Abstract
Like many other feminist research projects, mine grew from the links I began to make some years ago between my experiences and concerns as a lecturer in initial teacher education (ITE) in physical education (PE) and my developing understanding of, and commitment to, feminism.1 Access to feminist theories as part of my Master of Arts studies in 1984 helped me to understand the processes by which gender inequalities are reproduced in and through schooling. Importantly, I was also alerted to the critical role teachers can play in challenging and resisting these processes, and as a result began to question my own role as a teacher educator. Without an awareness and understanding of gender relations and how these may be transmitted through schooling and PE, students will be unable to adopt strategies to challenge these in their own teaching. Certainly my own training in the late 1970s had not included any attention to these issues! I began to question the extent to which my own institution of higher education was raising these issues with students, given that there is now over a decade of feminist research and writing on education and schooling on which it is possible to draw. However, as well as recognising what intending teachers were taught — the curriculum content — I was also very conscious of the ways in which gender was influencing and structuring classroom interactions at ITE level, including those in my own teaching groups.
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Flintoff, A. (1997). Gender Relations in Physical Education Initial Teacher Education. In: Clarke, G., Humberstone, B. (eds) Researching Women and Sport. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-25317-3_11
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