Digital Technologies and Learning in Physical Education

Lessons from the case: How can the use of digital technologies accelerate pupil learning in physical education? • It is important to consider power dynamics in every aspect of professional development through social media. • An analysis of culture and an awareness of ‘the other’ can help us to broaden our networks and make them more authentic. • Early career teachers in particular need nurturing, support and an authentic view of the profession and professional practice. They should be encouraged to be critical and discerning in their use of social media. • Creation of online PLNs can be very useful tools but also have to be appropriately managed with ‘constant checking’, reflection and awareness of impact. References Andrew, K., Richards, R., Lux Gaudreault, K., & Templin, T. J. (2014). Understanding the realities of teaching: A seminar series focused on induction. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 85(9), 28–35. doi:10.1080/07303084.2014.958251 Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J. C. (1990). Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture. London: Sage. Carpenter, J. P. & D.G. Krutka. (2014). How and why educators use twitter: A survey of the field. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 46, 414–434. Casey, A., Goodyear, V., & Parker, M. (2015). “I think this has been a problem with #PhysEd for a long time”: Using social networking sites as a platform for professional discussion. Paper presented at the Association Internationale des Ecoles Superieures d’Education Physique (International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education) conference, Universidad Europea, Spain, July. Clandinin, D. J. & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Corlett, J. & Mandigo, J. (2013). A day in the life: Teaching physical literacy. PHE Journal, 78(4), 18–24. DePauw, K. P. & Doll-Tepper, G. (2000). Toward progressive inclusion and acceptance: Myth or reality? The inclusion debate and band wagon discourse. Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly, 17, 135–143

Pedagogical cases

Edited by Ashley Casey , Victoria A. Goodyear and Kathleen M. Armour

Print publication date: November 2016

Online publication date: November 2016

Print ISBN: 9781138947283
eBook ISBN: 9781315670164
Adobe ISBN: 9781317366294

10.4324/9781315670164

Teaching Overweight Students in Physical Education

Confrontation Overweight or obese students use confrontations as a mechanism to cope with obesity bias (Li et al., 2012). The types of confrontations used are dependent upon whether these students



are in a bad mood and whether teasing gets on their nerves. Sometimes, overweight or obese students let the teaser know that he or she has crossed the line and it hurts their feelings. Very often, the teaser will just back off. Sometimes, overweight or obese students use verbal confrontations by lashing out, “checking,” or teasing the teaser. Overweight or obese students might check the teaser by talking badly about his or her hair or clothing. Sometimes, overweight or obese students get into physical confrontations with the teaser. In other situations, overweight or obese students confront the teaser by challenging him or her in the physical activities or sports about which they are teased. Overweight or obese students try to prove the teaser wrong. For example, during a relay race, a thin student teased an overweight student, saying, “You cannot do it.” This overweight student proved this thin student wrong by racing and beating him (Li et al., 2012). Stress Reduction According to the Transactional Model (Lazarus  & Folkman, 1984), stress occurs when external pressures exceed a person’s ability to handle them. Stress is not a direct response to a stressful event. It is a result of one’s level of resources to cope with stressful events in his or her life. Stress can negatively impact students’ health outcomes. The ways that students cope with stress can reduce the negative impact of stress on their health outcomes. Overweight or obese students experience a lot of stress as a result of obesity bias or weight-related teasing. Thus, the strategies that overweight or obese students use to cope with stress are critical in alleviating its negative effects on their psychosocial, health, and emotional well-being.

Table 3.2 Coping Strategies with Social Support as a Mechanism 1. Create a network of friends who can be on your side and stand up for you when you are teased. 2. Talk to coaches/physical education teachers. 3. Talk to school principals, counselors, or others. 4. Talk to family members such as parents, grandparents, and siblings. 5. Talk to friends.

