Professional identity among student teachers of physical education: the role of physicality

Abstract

Jukka Virta, Licentiate in Sport Sciences, is a teacher of physical education. His research interests include teachers' social and emotional skills, teacher-student interaction and most recently teachers' professional identity.

Wanting to become PE teachers in Spain: connections between previous experiences and particular beliefs about school Physical Education and the development of professional teacher identities

“…I'm over the ideal weight, I'm not muscular at all […]. But I think I have many other qualities that make up for those deficiencies: I am very empathetic, I am able to teach motor skills to the student body in an appropriate way, I think I am able to attend to the diversity of bodies and abilities of all school children and not just the motor elites … (Javier, interview) This pedagogical orientation helps the teaching body to be considered from a holistic perspective, where all physical bodies can be considered 'normal' for the profession (Virta et al, 2019). However, Tinning and Glasby (2002) indicate that PE remains ineffective in helping young people maintain some measure of analytical and embodied 'distance' from the 'cult of the body'.…”

“…Several studies indicate that their own previous experiences as students influence the attitudes, beliefs and practices of future teachers (e.g. Lortie, 1975;Virta et al, 2019). Thus, it is common for students who enter initial teacher education (ITE) programmes to do so with deep-rooted beliefs about teaching and learning which serve to filter their learning and their interpretation of new knowledge (Richardson, 1996).…”

Critical Factors Influencing Moocs Retention: The Mediating Role of Information Technology

“…Traditional courses are mainly reduced to limited students, limited exposure, limited area, and fairly higher costs in the majority of the cases (Zhang, Huang, Lv, Liu, & Zhou, 2018). In the same way, another obstacle to overcome in organizing traditional courses is to ensure that the number of students is sufficient to pursue a certain subject; on the contrary, the course is not offered (Virta, Hokka, Etelaplto, & Rasku-Puttonen, 2019). In comparison, MOOCs have unlimited capacity and are considered to be the most flexible forms of education in the world since 2012 due to their easy access to everyone in the world .…”

Development of the Pre-service Physical Education Teachers' Teacher Identity Scale

“…They found a lack of diversity in ontological and epistemological stance and research methodology and a lack of valid and reliable measurement instruments. Three recent studies (Alves et al, 2019; Ferry, 2018; Virta et al, 2019) are incorporated in the following discussion about research findings and gaps in PPET-TI.…”

“…A majority of previous studies on PPET-TI took a postmodern stance. TI has been defined as a person's lived experiences and stories around dominant discourses in several areas: personal beliefs (MacDonald, 1998; MacDonald and Kirk, 1999), physical education pedagogies and learning (Wrench and Garrett, 2012), sport-related discourses (Dowling, 2011; Garrett and Wrench, 2007; MacDonald and Kirk, 1999; Virta et al, 2019), and physicality (Garrett and Wrench, 2007; MacDonald and Kirk, 1999; Virta et al, 2019). From a symbolic interactionist perspective, TI includes a set of labels and categories identified by PPETs, which are also recognized by others (Alves et al, 2012; da Cunha et al, 2014; Fletcher, 2012; Fletcher et al, 2013).…”