To Örebro University

As part of a longitudinal research project on the transition from physical education teacher education (PETE) to school physical education (PE) in Sweden and exploring whether and how PETE matters, this article uses narrative inquiry to ‘represent’ a PE teacher’s professional journey from PETE to the induction phase of PE teaching. The study focuses on his use of, and reflections on, ‘assessment for learning’ (AfL) at different stages of his teaching experience. The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about how positive experiences of AfL during PETE can enable the use of AfL in school PE for a newly qualified teacher. This is done by analysing one male PETE student’s reflections on AfL in the context of a campus-based course on PE assessment, his use of and reflections on AfL during his practicum, and in school PE as a newly qualified teacher. The data generation consisted of recordings of a PETE seminar, a stimulated recall interview with the participant during his final school placement, and two interviews with him in his role as a newly qualified PE teacher at two different schools. Through the PE teacher’s tale, we show how the campus-based course on PE assessment in PETE and the student teacher’s positive experience of using AfL during his practicum seem to have inspired him in his later positions. The results are discussed in relation to the perspective of occupational socialisation theory. This narrative inquiry suggests that PETE can make a difference for student teachers who are prepared to face the challenges of the induction phase of PE teaching and are able to navigate between the barriers that get in their way. We conclude the paper with some considerations regarding the study’s potential strength (trustworthiness), sharing (transferability) and service (usefulness).

Background: People often expect physical education teachers to look fit and athletic, to do lots of physical activity, and to eat well. While ample research exists on physical education teachers' bodies, relatively few scholars have investigated how physical educators relate corporeal expectations to broader ideas about subject content, pedagogy, and the purposes of the school subject.

Aim: The specific aim of the paper is to identify the assumptions about content, pedagogy, and educational purposes that teachers make when they talk about a perceived need for physical educators to look fit and athletic.

Method: To frame our work theoretically, we draw from a Swedish didaktik of physical education tradition and employ Bakhtin's concept of speech genres, and Wertsch's concept of privileging. Our empirical material consists of transcripts generated from 6 focus group and 6 individual interviews (24 teachers in total, average age of 40 years, average teaching experience 11 years).

Findings: Data suggest that when teachers use an 'athletic-looking teacher as healthy role model' speech genre, they tend to privilege: (1) a particular version of health as subject content that involves not being too overweight and maintaining physical functionality in sports. This content is based on biomedical conceptions of health which foreground exercise, eating and weight, and a pathogenic reduction of risk; (2) particular pedagogies in PE that put the teacher at the centre of the pedagogical situation, and; (3) a certain educational purpose in PE, which is to educate citizens for healthy lives through participation in sport. With respect to this purpose, increasing body weight enters the genre as a potential obstacle for educational success.

Discussion: The findings raise questions concerning appropriate curricular content and its relation to teacher identities. They suggest that learning possibilities may be missed when certain content, pedagogies, and outcomes are privileged. The findings also indicate how wider voices are implicated in the speech genre.

Conclusion: The paper is concluded with reflections on the possibility for change regarding expectations of physical education teachers' bodies and pedagogies.

Background: In this paper, we will address the question of how physical education teacher education (PETE) matters and suggest one way to explore the potential impact of PETE. A distinguishing feature of the studies of PETE's impact on physical education is that they either include perspectives from preservice teachers involved in PETE courses or perspectives from physical education teachers in schools looking back at their education. Longitudinal attempts to follow preservice teachers’ journey from education to workplace, in order to grasp how they perceive the relation between teacher education and teaching practice in schools, and the transition between these contexts, are few and far between. This gap of knowledge is a missing piece of the puzzle to further develop PETE, and to inform life-long professional development for teachers.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we develop and present a methodological approach for investigating the transition of content areas from courses in PETE into teaching practice in school physical education. Second, we will illustrate the potential utility of this methodological approach in longitudinal studies by showing how one particular content area, Assessment for Learning (AfL), was investigated through the use of methods and theories described in the first part of this paper.

Methodology: The suggested longitudinal approach involves Stimulated Recall (SR) interviews with pre- and postservice teachers, observations and communication with groups of students and teachers through social media. The construction, recontextualisation and realisation of pedagogic discourses regarding content areas are suggested to be analysed through a combination of Bernstein's concept of the pedagogic device and Ball's concept of fabrication.

Results and Conclusions: The longitudinal design and the suggested methodology can provide answers to how content areas are transformed in and between PETE and school physical education. A combination of the theoretical perspectives of Bernstein and Ball enables us to say something not only about how pedagogic discourses regarding content areas are constructed, recontextualised and realised in PETE and school physical education, but also about what content areas become in terms of fabrications in the transition between these contexts. To conclude, we argue that the methodological research design can be used to explore different content areas in PETE and that this methodology can contribute to knowledge about how PETE matters for school physical education.

Idrottsrörelsen har tilldelats ekonomiska resurser av regeringen för att arbetamed utvecklingsarbete hos målgruppen äldre. Regeringens önskemål de närmaste åren är att skapa bättre förutsättningar för äldre att idrotta i organiseradform och på så sätt bland annat bryta oönskad ensamhet hos målgruppen samtöka den fysiska aktiviteten. I den studie som ligger till grund för denna rapportundersökte vi äldres upplevelser och erfarenheter av föreningsdeltagande inomidrott. I fokus var de värden som fysisk aktivitet och idrott i organiserad formpotentiellt kan ge beträffande välmående, hälsa, meningsfullhet och minskadupplevelse av ensamhet.

Vi använde ett hälsofrämjande perspektiv på föreningsidrotten som arena, vilketinnebär att vi ställde frågor om på vilka sätt föreningsidrott för äldre kan varahälsofrämjande. Studien genomfördes som en tvärsnittsstudie, närmare bestämtsom en enkätundersökning där data av både kvantitativ och kvalitativ art samlades in. Datainsamlingen resulterade i svar från 4 837 personer över 60 år, varavungefär två tredjedelar bestod av män och en tredjedel kvinnor. Den högstaandelen respondenter återfinns i åldern 65–70 år, men det finns ett flertal somär över 90 år. Mer än hälften av respondenterna har högskoleutbildning och bori en stad. Den övervägande majoriteten är födda i Sverige. Över 80 procent avrespondenterna anger en veckomängd av fysisk aktivitet över de rekommendationer som i dag finns för äldre.

Av rapporten framgår att majoriteten av de äldre känner att deltagande i föreningsidrott ger dem energi, är en god vana, bidrar till deras sociala liv samt göratt de känner sig nöjdare med sin kropp. Det förekommer skillnader mellan mänoch kvinnor samt avseende ålder. Ett exempel är att kvinnor anger fler saker sommeningsfulla med deltagande i idrott och att sociala aspekter blir viktigare medstigande ålder. Det är en stor variation i vad de äldre ser fram emot i sin föreningsidrott. Det handlar om sociala aspekter, träning och glädje, men även om attdet är en vana, viljan att få tävla och att de ser fram emot att lära sig nya saker.Även hur deltagarna rekryterats till idrotten skiljer sig åt. Oftast har det skett viavänner, endast cirka fem procent har kommit i kontakt med idrottsföreningengenom externa kontakter. Enligt de äldre är en förening hälsofrämjande om denhar en anpassad verksamhet med ett varierat utbud, hög trivsel i föreningen samtatt det är enkelt att börja och att fortsätta i föreningen.

Rapporten visar dessutom att det redan görs mycket bra för äldre i föreningsidrotten. Men också att mycket viktigt arbete kvarstår i fråga om hur idrott skullekunna organiseras för att nå och tilltala fler, det vill säga för att kunna erbjudaen verksamhet för så många som möjligt, så länge som möjligt. Centralt är dåfyra faser: drop-in, drop-through, drop-over och drop-out. Begreppen beskrivsoch utvecklas som rekommendationer för idrotten att arbeta med för att sänkatrösklarna såväl in i som mellan olika aktiviteter och verksamheter för att främjafortsatt deltagande och förhindra att äldre lämnar verksamheten. 

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.

This study aims to acquire more knowledge about the meaning of intrinsic values in organisedpost-work non-formal educational activities for older adults. Observations andfocus group interviews were conducted at a senior university in Sweden. John Dewey’sconcept of experience and theory of value are used to facilitate a deeper understandingof the intrinsic values that were identified. The results of the study demonstrate whatintrinsic values in education for older adults can be, as well as how they are experienced.Several intrinsic values were identified: (i) new insights and widened perspectives, (ii)the reflective process, (iii) enrichment, (iv) meaningfulness, (v) enjoyment, (vi)peacefulness, (vii) existential awareness, (viii) relational support and (ix) sense ofcommunity. The results further reveal how the values of education are experienced in theinteractions and relations between older individuals and the social environment in theongoing education and that the activities themselves are valued by the participants.

This paper provides in-depth knowledge into young girls' learning processes in relation to physical activity, diet/nutrition and body image. Data were generated from interviews with 49 girls (age 13-15) in England. The practical epistemological analysis technique was used to explore young people as both producers and consumers, or prosumers, of content and knowledge. The data illustrate that adolescent girls navigate two interrelated health-related paradoxes within publicly private spaces: (i) skinny fat and (ii) naturally fake. Skinny fat refers to how participation in social media represents a continuous struggle of becoming skinny, but at the same time not trying too hard to become too skinny. Naturally fake refers to how having a 'natural' look is highly valued, but equally, it is acceptable to be 'fake'. Overall, adolescent girls are competent users of social media, who are able to navigate the complexity of the medium and its contents. At the same time, the adolescent girls sometimes found themselves, unintentionally, exposed to risks (e.g. bullying or body dysmorphia), particularly when social media was experienced publicly in a temporal order, connected to the past or present, and without control of potential future effects and impacts. Relevant adults should acknowledge young people's vast competence of life on social media and further empower young people to self-regulate their learning through social media, and in ways that help them to learn from experiences about their health and bodies to shape future actions.

