Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A Journey of Critical Scholarship in Physical Education Teacher Education

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Self-Study in Physical Education Teacher Education

Part of the book series: Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices ((STEP,volume 13))

Abstract

Through a yearlong critical autoethnographic self-study, I deconstruct my experiences as a professional athlete, doctoral student in the field of physical education, and beginning teacher educator. By sharing reflective journal entries and critical dialogues with other critical scholars in physical education, I endeavor to illustrate how understanding our ‘storied’ selves can awaken us to acknowledge and problematize our beliefs and practices for the improvement of teaching and learning. As such, in this chapter I have three aims: (a) to explain the nature and process of critical autoethnographic self-study methodology, (b) to highlight key moments when thinking about my ‘critical’ pedagogy and practice changed, and (c) to identify some of the ways in which my professional knowledge of teaching practice has benefited from this form of inquiry. It is my hope that other teachers, students, and beginning teacher educators in the field of physical education are stimulated to reflect upon and share how their own personal and professional experiences have informed (and will inform) their teaching practice.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Azzarito, L. (2007). “Shape up America!”: Understanding fatness as a curriculum project. Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies, 3, 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, L., & Griffin, P. (1997). Designing social justice education courses. In M. Adams, L. Bell, & P. Griffin (Eds.), Teaching for diversity and social justice (pp. 44–58). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bordo, S. (2003) Unbearable weight: Feminism, Western culture, and the body (10th anniversary Ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Cambridge: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (1991). Language and symbolic power. Cambridge, MA: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. (1989). Towards a reflexive sociology: A workshop with Pierre Bourdieu. Sociological Theory, 7(1), 26–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bowes, M., & Bruce, J. (2011). Curriculum liquefaction (shifting sands) in senior school physical education in New Zealand: Critical pedagogical approaches and dilemmas. Asia-Pacific Journal of Health, Sport and Physical education, 2(3–4), 17–33.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Breunig, M. (2006). Critical pedagogy as praxis (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses. (ISBN 9780494311783).

    Google Scholar 

  • Bullock, S., & Ritter, J. (2011). Exploring the transition into academia through collaborative self-study. Studying Teacher Education, 72, 171–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cameron, E., Oakley, J., Walton, G., Russell, C., Chambers, L., & Socha, T. (2014). Moving beyond the injustices of the schooled healthy body. In I. Bogotch and C. Shields (Eds.), The international handbook of social justice and educational leadership (pp. 687–704). New York, NY: Springer Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carter, E. (2009). Athlete social responsibility (ASR): A grounded theory inquiry into the social consciousness of elite athletes. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses, ISBN 9780494558690.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clandinin, D., & Connelly, F. (2004). Knowledge, narrative and self-study. In J. Loughran, M. Hamilton, V. LaBoskey, & T. Russell (Eds.), International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices (pp. 575–600). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Conrad, P. (1992). Medicalization and social control. Annual Review of Sociology, 18, 209–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davies, B., & Harre, R. (1990). Positioning: The discursive production of selves. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 20(1), 43–63.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Davis, N. (1992). Teaching about inequality: Student resistance, paralysis, and rage. Teaching Sociology, 20(3), 232–238.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglas, D., & Halas, J. (2013). The wages of whiteness: Confronting the nature of ivory tower racism and the implications for physical education. Sport, Education and Society, 18(4), 453–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ellsworth, E. (1992). Why doesn’t this feel empowering? Working through the repressive myths of critical pedagogy. In C. Luke & J. Gore (Eds.), Feminisms and critical pedagogy (pp. 90–119). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J., Rich, E., Davies, B., & Allwood, R. (2008). Education, disordered eating and obesity discourse: Fat fabrications. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernández-Balboa, J. (1995). Reclaiming physical education in higher education through critical pedagogy. Quest, 47, 91–114.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández-Balboa, J. (1997). Postmodernism in human movement, physical education and sport. Albany: State University of New York Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fernández-Balboa, J., & Muros-Ruiz, B. (2006). The hegemonic triumvirate – ideologies, discourses, and habitus in sport and physical education: Implications and suggestions. Quest, 58, 197–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick, K. (2010). Stop playing up! A critical ethnography of health, physical education and (sub)urban schooling, The University of Waikato Dissertation. Retrieved from http://waikato.researchgateway.ac.nz/

  • Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foucault, M. (1984). Space, knowledge and power. In N. P. Rabinow (Ed.), The Foucault reader (pp. 239–256). New York: Pantheon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gard, M., & Wright, J. (2005). The obesity epidemic. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gramsci, A. (1971). Selections from the prison notebooks. (Q. Hoare, Ed. and Trans.). New York: International Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Grierson, A. (2010). Changing conceptions of effective teacher education: The journey of a novice teacher educator. Studying Teacher Education, 6(1), 3–15.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halas, J. (2011). Aboriginal youth ad their experiences in physical education: “This is what you’ve taught me.” PHENEX Journal, 3(2), 1–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halas, J., & Kentel, J. (2008). Giving the body its due: Autobiographical reflections and utopian imaginings. In G. Fenstermacher, R. Colvin, J. Wiens, & D. Coulter (Eds.), Why do we educate in a democratic society? (pp. 208–223). Malden: National Society for the Study of Education and Blackwell Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Halas, J., Cameron, E., & Chhin, S. (2012). Putting critical in pedagogies: Tangible ways of addressing physical education’s exclusionary culture. Paper presentation at the National Physical and Health Education Conference, Halifax.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, M., & Pinnegar, S. (1998). Conclusion: The value and the promise of self-study. In M. Hamilton, S. Pinnegar, T. Russell, J. Loughran, & V. LaBoskey (Eds.), Reconceptualizing teacher practice: Self-study in teacher education (pp. 235–246). London: Falmer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, M. L., Smith, L., & Worthington, K. (2008). Fitting the methodology with the research: An exploration of narrative, self-study and autoethnography. Studying Teacher Education, 4(1), 17–28.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hunter, L. (2011). Re-embodying (preservice middle years) teachers? An attempt to reposition the body and its presence in teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27, 187–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kidd, B. (1996). The struggle for Canadian sport. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kincheloe, J. (2005). Critical ontology and auto-biography: Being a teacher, developing a reflective teacher persona. In W. Roth (Ed.), Auto/biography and auto/ethnography: Praxis of research method (pp. 155–174). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kincheloe, J., & Tobin, K. (2006). Doing educational research in a complex world. In K. Tobin & J. Kincheloe (Eds.), Doing educational research: A handbook (pp. 3–13). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk, D. (2010). Physical education futures. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kirk, D., Macdonald, D., & Tinning, R. (1997). The social construction of pedagogic discourse in physical education teacher education in Australia. The Curriculum Journal, 8(2), 271–298.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kumashiro, K. (2004). Against common sense: Teaching and learning toward social justice. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • LaBoskey, V. (2004). The methodology of self-study and its theoretical underpinnings. In J. Loughran, M. L. Hamilton, V. K. LaBoskey, & T. Russell (Eds.), International handbook of self-study of teaching practices (pp. 817–869). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Lichtman, M. (2010). Qualitative research in education: A user’s guide. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lincoln, Y., & Denzin, N. (2005). Epilogue: The eighth and ninth moments: Qualitative research in/and the fractured future. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (3rd ed., pp. 1115–1126). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loughran, J. J. (2006). Developing a pedagogy of teacher education: Understanding teaching and learning about teaching. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lupton, D. (2013). Risk. London: Taylor and Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lyle, E. (2009). A process of becoming: In favor of a reflexive narrative approach. The Qualitative Report, 14(2), 293–298.

    Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald, D., & Brooker, R. R. (2000). Articulating a critical pedagogy in physical education teacher education. Journal of Sport Pedagogy, 5(1), 51–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • McLaren, P. (1991). Essay review of ‘literacy: Reading the word and the world’ by Freire and Macedo 1987. In M. Minami & B. Kennedy (Eds.), Language issues in literacy and bilingual/multicultural education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Educational Review.

