Training to teach physical education in a grammar school for boys: female narratives and mentor perspectives

Abstract

This research examines the school-based training experiences of a female trainee teacher of physical education (Emily) at a grammar school for boys. The purpose of this research is to consider whether the sex of the trainee teacher either inhibits or advances the professional development of trainee teachers in an opposite-sex school. Emily provided a continuous commentary through narrative accounts of her professional development within an all-boys grammar school whilst undertaking the final stage of her statutory school-based training in south-east England through the use of an on-line journal which generated computer-mediated data. Emily highlighted her initial anxieties; the challenges she faced during the placement; and her overall perceptions of training to teach physical education in a grammar school for boys. A post-placement interview also provided additional data with regards to her professional development. Further evidence of Emily's experiences and progress was provided by her mentor's final report and through e-mail correspondence. The findings suggest that whilst the sex of the trainee is a contextual factor to consider in an opposite-sex school it does not inhibit the professional development of the trainee and has little relevance to training to teach physical education in an opposite-sex school.

Keywords:

• Sex
• Physical education
• Training
• Teachers
• Pupils
• Pedagogy

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank Professor Alan Tomlinson and the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on previous draft versions of this article.

Notes

1. A Grammar School is a selective state-funded and academically orientated secondary school. Pupils that are entitled to attend a Grammar School are those who have passed ‘The Eleven Plus’ Examination at the end of their Primary school education (5–11).

2. Emily is a pseudonym.

3. A school-based mentor is a qualified and experienced teacher who oversees the professional development of trainee teachers during periods of school-based training and assesses the trainee's competencies using pre-determined government standards for qualifying to teach.

4. Green (2008), p. 208) refers to the ‘habitus’ of physical education teachers as the internalisation of attitudes, behaviours, customs, values and beliefs that make up the sub-culture(s) of physical education teaching and how these become part and parcel of physical education teachers personalities or ‘habituses’—their ‘second nature’.