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Self-Study in Physical Education Teacher Education pp 75–85Cite as

Through the Looking Glass: Distortions of Self and Context in Teacher Education

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Part of the book series: Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices ((STEP,volume 13))

Abstract

The social construction of the physical education teacher portrays a none-too bright individual, a companion but not someone with whom to engage in critical conversation. Similarly, the subject physical education is constructed in such a way that head teachers and administrators come to value the coach, placing great stock in the results of sports teams rather than in the ongoing engagement of their pupils in meaningful and sustainable physical activity. The literature around occupational socialisation suggests that those who aspire to both teach physical education and be physical education teachers learn their trade many years before arriving in teacher education programmes. Furthermore, these same teachers, socialised through school and teacher education programmes, might also be the teacher educators of the future. This chapter explores my engagement with self-study, both as a teacher seeking to better understand his pedagogy and the environment in which he worked, and as a teacher educator striving to bring ‘best practice’ from his school to his university programme. It examines the ‘extra-individual conditions’ and ‘site expectations’ that weigh heavily on the practices of teachers and teacher educators. Furthermore, in acknowledging these delimitations of practice, the chapter explores how I was able to begin to develop my pedagogy of teacher education. It concludes by arguing that self-study served as a form of awakening and as a means of reconceptualising good school-based practice into a higher education setting.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    ‘Praxis, action, and logos, talk, speech’ (Roth, Lawless and Tobin 2000, p. 2., original emphasis).

  2. 2.

    Empirically researched and theoretically informed teaching strategies. One that would be familiar to readers outside of physical education would be Cooperative Learning.

  3. 3.

    ‘A models-based approach seeks to retain [a] range of legitimate learning outcomes for physical education but [also] to align relevant subject matter and teaching strategies with a set of learning outcomes to create a package or a model for programme design’ Kirk (2013, p. 225).

  4. 4.

    Poacher turned gamekeeper is a British phrase used to exemplify someone whose new job is seen as being the opposite of what it once was i.e. teacher to teacher educator.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK

    Ashley Casey

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  1. Ashley Casey
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Correspondence to Ashley Casey .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Auckland, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Alan Ovens

  2. Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

    Tim Fletcher

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Casey, A. (2014). Through the Looking Glass: Distortions of Self and Context in Teacher Education. In: Ovens, A., Fletcher, T. (eds) Self-Study in Physical Education Teacher Education. Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05663-0_6

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