Introduction

There has been a plethora of research within physical education that outlines the multiple barriers that young women and girls face to participation (see Flintoff & Scraton, 2006). Importantly, young women and girls are often constructed as the ‘problem’ within physical education settings by being labelled as ‘disengaged’ (Vertinsky, 1992). Yet, this dominant narrative has not held up to scrutiny because of the structural factors including content (Stride & Flintoff, 2018), uniforms and clothing (Fitzpatrick & Enright, 2016), gendered stereotypes (Oliver, 2001), curriculum (Oliver & Kirk, 2015), amongst many others, that work to limit girls’ engagement. Rather than just critiquing physical education, more recently researchers have shifted their focus in order to explore how we can transform physical education to be more equitable toward young women and girls. This paper continues in this line of scholarship.

There have been multiple initiatives in order to transform physical education into a more equitable place for young women and girls. Much of this work has examined how to (re-)engage young women and girls in physical education by actively changing the environment. Within this, Oliver and Kirk (2015) have developed a pedagogical model, the activist approach, to working with girls in physical education. This work has been used across multiple settings (e.g. USA, Brazil, Australia, Scotland). Further, much of this work has examined pre-service teachers experiences of engaging with the Activist approach (Luguetti & Oliver, 2019; 2021; Oliver et al., 2018). To build on this scholarship, it is important to consider the experiences of current in-service teachers that are using this novel approach in school-based physical education settings.

Physical education teachers are part of schools, communities and professional cultures that are steeped in conventional ways of thinking. Within these spaces, there are dominant practices that often limit the pedagogical creativity of teachers as they rely on traditional approaches to physical education (see Kirk, 2010). Physical education teachers, therefore, that undertake transformative approaches are often ‘at the margins’ of the field and struggle to enact new forms of teaching (Fitzpatrick, 2013). In order to empower teachers to experiment with different forms of pedagogies in physical education, it is important to understand the challenges they may face in schools. Of further importance is to understand how these teachers experience these challenges as well as how it affects their ability to enact new pedagogies in physical education.

Purpose and Research Questions

The purpose of this paper was to examine the experiences of an in-service teacher who is engaging with the activist approach in physical education. The purpose was explored using the following research questions:

1. What are some of the challenges that a teacher may face when they are enacting an activist approach in physical education?
2. How do these challenges affect the teacher’s experiences of enacting an activist approach in school-based physical education?

Paradigm

The paper is grounded in a critical and transformative paradigm of qualitative research in physical education (Landi, 2023). Within this paradigm, the goal is to not merely critique social inequitable structures but also to transform them. As such, this paper draws on the Girls Activist Approach of Physical Education in order to transform physical education practices within Scotland to be more equitable for young women and girls. This study’s aim, of understanding a teacher’s journey to become-Activist, was underpinned by an approach to learning that was student-centred, embodied, inquiry-based, and emphasised listening to students (Oliver & Kirk, 2015). 

Design The study was a 10 month-long intervention comprised of two phases. The first phase was a ‘Building the Foundation’ portion where five teachers did an induction with their students in order to start a student-centred inquiry (Oliver & Oesterreich, 2013). The second phase consisted of the teachers using student feedback from the ‘Building the Foundation’ section to develop lessons based on student interest. This particular study focuses on the experiences of one teacher, and her students, in the second phase that developed and enacted an activist approach with her all-girls physical education class. Setting and Participants: This particular research paper is centred around the experiences of Kate, a secondary school physical education teacher in Scotland. Kate works at a co-educational Catholic high school that is comprised of pupils that are geographically based in low socio-economic status areas. Kate’s class is made up of 25 girls between the ages of 15 and 16 years old. Kate was a principal teacher of physical education with over 10 years of teaching experience. Data Generation and Analysis: Data were generated over a 9-month period from August 2016-April 2017. The main researcher produced data drawing on multiple methods. This included semi-structured individual interviews (Marshall & Rossman, 2012) with the teacher, group interviews (Rubin & Rubin, 2005), lesson observations and field notes (Emerson et al., 2011), unstructured debriefing with the teachers, classroom artefacts (Marshall & Rossman, 2012), as well as reflective discussions with the third and fourth authors. To analyse the data, the first author worked with the second author to undertake different ‘modes of thinking’ (Freeman 2017). First, data were coded using versus coding (Saldana, 2013) where we looked for dichotomis in the data that were at conflict (e.g., teacher expectations v. student expectations). After versus coding took place, these codes were then considered in relation to concept coding (Saldana, 2013). This is where the original versus codes and data were then compared to ‘big ideas’ and broader meaning. In this case, several ‘big ideas’ were developed like ‘structural restrictions in relation to student needs’. After, these two rounds of coding took place, the first author created a narrative analysis (Freeman, 2017) to re-construct stories from the research that highlighted the above conflicts and concepts. They were then re-presented and unpacked for meaning around becoming-Activist.

Kate began her unit with a foundational audit that explored the girls’ experiences in PE. Jenny, said ‘I really don’t like it when teachers keep telling you to work harder but you’re doing your best’. Maeve added ‘Yeah, when you’re running with someone who is faster and you can’t keep up and the teacher tells you to keep going but you can’t go faster’. Kate recognised this and acknowledged Jenny and Maeve by saying, ‘maybe it’s about the teacher being more aware of your individual strengths and weaknesses’. A few weeks later, Kate co-created a lesson based on a spin class. She assumed the girls would like it based on discussions. In the beginning she emphasised ‘going at your own pace’ and ‘judging their own ability’. Once instruction started, Kate forgot about what she stated. Her bike, at the front of the class, faced her students as she barked orders: ‘keep pushing hard on the pedals’ ‘Girls you should be going at the same pace as me’ ‘Last wee bit keep pushing’ Despite good intentions, Kate resorted to ‘traditional forms’ of physical education that were teacher-centred and performance-based. Halfway through the semester, Kate and I reflected on this activity and she noticed the girls did not need her to push them. Rather, they were enjoying the activist approach without her orders. Then she taught another spin lesson, this time trusting her students. She taught ‘from the floor’ and gave students options of different activities and to go at their pace. She was ‘at the same level’ as students, moving between groups doing different tasks that were led by students. The girls were working hard, engaged, and encouraging one another. It took reflection, but using an activist approach was not an ‘end point’. It is filled with errors, reflection and experimentation.

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