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.