The Pedagogical Possibilities of Critically Examining Gender and Sexuality in Initial Teacher Education Through the Lens of Intersex

Although pre-service Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers may be acquainted with media headlines categorizing intersex bodies as “deviant,” “non-biological,” “different,” and/or “non-natural” in their reporting on eligibility testing in women's elite sports, few appear to be familiar with what intersex includes and what these tests were designed to reveal. Drawing on Evan and Rich's advocacy to critically analyse body-policies with strong normative body-pedagogies, this chapter unpacks how athletes marked by this category cannot be understood as separate from the corporeal instructions and ‘authorities' that mark and regulate their bodily representation. The chapter inspires and encourages HPE teachers to take the ‘risk' of engaging students in disruptive practices which explore the inscription of power onto particular bodies and abilities in sports and how they as both pedagogues and members of society are all ethically implicated in these relations of power.

When teachers Google physical literacy: A cartography of controversies analysis

How physical literacy (PL) is presented on ‘the web’ (i.e. Google) has implications for how health and/ physical education (H/PE) teachers and coaches engage with and understand the concept, and ultimately how it is made to act in practice. This research sheds light on the type of PL content they are likely to encounter in their search via the web. Utilising Venturini's ‘cartography of controversies’ method, the top 100 Google search results for PL were analysed to observe and describe how PL is presented on the web, by whom and in the name of what. Findings show that PL has been ‘framed’ on the web by a heterogeneous network of actors who present different viewpoints, ideologies and suggested practices for PL within and across the contextual ‘spheres’ of education, sport and health. Further, the findings highlight how Google's algorithms prioritise and privilege particular PL viewpoints and ideologies. Consequently, variations in understanding and practices will be evident between H/PE teachers and coaches who only engage with the first page of Google results (top one to 10 URLs) and those who read more broadly. Rather than relying on Google's algorithms or policymakers’ interpretations of PL that commonly serve the interests of the sport and health ‘spheres’ we suggest that H/PE teachers and coaches need to act as ‘knowledge brokers’ and thus be reflexive and aware of the multiple versions of PL that are presented on the web. This is especially important if they use the web as a form of professional development.

The Effect of Circuit Resistant Training on Cardiorespiratory indices; Implication for Developing a Test Model for Soccer Players of Higher Education Institutions

The current research aimed to incorporate appropriate circuit resistant training protocol in the current literature and device that could help improve cardio-respiratory endurance of soccer players. A pre-test and post-test longitudinal research format was applied because the suggested parameters of cardiorespiratory endurance were appropriately calculated by such research designs. A sample of (n=40) healthy volunteers equally distributed into two different groups namely, an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG). The circuit resistant training (CRT) 3 times per week with specified intensity, repetition, set and rest period continued for 06 weeks among experimental group. Results of the analyzed data revealed a significant increase in the cardiorespiratory indices (CO, SV, IRV, ERV) among the participants of experimental group (p < .05). These results tend to interpret that cardiorespiratory fitness of soccer’s players can be improved with the help of 06 week (CRT) program. Apart from this, health and physical education teachers, physiotherapists and other relevant persons can recommend CRT for lifestyles improvement.

“Isn’t That a Girl Problem?”

Revisions to Health and Physical Education (HPE) curriculums across Canada have prompted a conservative response denouncing the explicit and robust language used to address sexualities and young bodies. In this paper, we question the (in)visibility of male bodies and a prevailing discourse of denial, while situating the discussion alongside an evolving Canadian curriculum. Drawing on a national study, we examine narratives of adolescent boys to demonstrate how they make sense of locker-room interactions and bodily negotiations among their male peers. We introduce a discourse of denial to illustrate the ways in which adolescent male bodies and body image issues specifically have been misunderstood as a “girl problem” in schools. We argue that a limiting narrative of male bodies ignores the marginalization of boys facing shaming and homophobia in schools. We conclude by calling for a (re)consideration of male bodily practices while proposing changes that would more fully acknowledge adolescent male bodies in schools.

Action Research as Pre-Service Teacher Inquiry Physical Education

The newest Canadian Elementary Health and Physical Education (2019) provincial curricula promotes inquiry as a pedagogical mode. AR complements this inquiry mode of instruction with its grounding in experience and practice which infuses educational roles. AR as practice-based inquiry helps new educators identify and reveal resolutions; however, first a need to want to improve needs to be identified, before next steps are taken. AR has the potential to open doors of perception, trigger new insights, and cultivate teacher development within teacher training and beyond while in-service. Admittedly, teachers change, no matter how incrementally, which permeates professional development, as witnessed in over 100 years of action research drawn upon herein. Extant AR literature is grounded in the educational development of participants as they teach. Development in AR is not actually a problem needing investigation; instead it remains a possibility that needs recursive attention to ensure it exists within the training of educators globally. Herein AR is illustrated via narrative accounts that reflect experiences while teacher training in an Ontario Faculty of Education programme.

Teaching for Student and Societal Wellbeing in HPE: Nine Pedagogies for Social Justice

We currently find ourselves living in precarious times, with old and new social inequities on the rise due to the challenges associated with an unprecedented rise of global migration and neoliberalism, amplified in our post COVID-19 world. Research has demonstrated that there is a high correlation between inequality at the societal level and the overall health and wellbeing of individuals within those societies. We believe that school health and physical education (HPE) has a significant role to play in addressing and acting on social inequities that impact on the wellbeing of both students and society as a whole. Based on the findings of an international research project called EDUHEALTH which explored pedagogies for social justice in school health and physical education (HPE) across Sweden, Norway and New Zealand, this paper aims to highlight the addressing of (in)equality and student wellbeing through HPE practice. In particular, the paper presents nine different but complementary pedagogies for social justice that we believe can improve individual, collective, and societal wellbeing. We conclude by proposing that, if adopted across a whole school curriculum, these nine pedagogies for social justice could form the basis of a holistic school-wide community approach aimed at improving both student and societal wellbeing.