Teaching sociocultural issues to pre-service physical education teachers: a self-study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine how two teacher educators integrated sociocultural issues within their undergraduate physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. We engaged in self-study to examine challenges and barriers to teaching sociocultural issues to pre-service teachers (PSTs). After discussing social justice in PE at a research conference, we discussed future research to understand what and how we were explicitly addressing issues of social justice in programs, and how we were educating PSTs to teach K-12 students about social justice and social inequalities. A collaborative self-study over the course of one academic year allowed us to explore our teaching practices by investigating teaching materials and pedagogical methods during the teaching process. We identified three salient themes that were prevalent between both of our pedagogical approaches: using self as an example, responding to teachable moments and questioning whether we are doing enough. Barriers to incorporating sociocultural issues in courses are discussed, and a call to revitalize the social justice agenda in PETE is made.