional Body, and (e) Cultural Body, and propose educational aims that can guide successful teaching across diverse movement cultures and reposition Placek’s arguments as more positive outcomes of physical education.

Sport promotes enjoyment, social interaction, embodied learning, and health. At the same time, it serves as a setting where people learn and navigate certain ideals and norms. Given the physical nature of sport, body norms and their impact on performance are particularly central. These body norms are intrinsically linked to gender norms. Most sports follow a binary structure, categorizing athletes as male or female, shaping expectations of how bodies should look and perform. Coaches play a key role in reinforcing these norms. For example, they have been shown to encourage weight-controlling behaviors and demand extreme weight loss, arguing that it enhances performance. Research on the athlete’s body and its role in body-critical coaching practices has primarily focused on women’s sports. This study aims to provide in-depth knowledge about the positioning of elite athletes as masculine-gendered beings in sports in relation to norms surrounding the masculine body.Building on the importa

Researchers have highlighted the urgent need for large-scale international collaborative research projects between teacher education and school physical education (PE) to develop practices and understandings that address the grand challenges facing the field ( MacPhail and Lawson, 2021). In response, this article outlines and illustrates the design and methodology of an international project built on collaboration among PE teacher educators, in-service teachers, and pre-service teachers (PSTs). This collaborative work aimed to explore the development and use of signature pedagogies as collective action across diverse PE teacher education contexts, including both initial teacher education and continuous professional development in five European countries. This article serves two purposes. First, it presents a design for international collaborative research between school PE and teacher education, with a specific focus on signature pedagogies in PE teacher education. Second, it illustrates the methodological approach, detailing the research methods used to explore signature pedagogies across varied international contexts. In so doing, the article contributes to the field by offering a framework for designing international research that engages with collective action and pedagogical innovation. We advocate for research designs that employ robust methodologies, clearly defined analytical frameworks, and transparent procedures. Such designs are essential for conducting large-scale international collective action projects involving teacher educators, in-service teachers, and PSTs from diverse PE teacher education contexts. We argue that these elements are critical for scaling up research in the field and for supporting the development, adaptation, and use of signature pedagogies across educational settings.

The aim of this paper is to identify the dominant discourses of health and wellbeing that are offered in health education in Swedish schools. Issues of health and wellbeing are covered mainly in four school subjects in Sweden: physical education and health, home and consumer studies, biology, and social studies, and therefore, we interviewed teachers from those subjects to generate data. Six interrelated health discourses were identified from the data. All discourses were, however, also embedded within a health discourse with a comprehensive description of health as physical, psychological and social wellbeing. Results suggest that schools offer a Western and White discourse of health and that some content is overemphasised, and some is missing in relation to other non-dominant discourses of health and wellbeing.

Concepts like public health, health, and health promotion have been used in relation to sports in different ways in practice, research, and policy. That sport is important and closely associated with public health is quite clear. Many research papers claim that there are obvious connections between the value of physical activity and sport for the health of individuals, as well as for health in society. At the same time, promoting public health is one of the main reasons for large governmental funding for sports in many countries. But how can the relation, or rather the relations, between health promotion and sport be understood? This chapter will theorize the relation between health promotion and sports through five categories: (i) health promotion as an outcome of sports, (ii) health promotion through sports, (iii) health promotion in sports, (iv) health promotion and sports in collaboration, and (v) health-promoting sports. In these categories, the authors discuss and illustrate how research in different ways defines health promotion on one hand and sports on the other and, thus, what research takes for granted in relation to what sports can do. The chapter concludes that understanding the relation between health promotion and sports cannot be achieved by focusing exclusively on only one of the identified relations. Instead of maintaining barriers between different disciplines and relations, researchers and practitioners should work with health promotion and sports as the plaster that stabilizes the whole picture in a changing society. This approach can better utilize the potential of sports in promoting health.