The dynamics of external provision in physical education

Neoliberalism is a pervasive phenomenon. A fundamental neoliberal concept allows for the selection of the best and most suitable option available for a specific course of action in any aspect of society. Not unexpectedly, the educational field, including physical education (PE), has been influenced by neoliberal ideas. A key element of neoliberalism in PE is the selection of workers external to the school system, as a suitable option to improve the educational experience. The involvement of external workers increases the diversity of stakeholders in the school system, who, with their actions and decisions, have the potential to influence the content and status of PE in schools. The purpose of this study was to understand the external provision infrastructure supporting PE in an Irish primary school. Specifically, we used network ethnography to understand the structure and the impact of external provision on school PE. Participants included two primary school teachers, the school PE coordinator and one PE external provider. Data analysis resulted in two themes. The first theme refers to the structure of the external provider system, and the second to the dynamics of the network between the main stakeholders. Taken together, a well-established external provision network in the school is revealed but the structure of the network, as designed, is not supporting PE as intended by the Irish educational system.

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.

Physical education students’ usage and perceptions of a supplemental online health-related fitness knowledge curriculum (iPE)

The purpose of this study was to explore high school physical education students’ usage and perceptions of a supplemental online health-related fitness knowledge curriculum through the lens of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology. Individual interviews were conducted with 37 students who were enrolled in a ninth-grade physical education class. The course used an externally provided online curriculum designed to deliver and assess health-related fitness knowledge. Initial themes were generated using open and axial coding compiled into a codebook. The codebook was pilot-tested and finalized following peer debriefing sessions. Four main themes were developed: Home(room), Alone; Easy to Use, Easier to Ignore; Disconnected and Conflicted; and Low Value, Low Priority. Students completed their online work alone, but location and devices varied. Most thought the online platform was easy to navigate, and many completed multiple modules at once. Students sensed that the online content was disconnected from face-to-face physical education and questioned why they were required to engage in sedentary online learning for a physically active course. They also expressed difficulty understanding the value of the online content and assigned a low priority to completing it as a result. Implementing a supplemental online physical education curriculum presents challenges given the relative novelty of the modality within the subject. This study highlights the important role system design plays in the online learning process. It also illustrates the responsibility teachers have in helping students see the value of online learning opportunities by making connections to their own lives.

Journeying into the kinescape of unicycling: A Deleuzian perspective

Movement learning has become a prominent issue in recent sport pedagogy research, including a particular concern about the new perspectives of movement learning. The turn towards new perspectives is partly spurred by discontent with the conventional perspectives of movement learning. The purpose of the article is to explore a journey into the kinescape of unicycling. The article can be seen as a case study of what it means to learn (how) to unicycle for one student teacher in the midst of a pedagogical research module and with the aid of the Deleuzian notion of a triadic relationship between percepts, affects and concepts. The analysis points to how a student, in the midst of material features such as equipment, the sport hall, other people, and instructional video clips, is mapping connections between concepts (what unicycling can be), percepts (a-ha moments) and affects (what moves him to continue practising unicycling), in ways that allow him to learn to unicycle with astonishing pace. His practising of unicycling is guided by particular strategies for exploration and experimentation that his experiences of board culture offer him. Rather than any general principles of movement learning, of importance here are the particular ways in which kinesio-cultural exploration may offer non-linear resources for movement learning. We conclude that this approach to learning may stimulate pedagogies that are not only effective but also more inclusive because they are more creative and more open than linear approaches to movement learning.

The relationships among motivational climate, perceived competence, physical performance, and affects during physical education fitness testing lessons

Despite the prominence of fitness testing in school physical education (PE), there is a sparsity of research examining the antecedents of students’ affective experiences during fitness testing lessons. This study aimed to investigate the associations among task- and ego-involving motivational climates, perceived physical competence, physical performance, enjoyment, and anxiety during two different types of PE fitness testing lessons. Altogether, 645 Finnish students from Grade 5 (50% boys, Mage = 11.2, SD = 0.36) and Grade 8 (47% boys, Mage = 14.2, SD = 0.35) participated in two fitness testing lessons with different content (lesson 1: 20-meter shuttle run test and a test of flexibility; lesson 2: curl-ups, push-ups, 5-leaps, and a catching-throwing combination test). Students’ experiences were collected using short questionnaires immediately after the lessons. Structural equation modeling was applied to examine the direct and indirect associations among study variables. Results indicated that task-involving climate and perceived competence increased students’ enjoyment and decreased their anxiety levels whereas ego-involving climate had no effect on students’ enjoyment but increased their anxiety levels. In addition, students’ actual physical performance as a mediator between motivational climate and affects, or as a direct predictor of affects, was limited. Strategies advancing task-involving motivational climate and students’ perception of competence should be employed to increase enjoyment and decrease anxiety during PE fitness testing lessons.

