Through the Looking Glass: Distortions of Self and Context in Teacher Education

Abstract

The social construction of the physical education teacher portrays a none-too bright individual, a companion but not someone with whom to engage in critical conversation. Similarly, the subject physical education is constructed in such a way that head teachers and administrators come to value the coach, placing great stock in the results of sports teams rather than in the ongoing engagement of their pupils in meaningful and sustainable physical activity. The literature around occupational socialisation suggests that those who aspire to both teach physical education and be physical education teachers learn their trade many years before arriving in teacher education programmes. Furthermore, these same teachers, socialised through school and teacher education programmes, might also be the teacher educators of the future. This chapter explores my engagement with self-study, both as a teacher seeking to better understand his pedagogy and the environment in which he worked, and as a teacher educator striving to bring ‘best practice’ from his school to his university programme. It examines the ‘extra-individual conditions’ and ‘site expectations’ that weigh heavily on the practices of teachers and teacher educators. Furthermore, in acknowledging these delimitations of practice, the chapter explores how I was able to begin to develop my pedagogy of teacher education. It concludes by arguing that self-study served as a form of awakening and as a means of reconceptualising good school-based practice into a higher education setting.