Teacher Socialization in Physical Education

Introduction to teacher socialization in physical education Defined broadly, socialization is the process through which individuals learn the norms, cultures, and ideologies deemed important in a particular social setting by interacting with one another and social institutions (Billingham, 2007; Clausen, 1968). The study of teacher socialization in physical education generally traces its roots to the study of workplace socialization, or onboarding, which focuses on the ways in which individuals learn the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to become effective members of a particular profession (Bauer & Erdogan, 2011). More specifically, the study physical education teacher socialization has been influenced by research on the sociology of teaching in the general education literature that has sought to understand individuals motives for entering the teaching profession, effectives of teacher education programs, and the challenges of navigating the sociopolitical realities of school settings (Gould, 1934; Lacey, 1977; Lee, 1928; Lortie, 1975; Waller, 1932). Early work on teacher socialization in physical education conducted during the 1970s focused on professional socialization through teacher education programs (Burlingame, 1972; Pooley, 1972, 1975), with Templin’s (1979) study of student teachers representing the first investigation into workplace socialization. This early work laid the foundation for Lawson’s (1983a, 1983b) two papers in the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, which outlined the basic tenets of a theory of occupational socialization into the teaching profession. Since the publication of these two articles, nearly 300 journal articles and book chapters have been published with occupational socialization theory used as the guiding framework. While much of this work was done in the 1980s and 1990s, occupational socialization theory has experienced somewhat of a Renaissance in recent years with the proliferation of studies not only in the United States, but on an international scale in countries such as Australia (Morgan & Bourke, 2008), Greece (Zounhia et al., 2006), Hong Kong (Li & Cruz, 2008), Ireland (Chroinin & Coulter, 2012), Singapore (Wright, 2001), the United Kingdom (Curtner-Smith & Meek, 2000), Iran (Alirezaeian et al., 2014), Finland (Mäkelä et al., 2014), and Germany (Reuker, 2016), among others. Through this body of literature, occupational socialization theory has been articulated as a dialectical model for understanding socialization into physical education, which is typically conceptualized through a series of temporally sequenced phases. The model is dialectical because, in contrast to structural-functionalist approaches to understanding socialization (e.g., Merton et al., 1957), occupational socialization theory acknowledges that individuals have the capacity to resist the influence of individuals and social institutions that seek to socialize them (Schempp & Graber, 1992). This becomes important for understanding why some preservice teachers resist the influence of teacher education and instead teach in accordance with the practices they were exposed to as children. It also accounts for why some teachers resist the pervasive forces of traditionalism operating in the schools in which they teach in favor of more innovative pedagogies. Socialization into the profession has typically been examined through the phases of acculturation (i.e., anticipatory socialization that occurs before formal teacher training), professional socialization (i.e., teacher training programs, typically in the setting of post-secondary education), and organizational socialization (i.e., ongoing, career-long socialization occurring in the school setting in which one works). Recently, there has been a spiked interest in the study of doctoral training in preparation for faculty roles (i.e., secondary professional socialization; Lee & Curtner-Smith, 2011), as well as teacher education faculty socialization in higher education settings (e.g., Casey & Fletcher, 2012; Fletcher & Casey, 2014), which has led to the extension of the model.


Overview of the book Templin and Schempp’s (1989b) edited text on teacher socialization represented an important step in the articulation and formalization of occupational socialization theory, and continues to be an essential resource for scholars interested in the study physical education teacher socialization. More recently, several articles have been published with the goal of summarizing the results of teacher socialization research (Pike & Fletcher, 2014; Richards et al., 2014; Templin & Richards, 2014). The current text, however, represents the first edited volume on teacher socialization research since the publication of the Templin and Schempp (1989b) text. In editing this volume, we have sought to bring together an authorship that both pays homage to the history of occupational socialization theory, while also giving voice to early career researchers. Five authors in the current volume make a return appearance from the 1989 text. To reflect the geographic diversity of socialization research, we have recruited authors from seven countries

across four continents. Readers of the text will note some familiar, traditional topics related to teacher socialization with chapters on topics such as acculturation, professional socialization, and marginalization; however, we have also sought to test the boundaries of occupational socialization theory with chapters on topics such as culturally responsive pedagogy, socialization into higher education, and role theory. As recently noted elsewhere (Richards et al., 2014; Templin & Richards, 2014) and reinforced through the recent surge of research activity in the area, socialization research in physical education is alive and well, and is not going anywhere in the near future. This point is made clearly by Templin, Padaruth, Sparkes, and Schempp in the book’s next chapter and reinforced by Richards and Gaudreault in the final chapter as directions for future scholarship are discussed. The publication of this book serves as a testament to what is known and what still needs to be learned about the lived experiences of physical educators. It seeks to summarize advances made since the publication of Templin and Schempp’s (1989a) volume, and to advance the field into the future. We have, therefore, organized the text into five parts. The first provides an introduction to occupational socialization theory, which will be helpful for those new to theory. The second and third review much of what has been learned about teacher recruitment, training, and ongoing socialization in school settings. The fourth part then serves to introduce novel and different approaches to understanding teacher socialization, and the fifth part provides some recommendations for the future of this line of inquiry.