Physical education (PE) stands out from other school subjects due to the visibility of the body (Åsebø et al., 2022), which serves as a medium for educational processes[ML1] [SM2]  (Meinberg, 2011). Consequently, this body can only be partially concealed or shielded from the gaze of others (Wiesche & Klinge, 2017, p. 14). If this body does not conform to a particular norm of the group to which one seeks to belong as part of one’s identity formation, it can trigger feelings of shame (ibid., p. 11). Feeling ashamed of one’s own body is particularly painful, as this experience is subjective and deeply embodied. Shame is described as a phenomenon that fulfills various functions, is highly individualized, and can manifest in diverse situations. To better understand this phenomenon, comprehensive foundational research is required, particularly in formative and potentially shame-prone contexts such as schools and, more specifically, physical educationPE (Marks & Sobiech, 2008; Monroe, 2008; Simonton et al., 2023; Smith, 2023; Wertenbruch & Röttger-Rössler, 2011; Wiesche & Klinge, 2017).

Existing research highlights numerous instances where students experience shame or are shamed by teachers or fellow students during PE lessons and initial recommendations for action can be derived from this. However, whether opportunities are offered to learn how to constructively address shame or whether shame itself constitutes an integral component of the learning process (Meyer-Drawe, 2013) remains underexplored. The primary objective of this study is to identify and reflect upon the triggers and dynamics of shame in PE, with the aim of moderating its negative effects or leveraging it as a productive element of learning.

Due to the high complexity of teaching situations and the diversity of students, no universal formula for shame-sensitive instruction exists. Consequently, teachers must act situationally and individually, making perceptual competence a key component of teaching expertise. This competence enables educators to discern relevant aspects within the "chaos of classroom interactions" and to make quick decisions about where to direct their "pedagogical attention" (Agostini, Rathgeb, et al., 2023). To train perceptual competence, it is first necessary to understand how shame and shaming manifest in the classroom.

The following research questions aim to explore this endeavor.

 How are shame and shaming perceived and experienced by students and their teachers in physical education?

 What similarities and differences emerge in the perception of shame and shaming in physical education from the perspectives of teachers and students?

Shame is inherently human and self-reflective and described as a feeling of failed self-relation between one’s perceived self and an ideal self. Schäfer and Thompson (2009) extend this relationship by adding two more: first, the relation to others who witness the inadequacy. Secondly, the relation to shared norms and values, which both the individual and others acknowledge on aesthetic, moral, and social levels, and which serve as the reference point for shame. This definition expands an universalistic understanding of shame by incorporating a normative dimension, making it particularly suitable for the present research project, as shame situations can be analyzed through its triadic structure.

Shame is also ambivalent: on the one hand, it often reveals itself clearly through physical expressions (e.g., downward gaze, blushing, or a withdrawn, hunched posture); on the other hand, it hides and is masked by coping strategies such as the expression of other emotions (Partridge & Elison, 2010; Wurmser, 1997). This challenge is addressed through the application of a two-stage research design (see Methods).

The methodology of this PhD project is guided by the three central tasks of educational science as outlined by d’Arcais (1995, cited in Agostini et al., 2017, p. 350), which Peterlini has adapted to vignette research. The first step focuses on the perception of concrete situations, which are captured in the form of phenomenological vignettes. Building on these vignettes, the second step involves critical reflection through vignette-based interviews. These two steps are integrated into the present research design and serve as the foundation for a potential third step in the future, in which normative considerations for future educational practices can be formulated. Following this design, the first step is to address the question of how shame and shaming manifest in physical education. To do so, the researcher explores the field of physical education and its participants through a descriptive phenomenological vignette study. Vignettes are qualitative research tools which capture moments of everday experiences and condense them into brief, illustrative scences that serve as an example for understanding specific phenomena. This approach posits that experiences can be co-experienced by the researcher and re-experienced through resonance reading, providing access to both the particular and the universal meanings embedded in the phenomenon. This method aims to uncover aspects of shame in PE that are often unspoken or difficult to articulate. The vignettes serve as the basis for the second step, in which vignette-based interviews are conducted with PE teachers and their students. The vignette-based interview combines a structured, focused, question-guided approach with an open, narrative methodology. Vignettes act as both the starting point and stimuli for the interviews. Teachers and students are regarded as experts in their teaching and learning community, perceiving, exploring, and verbalizing the vignettes from their perspectives (Kahlhammer, 2017). Through these interviews, moments of shame that remain hidden during the vignette-study, as well as past experiences and shame-prone contexts such as the changing room, are captured. One possible meaning of the experience described in the phenomenological vignette is shown through vignette reading (Agostini et al., 2024, p. 113-124). The interviews are analyzed using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006), which interprets the participants' perspectives and seeks to understand the constructions of meaning. To gain a deeper understanding of students' experiences of shame in physical education, the co-experienced and described shame situations are analyzed based on the three relational dimensions proposed by Schäfer and Thompson.

This research aims to explore how shame manifests in PE and its potential impact on learning processes. Existing research highlights that PE has unique potentials for inducing shame. Given the complexity of classroom dynamics and the diversity of students, there can be no universal approach to shame-sensitive teaching. Instead, teachers need to cultivate a professional teaching perception to respond to these situations on a case-by-case basis. Teachers play a central role in dealing with shame, as they design lessons and must not only distinguish between shame that promotes learning and shame that prevents learning but should also support their students in both variants. This vignette study represents a foundational step toward understanding how shame manifests in PE lessons and how it is experienced by both students and teachers. Preliminary findings, presented as validated vignettes, will be shared at the upcoming conference. These vignettes will offer insights into the ways in which shame emerges in PE settings and form the basis for further investigations into its perception by students and teachers. The discussion will address the extent to which vignettes are suitable as a method for exploring shame and how strategies for addressing and managing shame in educational environments can be derived from them. Furthermore, the methodological combination of phenomenological vignettes and vignette-based interviews will be examined. Additionally, it will be discussed how the perspectives of teachers and students can be interwoven.

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