Teacher Socialization Research: Leveraging Lessons Learned Toward a Favorable Future for Physical Education

Abstract

Occupational socialization theory has been used to guide research related to the lives and careers of teachers and, more recently, teacher educators for around 50 years. Across this time, much has been learned about the factors that attract or deter prospective recruits from seeking occupations in the field, the effectiveness of professional development programming, and individuals’ experiences working in educational systems or scholarly contributions toward larger institutional missions. In this paper, we provide an overview of research stemming from occupational socialization theory before presenting and discussing vignettes that provide illustrative examples of the socialization of physical education teachers and faculty members in action. Building from the discussion across these vignettes, we describe lessons learned related to applying the findings of socialization research in practice before closing with research recommendations. We emphasize topical and methodological diversity in socialization research and provide example studies linked to the current literature.