In this paper, we discuss the methodology as part of the EDUHEALTH project involving HPE class observations and teacher interviews in the three different countries. More specifically, we will employ a “critical incident technique” (CIT) (Tripp, 2012) methodology including observations and stimulated-recall interviews (Lyle, 2003) to explore HPE teaching practices that promote and enact socially-critical perspective of physical activity and health. CIT methodology is useful in research to study ethical conflicts in education (Colnerud, 1997, 2014) and teacher decision making (Tripp, 2012). In our project, the CIT has been reconceived to focus on “captured” incidents as forms of critical incidents in HPE practice. A captured incident can be a single moment as well as a whole lesson or even longer in which the teacher addresses issues related social justice. Such issues can, for example, address gender, sexuality, social class, ethnic and cultural equity, ability/disability, democracy, understanding of bodies or promoting social cohesion. Recently, a series of pilot studies have been conducted where we have made observations of HPE teaching practices in the three countries followed by post-lesson teacher interviews served to further interrogate these “capture incidents”. The captured incidents have focused on observing and identifying the teachers doing “pedagogical work” (Tinning & Glasby, 2002) in the name of social justice. To identify the incidents, we first had to discuss and develop a shared understanding of social justice consistent with principles of teaching for equity and social justice, as discussed in the second paper of this symposium. Preliminary analysis of the pilot studies indicates different aspects of social justice in HPE teaching practices. Drawing on preliminary results, we have adjusted the interview guide and the observation template to focus greater attention on the strategies teachers use to provide equitable opportunities for all students, and to probe deeply into how the teacher’s logic of practice (Bourdieu, 1990) may be consistent with a social justice perspective. Additionally, as a result of the pilot interviews the refined interview guide will only include a few standardised questions with the remaining questions generated from the observational notes. Finally, the EDUHEALTH project is still engaged in healthy debates about our ‘strike zone’, that is, what qualifies as a pedagogy for social justice. This challenge includes questions of how teachers can empower rather than marginalise students in HPE practice regardless of socio-cultural factors such as gender, sexuality, ethnicity and social class.
