In physical education (PE), the use of instruction and feedback is central to children's motor skill learning. Recently, it has been identified that instruction, and feedback, which promote OPTIMAL theory motor learning factors (e.g., an external focus of attention, enhanced expectancies, and autonomy support) can enhance children's motor…

Purpose: Physical education (PE) teachers' interactions with students were explored to examine self-selection for PE teaching as a career option during school. Method: Semistructured life story interviews were conducted with 29 PE teachers at different career stages. Complementing occupational socialization, Bourdieu's habitus, capital, field, and…

Purpose: The broad aim of this paper is to use Noddings' theory of ethical care to analyse mentors' caring experiences. More specifically, it aims to analyse how physical education (PE) mentors provide care, how they are cared for and how this impacts their role within the context of secondary PE initial teacher training (ITT).…

Set within the context of a longitudinal project that seeks to engage physical education teachers from the four countries of the UK in cross-border curriculum analysis, dialogue and learning, the current study lays the foundation by mapping and comparing curriculum discourses that currently shape how physical education is conceptualised in…

Background: Despite increases in the ethnic diversity of the student population within English schools, there remains a distinct lack of Black and minority ethnic representation within the teaching profession. Research has explored the reasons behind this lacuna within education more broadly, highlighting discrimination, verbal abuse, lack of…

This research sought to generate large-scale yet sophisticated data relating to ability grouping practices in physical education (PE) in secondary schools in England, with the intent of extending knowledge of the various ability grouping practices being adopted within and across schools. The prevalence of particular ability grouping practices,…

In the United Kingdom (UK) particularly, grouping strategies in secondary education have attracted considerable political attention. While setting students by ability is frequently adopted in mathematics, English and science, mixed-ability grouping is common in other subjects, including physical education (PE). Educational research exploring…

Background: Publications documenting how teaching is typically undertaken in highly cis-normative school spaces are beginning to increase in popularity. Scholars highlight how school Physical Education (PE) departments operate as highly gendered, and exclusive spaces which are typically ruled by gender-binarised discourses. This ideology is…

Purpose: This study evaluated the feasibility of the "Start to Move" (S2M) digital assessment of children's fundamental movement skills being implemented by primary school teachers within PE lessons. Methods: Nine primary school teachers in the United Kingdom trialed S2M weekly over a 6-week period. Posttrial surveys and interviews were…

Primary physical education is quickly becoming an area of academic interest with a particular focus on new entrants into the profession. This study adopts a Personal Construct methodology to identify how pre-service teachers in England construct their knowledge of primary physical education. Our findings present four themes for knowledge…

The core aim of physical education initial teacher training in England is to prepare associate teachers to become creative, inspiring, and highly skilled practitioners who will contribute to the teaching and development of the subject. School-based mentors play a critical role in this process, and an appreciation of their impact has raised the…

Background: The Teacher-Student relationship (TSR) is instrumental for young children and adolescents' socio-emotional development and wellbeing as well as academic engagement and progress. Aims: The primary aim of this study was to test the psychometric properties, including reliability and factorial, convergent, and predictive validity, of the…

Background: This paper reports on the gendered embodiment of physical education (PE) pre-service teachers, as they learnt to teach gymnastics using mobile website technology. Methodology: Framed within an interpretivist paradigm and informed by a constructivist grounded theory, qualitative data from module observations, focus groups and…

This paper reports on the first phase of a longitudinal project investigating the perceived purposes that different stakeholders have for primary physical education (PE). In the study, the views of 19 teacher educators from seven countries across Europe were sought. While teacher educators may have some influence across the layers of an education…

This paper reports on an investigation examining provision of physical education continuing professional development (CPD) in European countries undertaken to identify the types of practices being employed. We begin by providing a brief overview of what we currently know about CPD internationally in general education and physical education. Data…