scholarly journals ‘I am finding my path’: A case study of Swedish novice physical education teachers’ experiences when managing the realities and challenges of their first years in the profession

2021 ◽  
pp. 1356336X2110405
Author(s):  
Runa Westerlund ◽  
Inger Eliasson

Novice teachers face several challenges during their first years of socialization in schools, often feeling unprepared in managing the full range of teaching duties. If teacher retention and attrition are to be improved, research on the difficulties encountered by novice teachers in diverse contexts and cultures is required. There is a lack of studies regarding physical education (PE) teachers’ induction processes, especially outside Anglophone countries. The aim of this study was, from an occupational socialization perspective, to examine how Swedish novice PE teachers experience, perceive and manage their induction process. Through a single-case study design with embedded multiple units of analysis, we interviewed eight Swedish novice PE teachers. Based on thematic analysis, the results show that Swedish novice PE teachers experience several challenges related to reality shock, marginalization and isolation during induction. We identified three approaches used by the novices as central to successfully managing challenges of induction in the Swedish context: (1) socializing into a community of colleagues, (2) performing the role of the PE teacher as health promoter and (3) maintaining a critical teaching perspective. We conclude that these novice teachers’ socialization relies heavily on the individual, and therefore we argue that the induction process could be further facilitated by formal organizational support. This paper confirms long-standing difficulties reported in other countries, and contributes with new knowledge of how the approaches used when managing challenges of induction are contextually dependent due to the social and political surroundings of education.

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-680
Author(s):  
Minhyun Kim ◽  
José A. Santiago ◽  
Chan Woong Park ◽  
Emily A. Roper

Grounded in occupational socialization theory, the authors examined adapted physical education (APE) teachers’ job satisfaction. Twelve (nine female and three male) APE teachers who had 3–43 years of teaching experience participated in the study. A semistructured interview was employed. The interviews focused on the participants’ roles and responsibilities. The following questions guided this study: (a) What social agents positively impact APE teachers’ job satisfaction? (b) what APE teachers’ roles and responsibilities are related to job satisfaction? and (c) what type of working conditions are linked to APE teachers’ job satisfaction? Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the data. The following four themes emerged from the analysis: (a) support from administrators, physical education teachers, and colleagues; (b) relevant and meaningful professional development; (c) itinerant working conditions; and (d) seeing students’ progress and achievement. The results of this study provide several implications to enhance APE teachers’ job satisfaction.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aron Gauti Laxdal

The overreaching aim of this thesis was to gain a better understanding of the students’ perceptions of the learning environment in upper secondary school physical education, with special focus on marginalized subgroups. More specifically, the intention was to explore whether students perceived their learning environment differently depending on their teachers’ gender, the learning support they received or the perceived competence they had. Despite the learning environment being a well-researched phenomenon in the more academic school subjects, there was a substantial knowledge gap concerning its influence in physical education. The individual works that form this ensemble aimed to occlude some of those gaps. In an effort to achieve the aforementioned aims, a new instrument measuring teacher learning support in the physical education context was also constructed and validated. The chosen methodology for the thesis was cross-sectional, comprising of a multicomponent self-report questionnaire. The data was analyzed using various analytical tools, including structural modeling analysis and MANCOVA between group comparisons. The participants were 1133 upper secondary school students (Mage = 17.2, SD = 0.86) from Norway (n = 554) and Iceland (n = 579), and 17 Norwegian PE teachers (11 males, 6 females). The sampling of participants was performed using a stratified procedure representing both urban, suburban and rural settlements. Multiple steps were taken to ensure adequate sample representability. The collective results of the individual papers indicate that the current organizational trends in PE are more in line with the needs of the highly competent students, and less so with the needs of the less competent students. This tendency intensifies the differences between these groups and may be one of the primary drivers behind the negative relationship between age and appreciation for the subject. Further, the students do not appear to be self- regulating their learning to the same extent as they are in other subjects, despite the teachers efforts to facilitate the behavior. The cause of this discrepancy likely being PE’s reputation as a recreational subject, underlined by the absence of homework and the playful nature of the lessons. Additionally, the role of the teacher’s gender in influencing the PE experience seems to be exaggerated. Gender matching and positive discrimination of female PE teachers are therefore unlikely to improve the learning environment of female students. The concluding recommendations are multitudinous and include suggestions to all the stakeholders of the subject. They include an appeal to the policymakers to rely more heavily on the body of research when implementing or adjusting policy, a plea to the teaching institutions educating the physical education teachers to emphasize formative teaching practices to a greater extent in their program, in order to promote learning behavior, and a call to the physical education teachers to address the various challenges related to the less interested and less competent students by reducing the benefits of sporting experience and ameliorating the current curriculum implementations by introducing more non-traditional sports and activities.


Author(s):  
Míriam Rocher ◽  
Bruno Silva ◽  
Gonçalo Cruz ◽  
Renato Bentes ◽  
Josep Lloret ◽  
...  

Participating in outdoor sports in blue spaces is recognized to produce a range of significant social benefits. This case study empirically analyzes the social benefits associated with the School Nautical Activities project carried out in Viana do Castelo (Portugal) in school-age children and adolescents. It consisted of a 4 year program in which scholars took part in nautical activities (surfing, rowing, sailing, and canoeing) in blue spaces once a week during a semester as a part of their physical education course. The methods used for data collection were as follows: (1) a survey answered by 595 participants in the program and (2) five focus groups (FG): two FGs with participants (seven on each FG), two FGs with their parents (eight participants each), and one FG with the physical education teachers (five participants). Interviews were transcribed and qualitative analysis with NVivo software was developed. Results revealed clear evidence on the social benefits for school-age children and adolescents associated with participation in outdoor activities in blue spaces both in the overall health and in all the following analyzed categories: mental health and well-being, education, active citizenship, social behavior, and environmental awareness. More than 40% state that their overall health is much better now (13.4%) or somewhat better now (29.9%) due to their participation in the program. Thus, this article provides support for the anecdotal recognition of the benefits for school-age children and adolescents from participating in sports in the outdoors and especially in blue spaces.


