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The difference between the terms equality, equity, and liberation, illustrated; © Interaction Institute for Social Change | Artist: Angus Maguire
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Education professionals are morally compelled to ensure that all students feel accepted, safe, and are represented in their classes. Physical education is no different; however, specific practitioner-orientated strategies to embark in more socially just practices are scarce in physical education literature. This article provides the first part of a...
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A descriptive phenomenological research approach enabled the researchers to explore students' views about their ways of learning Mathematics. This method also helped to answer what was going on in particular learning that participants' experience with regards to their anxiety and self-efficacy. This particular study included narratives of nine stud...
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... In agreement, in the present study, pursuing equity in PE encompasses the teacher's commitment to offering tailored pedagogical support to each student, recognising and fostering their unique learning possibilities [4]. Concurrently, inclusion aims to ensure the full participation of every student in activities pivotal to their holistic development, fostering central involvement and decision-making in personally relevant learning experiences (e.g., deciding what to learn) [5]. ...
... Indeed, PSTs tend to feel they may not receive proper support from their PETE programmes when they attempt to implement SCAs in schools [32]. Further, equity-and inclusion-oriented PETE interventions are very scarce [4] and require careful consideration. PSTs not only need to learn about basic instructional skills but also need to be familiar with student-centred curricula and be able to apply democratic teaching strategies (comprising positive social interactions and developmentally appropriate learning activities). ...
Equity and inclusion are requisites of high-quality Physical Education (PE). However, there is a substantial gap in understanding PE Teacher Education’s (PETE) effectiveness in preparing Preservice Teachers (PSTs) to implement equity-driven pedagogies. Moreover, focused on individual retrospective gameplay engagement rates (participation time), current research fails to provide a holistic perspective of the practical manifestations of equity and inclusion in PE. This study fills this void with novel insights offered by a mixed-methods case study examining the following: (i) the process-oriented teaching strategies employed by a PST trained to deliver inclusive pedagogies, alongside student voices on lived experiences; and (ii) the outcome-oriented gameplay patterns across two teaching units (Basketball and Volleyball). Participants included one PST and 26 students. Extensive observations and focus groups mapped the applied teaching strategies and student responses. Video-based social network analysis captured equity and inclusion in students’ gameplay patterns, using metrics such as degree prestige. Findings indicate the PETE impact in inducing PSTs’ inclusive manipulation of learning activities and the fostering of inclusive team membership and positive collaboration. SNA metrics evidenced equitable and inclusive gameplay patterns. Despite pedagogical efforts, content-specific factors may influence students’ gameplay inclusion. Hence, a reflection on the multifaceted and non-linear nature of promoting inclusive participation is prompted.
... Course content was developed around concepts such as teacher identity, meaningful physical education, ethics and sport, social justice and advocacy. The tutorials were informed by Lynch et al.'s (2020) and Landi et al.'s (2020) papers on "The A-Z of Social Justice Physical Education." These "letters" encouraged preservice teachers to develop their understanding of what social justice is and what it looks like in school physical education. ...
This article is co-written by teacher educators and pre-service teachers, and shares practical examples of how to design and enact a ‘One Good Idea’ project titled: ‘How We Can All Be Allies’. This project allowed pre-service teachers the space to engage with and explore social justice issues, enhance advocacy skills, and to ‘think outside the box’ in supporting marginalized school students.
... The word education in physical education indicates a lifelong process. This concept refers to the purpose of education for several years and is also the most crucial skill of lifelong learning in the 21st century [3]. The skill learned is the capability to control the limbs according to environmental information [4]. ...
... For instance, a growing body of previous literature has focused on the issues of whiteness, neoliberalism, and gender stereotypes in PE and PETE settings (Barker, 2019;Evans, 2014;Preece & Bullingham, 2022). However, rather than merely addressing the existing inequities, their scholarly works also maintained that PE and PETE can be potential learning sites where their students can negotiate and transform the dominant messages coming from the broader society (Azzarito et al., 2016;Lynch et al., 2020). ...
... This finding can be advocated by the previous works on reflexivity, which is defined as considering 'the way power influences the situation and involves us examining our beliefs and values in relation to the environment' (Landi et al., 2020, p. 23). Through being reflexive on their own assets, values, and beliefs, PE teachers will be able to critically examine how their viewpoints can affect the way that they teach SEL and ultimately how much their SEL practices can address social inequities outside of PE class (Dixon et al., 2022;Lynch et al., 2020). In the similar vein, TSEL also suggests critical self-analysis and critical social analysis as the relevant constructs for self-awareness and social awareness (Jagers et al., 2019). ...
Despite growing attention on Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in education settings (Jones, S. M., McGarrah, M. W., & Kahn, J. (2019). Social and emotional learning: A principled science of human development in context. Educational Psychologist, 54(3), 129–143. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2019.1625776), there also has been an increasing concern that the existing understanding of SEL is not based on diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural perspectives (Hurd, E., Brinegar, K., & Harrison, L. (2021). Equity-based social emotional learning (SEL): A critical lens for moving forward. Middle School Journal, 52(3), 2–3. https://doi.org/10.1080/00940771.2021.1893994). The purpose of this research was to explore teacher educators’ perspectives on promoting an equity-based approach for Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) in physical education teacher education (PETE) from an international perspective. Using an international comparative case study design (Penn, R. (2019). International comparative case studies: Multiple methods in action. Sage.), 18 teacher educators were recruited from 10 different countries (Australia; Brazil; Cyprus; China; Finland; Germany; Ireland; New Zealand; South Korea; The United States). Semi-structured individual interviews were conducted using a video-conferencing system to collect data on the participants’ perspectives on promoting equity-based SEL in PETE. Using a systematic process of inductive data analysis by Miles et al. (Miles, M. B., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook. Sage.), four findings were generated: (a) Respecting differences with culturally responsive pedagogy, (b) Embedding diversity across different phases, (c) Critical introspection on self and others, and (d) Having intentional and difficult conversations. Based on the findings, more research needs to be conducted in the future to investigate how PE teachers incorporate equity elements into their SEL practices in real-time school settings.
... A number of physical education academics have used poetry as a method of research, data, understanding, meaning-making, representation and an act of defiance to traditional research (Dowling et al., 2015;Fitzpatrick, 2012Fitzpatrick, , 2018Lambert, 2009Lambert, , 2016Lambert, , 2017Sparkes, Nilges, Swan, & Dowling, 2003). Multiple scholars have acknowledged the physical education field as one that remains a largely white profession (Douglas & Halas, 2011;Flintoff, 2018), continually reinforces gender and heteronormative stereotypes (Preece & Bullingham, 2020;Scraton, 2018), perpetuates a cycle of reproduction through the curriculum offered (Ennis, 1999), and one that has failed to move beyond traditional ways of teaching and assessment in the field of teacher education (Lynch, Sutherland, & Walton-Fisette, 2020). In this respect, the poem acts both as a challenge to the established ways of doing research, and as a challenge to the established ways of doing physical education. ...
In this article, the authors reflect on the experience of playing with research data in the form of poetic representation as early career researchers. The first author combined a collection of voices that intersected with her position as a transformative physical education teacher educator. Influenced by feminist thought, the principal author (re)created the research data in the form of a poem called 'The WonderBread Factory' rather than a traditional academic manuscript as a non-conforming piece of academic research. It was through this sense-making creative process that both authors reflected and concluded that poetry as a method can be a transformative process where scholars can transgress understandings of their role in the academy. They end with a call for others to join in solidarity.
... Appreciative inquiry can be seen as a methodology that values the potential and possibilities of people; its use makes it possible for participants and researchers to deal with or discuss issues that arise during an inquiry (Sargent & Casey, 2020). The additional choice for critical methodologies made it possible to discuss visible social inequities and inequalities, as they emerged in the discursive practices of the participants (Lynch, Sutherland & Walton Fisette, 2020). Using this critical point of view, I problematized taken for granted knowledge to uncover how these teachers discursively constituted themselves and their students as players or puppets in games of truth about inclusion. ...
The main research question of this dissertation is: How do PE teachers navigate and/or manage student differences in PE classes, and in what ways is this connected to discursive practices that add to processes of inclusion, exclusion, privileging and marginalization in their PE classes?
... Fortunately, progress has been made to shed light on the robust anatomy of social justice. Lynch et al. (2020) and Landi et al. (2020) generated an A through Z list of social justice concepts and strategies to promote social justice education-a teaching approach designed to create an environment around critical thinking and action related to confronting injustices (Hytten & Bettez, 2011). The abovementioned set of recommendations do provide clarity to the diversity of issues within social justice, albeit the broadness of the term has not waned. ...
Purpose : The primary purpose of this comprehensive literature review was to analyze the current body of social justice research in Physical Education Teacher Education conducted in the United States exclusively. As a secondary purpose, we defined social justice as articulated in the Physical Education Teacher Education literature and summarized discourse undergirding social justice principles. Method : The research design was documentary analysis with keyword searches used to identify articles from selected electronic databases over a 15-year period from 2005 through 2020. Thirteen articles met all inclusion criteria (i.e., empirical studies). These studies were retrieved, reviewed, coded, analyzed thematically, and summarized. Findings/Discussion : From this process, six major recurrent themes emerged: (a) social justice in Black context, (b) learning social justice, (c) diversified and racialized identities, (d) competencies and pedagogies, (e) viewpoints, and (f) criticality and pluralism.
... Given our research interests in socially just PE and inclusion of minority groups (Ahmed 2020;Landi, Lynch, and Walton-Fisette 2020;Lynch, Sutherland, and Walton-Fisette 2020), we feel there are several concepts in the book that can either be discussed within academic literature or practically applied within the PE space. ...
... the body over the past few years and the interactions that occur relative to class, race, sexuality, and ability (Blackshear & Culp, 2020;Clark, 2020;Lynch, Sutherland, & Walton-Fisette, 2020), Liberti (2017) challenged professionals to remove preconceived notions of human movement that marginalize certain bodies while normalizing others. Smith (2011), in studying various periods of history, concluded that individuals under conflict have a propensity to think in terms of hierarchies. ...
Recently, discussions regarding how to create a positive school climate where all can be successful has come to the forefront. Healthy schools support student learning, well-being, time, space to be active, and opportunities for social and emotional growth. However, a host of numerous trends suggest that the school climate is becoming increasingly hostile towards students who are from immigrant, LBGTQ and ethnic minority groups. What is often seen as disrespectful behavior towards these students, is in fact actions that can be more accurately defined as dehumanization. This article overviews the practice of dehumanization, the implications for learning and introduces proactive strategies to promote the success of all students. -----------------------------------
It should be noted that the title "Everyone Matters" is contextualized for the purpose of talking about dehumanization, as dehumanization is not limited to one group of people.
... When pupils are actively involved in their learning, it is thought that they may be able to act politically and ethically to transform and improve their lives and those of others in the schools and communities in which they learn (Azzarito and Ennis 2003;Landi, Lynch, and Walton-Fisette 2020;Lynch, Sutherland, and Walton-Fisette 2020). Given that meaningful physical education warrants the prioritisation of subjective and personal experiences, we suggest that teachers should position themselves as responsive to and supportive of a variety of learning needs and interests, and be willing to problematise structural inequalities that stand in the way of pupils experiencing meaningfulness in movement inside and outside of school. ...
... There are multiple ways that teachers can involve pupils in making decisions that span from relatively simple considerations about, for example, who they want to play with (Koekoek and Knoppers 2015) through to highly complex and demanding processes of co-constructing the curriculum, including considerations about content, pupil roles, and so on (Enright and O'Sullivan 2010;Lynch, Sutherland, and Walton-Fisette 2020). Importantly, teachers should provide opportunities for pupils to make contributions and decisions that 'go beyond mere preference, reflecting concerns about the quality of their own participation, ability, learning, achievement, and social/emotional well-being' (Beni, Fletcher, and Ní Chróinín 2017, 298). ...
Background
An emphasis on meaningfulness may facilitate the types of experiences that are more likely to lead children towards a commitment to physical activity participation in ways that enrich the quality of their lives. While several authors have highlighted the importance of prioritising meaningfulness, direction is lacking on how teachers can consistently and intentionally foster meaningful experiences for pupils in physical education.
Purpose
Our purpose in this paper is to draw on conceptual understandings of meaningful experiences to propose a coherent set of pedagogical principles that can support teachers in making decisions that facilitate meaningful experiences for pupils.
Pedagogical Principles
Interrogation of the concepts meaningful experiences provides two preliminary pedagogical principles for teaching for meaningfulness. First, the personal nature of identifying experiences as meaningful indicates the value of adopting democratic approaches that allow for ownership and individualisation of experience. Democratic principles include teachers fostering inclusive environments and helping pupils actively make authentic connections between their lived experiences inside and outside of their classroom and communities. Second, the introspective and retrospective characteristics of meaningful experiences points to the central role of reflection. Reflective principles capture the continuity of experience (past-present-future) to help pupils look back and generate awareness of what makes an experience meaningful while also moving toward future meaningful experiences. These principles also provide insight into ideas and actions that do not represent an approach where personal meaningfulness is prioritised.
Conclusions
Reflective and democratic pedagogical principles provide concept-based practical direction for teachers in facilitating meaningful experiences for pupils in physical education and for future research on meaningfulness in physical education.