There is a longstanding notion that all PE teachers are the same, and enter into the profession with a particular set of values, usually around sport and physical health, that shape their practice (Richards et al., 2018). This practice, and indeed the PE teachers themselves, are often stereotyped – as focussed on the development of sports skills and competitiveness and/or physical activity for health.  Some of this might be true and, in the right context, this might even be appropriate. However, this (somewhat pejorative) characterisation might also be as a result of how PE and PE teachers are researched. In other words, if you look for similarities across a particular group of people, you will likely find them. However, what if researchers looked for differences across PE teachers. What would this reveal and what might we learn from this?

We recently did this as part of a research project exploring PE across the four nations of the UK. In our previous work on this project, we uncovered significant differences in the PE curricula across the four countries (see Gray et al., 2021, 2022). For example, we found differences in terms of how health and well-being (HWB) is conceptualised, and in relation to how much prescription or autonomy is afforded to teachers to enact their respective curriculum. It is important to note here that we perceive difference as a valuable way to disrupt current thinking and begin to develop new ideas around PE purposes, aims, curriculum and pedagogy. Because of this, we then began to question the extent to which PE teachers across the four nations of the UK might be different. Consequently, we decided to embark on a small project where we would firstly speak to teachers from across the four nations of the UK to find out how they understood and practised PE, before bringing them together to share their experiences and knowledge, and potentially generate new ideas about/for PE. Below, we share some findings from our discussions with PE teachers, focusing in particular on how they understood HWB in different ways (for more, see: Gray et al., 2023).

We interviewed three PE teachers from each of the home nations of England, Scotland and Wales, and two teachers from Northern Ireland (n=11). One of the key findings from our analysis was that their understandings of HWB had clearly been influenced by their respective curricula. For example, PE teachers from England often talked about engaging in physical activity for health within PE linked to the National Curriculum for PE in England within which one of the overarching objectives focuses on pupils ‘leading a healthy, active lifestyle’. Contrastingly, PE teachers from Scotland and Wales described a broader conceptualisation of HWB, referring to social, emotional, mental and physical well-being, reflecting the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland and the Curriculum for Wales.

It is also important to note that none of the PE teachers understood HWB as a narrow, or singular concept, but drew from a range of discourses to articulate their understanding. For example, although teachers from England and Northern Ireland talked about the role of sport in terms of increasing physical activity levels, they also understood sport as a way of helping young people to ‘deal with pressure’, ‘experience fun and enjoyment’ and develop ‘self-esteem’ and ‘confidence’. Another interesting difference emerged amongst the teachers from Scotland, who drew heavily from a discourse of care to explain their understandings of HWB. They frequently talked about HWB in terms of, for example, ‘empathy’, ‘developing positive relationships’, ‘nurture’, ‘young people’s rights’, ‘feeling safe and offering support’, a discourse also prevalent in the Curriculum for Excellence.

In summary, we have learned that, when you look closely enough, not all PE teachers are the same. Certainly, the teachers we spoke to had diverse, broad and nuanced understandings of their subject, likely influenced by several factors, for example previous experiences and current school context, but also their curriculum. From our perspective, this is both interesting and important – for several reasons. First, it tells us that curriculum (discourse) matters. Researchers often suggest that curriculum messages can be lost as teachers grapple to construct meaning, and they adapt key messages/ideas to fit with their personal knowledge and context. There is no doubt that teachers bring themselves to their reading of curriculum. However, our work suggests that curriculum can also have a powerful impact on teachers – generating (we think useful) differences across nations. Second, it means that when we bring PE teachers together from across the four nations of the UK to share their knowledge and experiences, discussions should be rich, innovative and productive. Finally, our research tells us that ultimately, you find what you are looking for. We are looking for the potential in PE teachers to think differently about PE, which we think we have found in these PE teachers. In our future work, we plan to bring more PE teachers together to share their differences, learn from each other and begin to think creatively about what PE could be in the future.

References

Gray, S., Hooper, O., Hardley, S., Sandford, R., Aldous, D., Stirrup, J., Carse, N. & Bryant, A. S. (2022). A health(y) subject? Examining discourses of health in physical education curricula across the UK. British Educational Research Journal, 00, 1– 22. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3820

Gray, S., Sandford, R., Stirrup, J., Aldous, D., Hardley, S., Carse, N., Hooper, O., & Bryant, A. (2021). A comparative analysis of discourses shaping physical education provision within and across the UK. European Physical Education Review. https://doi.org/10.1177/1356336X211059440

Richards, K.A.R.,  Housner, L.D., & Templin, T.J.  (2018) Addressing Physical Education Teacher Socialization Through Standards-based Reform of Physical Education Teacher Education, Quest, 70:3, 334-353, DOI: 10.1080/00336297.2017.1388262

Gray, S., Hardley, S., Bryant, A,. Hooper, O., Stirrup, J., Sandford, R., Aldous &  Carse, N.  (2023) Exploring physical education teachers’ conceptualisations of health and wellbeing discourse across the four nations of the UK, Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education, DOI: 10.1080/25742981.2023.2176242

Exploring diversity and difference amongst UK PE teachers / UKPE Cross-border Learning and Innovation Collaborative by blogadmin is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0