Background: People aged 60 years and over has doubled since 1980 and WHO predicts that this population will reach 2 billion by the year 2050. However, increases in life spans do not directly lead to increases in health. An aging population poses both challenges and opportunities for society and for individuals. In order to address this, scholars argue for the benefits of being physically active, especially in a group of peers. However, the relation between physical activity and health is often based on an understanding of what causes or prevents illness rather than what promotes health. The purpose of this study is thus to contribute to knowledge about which health resources older adults develop in their participation in organised physical activity initiatives. The study will consider to what extent older adults develop health resources, differences in demographic background and the relation between the health resources and Sense of coherence (SOC).

Methods: This is the first data collection in a longitudinal study. Participants were old adult men and women, 60 years and above. All participants were active in ongoing organised physical activity initiatives in different organisations on a voluntary basis. A survey included demographics, overall health, health resources (McCuaig & Quennerstedt, 2018) and SOC-13. The data collection is ongoing (preliminary n = 200) and ends spring 2020. Statistical analyses were descriptive and included bivariate analyses.

Results: Preliminary results show that the most frequent health resources are social relations, positive energy and embodied identity for both men and women. A positive related correlation of the health resource habit of exercising were observed with a high sense of coherence.

Conclusion: The Salutogenic idea of having access to various health resources linked to a high sense of coherence is in line with the result of a positively related correlation direction and also with the health resource habit of exercising. The results of the study can contribute to knowledge about which health resources older adults develop in their participation in organised physical activity initiatives.

Background: Advocacy through the work of many scholars in physical education and sport pedagogy highlights a significant direction towards which physical education is moving in light of calls for change. Importantly, and despite the 'newness' of the terms, 'pedagogical models' and 'Models-based Practice' (MbP) are beginning to shape the vocabulary of physical education and sport pedagogy.

Purpose: To ask what happens if we take some of the 'good stuff associated with models and apply it in a different way while also taking some of the critical points raised towards models into consideration. Put simply, we (as scholars with different views on MbP) want to step off the beaten track to take a road less travelled and engage in a respectful, agonistic debate about the 'M' and the 'P' in MbP.

Key arguments: From a practical perspective, the diversity of the language used in describing models and practices in physical education indicates both a growing excellence and tradition in the field and a degree of confusion. A number of phrases are currently used to identify the same concept with individuals unaware of alternative language use. At the heart of this paper lies the manner in which one interprets the use of the terms 'model', 'practice' and 'practise'.

Discussion: Given the 'hope' inherent in pedagogical model development and implementation, we acknowledge that many of the negative or unintended consequences often arise as a result of the 'happening' both in research and in practice. However, by thinking in terms of what it is in students' actions that teachers and researchers should pay attention to in order for them to see what students learn, and in what direction this learning is developing, we are better able to see the outcomes of using MbP. In this way, the hope embedded in the chosen model, and the happenings teachers or researchers aspire to see, could be better aligned. Modelling and practicing through the focus on adaption and negotiation in various complex contexts has the potential to expand the field more than blueprints that potentially narrow the field.

Conclusions: By recognising the dangers inherent in an essentialist notion of models (i.e. by nouning or proper nouning them), and by remembering the roles set aside for teachers in the development of pedagogical models, it is important that the practising of MbP always retains a very real sense of becoming. By continuing to problematize the M and the P, and by engaging in respectful and agonistic debate, we are better able to unite the hope and the happening of MbP.

The purpose of this study is to explore the recontextualisation of Assessment for Learning (AfL) as a particular content area in the transition between a university course and a school placement course within Swedish Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). By combining Basil Bernstein’s (1996) pedagogic device and Stephen Ball’s (2000, 2003) performativity perspective, we alternately ask how AfL is constructed as a pedagogic discourse and what AfL becomes in different contexts within PETE. Nine students attending a Swedish PETE programme participated in the study. The empirical material was collected through one seminar and two group interviews at the university as well as through nine individual interviews based on lesson observations at different school placements. Our findings highlight five recontextualising rules, which indicate that: (1) the task of integrating assessment into teaching enables the use of AfL; (2) an exclusive focus on summative assessment and grading constrains the use of AfL; (3) a lack of critical engagement with physical education teaching traditions constrains the use of AfL; (4) knowing the pupils is crucial for the use of AfL; and (5) the framing of the school placements determines how AfL can be used. As a consequence of these rules, AfL was transformed into three different fabrications: (1) AfL as ideal teaching; (2) AfL as correction of shortcomings; and (3) AfL as ‘what works’. One conclusion from this study is that increased collaboration between teacher educators and cooperating teachers in schools can help strengthen PETE’s influence on school physical education.