2020 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 304-323
Author(s):  
Steven K. Holland ◽  
Justin A. Haegele

The purpose of this study was to examine the meaning that first-year adapted physical education teachers with a master’s degree ascribed to their occupational socialization experiences. An interpretative phenomenological analysis research approach was used, and occupational socialization theory was adopted as the theoretical framework. Five teachers participated in this study. The sources of data were a semistructured focus group interview, semistructured one-to-one interviews, and reflective interview notes. Thematic development involved a three-step analysis process informed by the research approach. Three themes were constructed: (a) interactions with individuals with disabilities and activity experiences, (b) recruitment of adapted physical education teacher education students, and (c) graduate training and initial workplace experiences. The constructed themes provide unique insight into how teachers are socialized into adapted physical education and the meaning they ascribe to various socialization experiences, such as the limited impact that interactions with individuals with disabilities had on the decision to pursue this career.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 1677-1694 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georgiana-Alexandra Badoiu ◽  
Mercedes Segarra-Ciprés ◽  
Ana B. Escrig-Tena

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a deeper insight into the organizational factors and personal motivations of intrapreneurs that may foster intrapreneurial behaviors of employees in a new technology-based firm (NTBF). Design/methodology/approach The paper takes a qualitative approach to explore organizational and individual antecedents of employees’ intrapreneurial behavior. A single case study was conducted on the basis of semi-structured interviews with the founders and top managers of the firm and with intrapreneurial employees. Findings Results show that intrapreneurial projects may arise in firms whose top managers support corporate entrepreneurship (CE) in a non-active manner. Intrapreneurial behaviors of employees can emerge despite the lack of time and limited resources available for undertaking projects. Moreover, work discretion and mutual confidence and the quality of the relationship between employees and top managers are the most valued factors for intrapreneurs. Practical implications Based on the intrapreneurial projects studied, this paper helps to contextualize intrapreneurs’ perception of organizational support and the personal motivations for leading projects within an NTBF. Originality/value Traditionally, the literature has mainly focused on the top-down implementation of entrepreneurial projects within large firms. This paper contributes to the understanding of the combination of firm- and individual-level factors that facilitate intrapreneurial behaviors of employees. It also illustrates the contextual conditions and the firms’ orientation on CE within an NTBF.


Author(s):  
Aasma Yousaf ◽  
Rukhsana Kausar ◽  
Iram Fatima

Abstract The current case study used cognitive behaviour treatment (CBT) for the management of a 35-year-old, married man who presented with complaint of compulsive hoarding. The complaint of compulsive hoarding (excessive acquisition, difficulty in discarding saved material and cluttering) was accompanied by feeling of anger, sad mood, low confidence, decreased sleep and appetite, poor problem solving ability, indecisiveness and interpersonal conflicts. The study was approved by the institutional research committee (Departmental Doctoral Programme Committee) and followed by the university research committee (Advance Studies and Review Board) as academic requirement for the duration of 2013-2020. Written consent was also taken from the individual to publish the results of the case. Twenty-eight CBT sessions of one-hour duration were conducted, over a period of six months. Continuous...  


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert James Warwick ◽  
Adam Palmer ◽  
Janet McCray

Purpose This paper aims to explore the impact of action learning (AL) on an individual and an organisation, particularly the process by which each affected the other. The organisation is a UK National Health Service (NHS) Trust that includes two hospitals. Design/methodology/approach This is a single person case study involving a clinician, but the voice of an author can also be heard. It involves the experience of the individual as they experience AL as part of a leadership development programme leading to a postgraduate certificate. The authors explain their caution of the case study approach and in doing so offer their thoughts in how this paper could be read and impact on practice. Findings The authors show a process whereby an AL set participant moves from being confident about their project to one of uncertainty as the impact of the project ripples throughout the organisation. Through this process of unsettlement, the individual’s unnoticed assumptions are explored in ways that enable practical action to be taken. In doing so, the individual’s leadership and identity developed. Research limitations/implications This is a single person case study in one organisation, thus affecting wider generalisation. Originality/value This single case study contributes to the debate on critical AL and the use of AL in the NHS.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan-Erik Romar ◽  
Alexandra Frisk

The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study was to examine the influence of occupational socialization on three novice physical education teachers’ practical knowledge, confidence in teaching content and enacted pedagogical practices. This study involved three novice teachers who taught in Finnish primary schools. Data sources included nonparticipant lesson observations and semi-structured in-depth teacher interviews. The analysis occurred in two phases. Initially, we created a case narrative for each teacher with respect to the research questions through an inductive process that integrated the occupational socialization theory. For the second phase, a cross-case analysis was completed to provide a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the data set. Each teacher’s occupational socialization experiences influenced their teaching confidence, planning practices and enacted pedagogical actions. In addition, the teacher education program experience extended their practical knowledge and was evident in their PE teaching. Therefore, in designing the pedagogical structure in teacher education, it is essential to consider pre-service teachers’ experiences about teaching, schooling, sport and physical education and thereby strengthen their knowledge and skills of how to teach physical education and provide students with quality learning experiences.


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