Learning communities and physical education professional development: A scoping review

Learning communities (LCs) in a variety of formats are touted as an effective strategy for continuing professional development (CPD) in physical education. This study’s purpose was to provide an overview of the research on LCs in physical education for professional development between 1990 and 2020. A scoping review undergirded the research process and search parameters included full-text empirical studies in 12 languages. Ultimately 95 studies were found. A descriptive analysis revealed teachers as the focus in 75% of the studies; fewer studies focused on initial teacher education students, teacher educators, and facilitators. The largely qualitative studies reflected an international database (18 countries; four multinational studies) with South Korea, the US, and England dominating the literature. Four features spotlight thematic findings: (a) facilitation, (b) the process of community development, (c) the focus of the group and (d) the product(s) of the group. Learning communities as a CPD approach in physical education appear to be effective in a variety of ways. Little evidence, however, exists regarding their sustained nature over time, or how teacher engagement in LCs may result in substantive student learning. Contributing to the scattered nature of literature to date was the interchangeable use of communities of practice (CoP) and other forms of LCs. Often communities were not theoretically aligned, the development process of communities not explained, nor evidence provided as to how the community studied contained the qualifying features of a CoP or LCs. Future research, therefore, should detail the nature of community and fidelity to the theoretical framework.

Body image(s): Problematizing future physical education teachers’ beliefs about the body and physical activity through visual imagery

Visual culture affects the way people understand the world and themselves, contributing to the creation of certain roles and stereotypes, some of which are related to body image. This study focused on interrogating future physical education teachers’ beliefs about the body and physical activity to understand the construction of bodily subjectivities and their perceptions of how these are influenced by visual (physical) culture. Data were collected through the use of visual methods consisting of photo-elicitation and individual interviews with 23 students from a Primary Education Degree with a specialization in physical education at a Spanish university. Data were analyzed using thematic content analysis. The results of the study show that these future physical education teachers are aware of both the great influence of gender stereotypes and the values of consumerism in the field of physical activity stemming largely from the media, which inevitably will shape their future professional practice. However, the results also highlight how these future physical education teachers consider and position the subject of physical education as an important space where they could help students problematize and challenge these beliefs. We suggest that a focus on visual (physical) literacy is needed for future physical education teachers (and their students) to understand the world from a socially critical perspective and transform it in the interest of equity and social justice.

A comparative analysis of discourses shaping physical education provision within and across the UK

Set within the context of a longitudinal project that seeks to engage physical education teachers from the four countries of the UK in cross-border curriculum analysis, dialogue and learning, the current study lays the foundation by mapping and comparing curriculum discourses that currently shape how physical education is conceptualised in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. As a team of researchers with affiliations to each of the four nations of the UK, we identified those curriculum documents from each context that were written to directly inform physical education teachers’ curriculum planning and enactment. We firstly identified those discourses evident in each document to understand how physical education is conceptualised within each curriculum, before engaging in a dialogical process that converged around how physical education is constructed similarly or differently within and across curricula. We found some variation in relation to how the concept of health is articulated. With the exception of the curriculum in Wales, we also found that performance discourses related to developing motor competencies for sports continue to dominate as the main purpose of physical education. Finally, there are several points of divergence in relation to how much agency or guidance teachers are afforded within each curriculum. The intention of this research is to initiate dialogue across each of the four nations, creating opportunities for learning so that, collectively, teachers can build capacity to contribute to future curricula and pedagogies in physical education.

Cross-cultural comparison of fundamental movement skills in 9- to 10-year-old children from England and China

The present study aimed to examine cross-cultural differences in fundamental movement skills (FMS) proficiency levels in children aged 9–10 years old in England and China, using a process-oriented FMS measurement. Four FMS (run, jump, throw, catch) were measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2). The sample consisted of 272 (58.3% boys, 41.7% girls) Chinese children and 273 (48.7% boys, 51.3% girls) English children. ANCOVA analysis for the raw FMS scores showed significant sex by country interaction ( P = .022, partial η2 = .01). Chinese children scored higher than English children on total FMS, locomotor, and object control skill subsets. Additional Chi-squared analyses revealed significant differences regarding mastery levels of skills, with a higher proportion of Chinese children being classified as having advanced skill proficiency across three of four selected FMS (i.e. run, throw, and catch). The substantial cross-cultural differences found may be related to aspects such as Physical Education (PE) provision and process, educational policy, and other physical activity opportunities (e.g. extracurricular organised sports). Our findings require further examination of the contextual influences, in order to understand the optimal strategies that promote children's FMS development through PE, youth sports, or physical activity promotion.

Enacting assessment for learning in the induction phase of physical education teaching

In many countries, assessment for learning (AfL) is recommended in both policy and research as a concept that should be integrated into the teaching of physical education (PE) in schools. AfL is also part of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in several countries and, consequently, something future PE teachers are expected to practice in their teaching. In a previous study ( Tolgfors et al., 2021 ), we showed how AfL was transmitted and transformed between a university course and a school placement course within Swedish PETE. In the current study, we have more closely followed three of the preservice teachers who took part in our initial study into their first year of PE teaching. The purpose of this follow-up study is thus to explore how AfL is enacted in the induction phase of PE teaching. The more specific research question is: how is AfL enacted in beginning teachers’ PE practices under the contextual conditions provided at the schools where they are employed? The data were generated through Stimulated Recall interviews and follow-up interviews via the online meeting software Zoom. The analysis was based on Braun et al.’s (2011) contextual dimensions of policy enactment and Bernstein’s (1996) pedagogic device. Our findings illustrate how AfL is generally enacted through (1) progression and (2) “rich tasks.” However, the contextual dimensions of each school provide different conditions that either support or hinder the use of AfL in PE. AfL is accordingly enacted in different ways in the induction phase of PE teaching.