    Google Scholar 

  • Melnychuk, N., Robinson, D., Lu, C., Chorney, D., & Randall, L. (2011). Physical education teacher education (PETE) in Canada. Canadian Journal of Education, 34(2), 148–168.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrow, D., & Wamsley, K. (2005). Sport in Canada: A history. Don Mills: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Muros-Ruiz, B., & Fernandez-Balboa, J. M. (2005). Physical education teacher educators’ personal perspectives regarding their practice of critical pedagogy. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 24, 243–264.

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Sullivan, M., Siedentop, D., & Locke, L. (1992). Toward collegiality: Competing view-points among teacher educators. Quest, 44, 266–280.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palmer, P. (1998). The courage to teach. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, J. (2006). The mission of disposition: A white teacher educator’s press for race consciousness. The International Journal of Learning, 12(4), 299–308.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, J., & Brock, C. (2012). Constructing critical autoethnographic self-studies with white educators. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(2), 225–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pennington, J. L., Brock, C. H., Abernathy, T., Bingham, A., Major, E., Ndura, E., & Wiest, L. R. (2012). Teacher educators’ dispositions: Footnoting the present with stories for our pasts. Studying Teacher Education, 8(1), 69–85.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phillips, M., & Roper, A. (2006). History of physical education. In D. Kirk, D. Macdonald, & M. O’Sullivan (Eds.), Handbook of physical education (pp. 123–140). Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Pinnegar, S., & Hamilton, M. (2009). Self-study of practice as a genre of qualitative research: Theory, methodology, and practice. Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pithouse, K., Mitchell, C., & Weber, S. (2009). Self-study in teaching and teacher development: A call to action. Educational Action Research, 17(1), 42–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rail, G. (2009). Canadian youths’ discursive constructions of health in the context of obesity discourse. In J. Wright & V. Harwood (Eds.), Biopolitics and the “obesity epidemic”: Governing bodies (pp. 141e–156e). New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sicilia-Camacho, A., & Fernandez-Balboa, J. (2009). Reflecting on the moral bases of critical pedagogy in PETE: Toward a Foucaultian perspective on ethics and the care of the self. Sport, Education and Society, 14(4), 443–463.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tidwell, D., Heston, M., & Fitzgerald, L. (2009). Introduction. In L. Fitzgerald, M. Heston, & D. Tidwell (Eds.), Research methods for the self-study of practice (pp. xiii–xxi). Dordrecht: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinning, R. (2002). Toward a “modest pedagogy”: Reflections on the problematics of critical pedagogy. Quest, 54, 224–240.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Van Dalen, D., & Bennett, B. (1953). A world history of physical education: Cultural, philosophical, comparative. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Webb, L., Quennerstedt, M., & Ohman, M. (2008). Healthy bodies: Construction of the body and health in physical education. Sport, Education and Society, 13(4), 353–372.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Webster, L., & Mertova, P. (2007). Using narrative inquiry as a research method. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox, S., Watson, J., & Paterson, M. (2004). Self-study in professional practice. In J. Loughran, M. Hamilton, V. K. LaBoskey, & T. Russell (Eds.), International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices (pp. 273–312). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Williams, J., Ritter, J., & Bullock, S. (2012). Understanding the complexity of becoming a teacher educator: Experience, belonging, and practice within a professional learning community. Studying Teacher Education, 8(3), 245–260.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wolff, E., & Kaufman, P. (2010). Playing and protesting: Making a case for sport as a vehicle for social change. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 34(2), 154–175.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeichner, K. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: A personal perspective. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(2), 143–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Human Kinetics and Recreation, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, A1C 5S7, Canada

    Erin Cameron (Assistant Professor)

Authors
  1. Erin Cameron
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Erin Cameron .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Auckland, Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Alan Ovens

  2. Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada

    Tim Fletcher

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Cameron, E. (2014). A Journey of Critical Scholarship in Physical Education Teacher Education. In: Ovens, A., Fletcher, T. (eds) Self-Study in Physical Education Teacher Education. Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices, vol 13. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05663-0_8

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation