Differences in high school physical education : a case study in Knox County schools

Learning to teach is a personal experience, which develops long before entering teacher preparation programs (Groundwater-Smith et al., 2007). Physical education teachers usually come to the profession having been relatively successful movers in sport and physical activity during their formative years (Dodds et al., 1992). Over the years, occupational socialization theory (OST) has provided a popular framing for attempting to understand the nature of learning to teach physical education (Richards et al., 2013; Templin & Schemp, 1989). The purpose of this research was to examine the different perspectives of high school physical education teachers within one school system. Using a qualitative research design and case study approach, this study collected data from open-ended questions in two semi-structured interviews with sixteen high school physical education teachers in one school district in the southeast. Teacher representation consisted of eight teachers from high poverty (HP) schools and eight teachers from low poverty (LP) schools. The results of the study highlighted key similarities and differences in the perspectives of PE teachers from high and low poverty schools. Through two rounds of semi-structured interviews, the teachers’ comments helped shape the narrative of teaching in schools with different resources and income levels. Four themes arose from the candid interviews: Characteristics of High School Physical Education Classes, Perspectives of Quality PE, Facilitators, and Barriers. The findings from this study help show the differences in teaching PE at either an HP or LP school and also support similarities between all high school PE teachers in the same school district. Further investigation may help stakeholders, including administrators at the county and building levels, to support high school physical education teachers in the future