Women and primary physical education: a feminist critical ethnography
The purpose of this inquiry was to provide an opportunity for the voices of the women teaching primary physical education to be heard by calling attention to how the lived experiences of these women primary teachers, within a culture in which the ideology of sport embodies patriarchal values and pow...
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| Format: | Others |
| Language: | English en |
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2018
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| Online Access: | https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/9710 |
| Summary: | The purpose of this inquiry was to provide an opportunity for the voices of the women teaching primary physical education to be heard by calling attention to how the lived experiences of these women primary teachers, within a culture in which the ideology of sport embodies patriarchal values and power relations, may have influenced what physical education means to them, and their actions in that context.
Critical ethnography was selected as the method of inquiry and utilized data collected on-site during nonparticipant and participant fieldwork, formal and informal interviews with the participants, and relevant documents collected throughout the course of the inquiry. As part of the collaborative process the researcher taught the primary physical education classes of the women for several months. Reflective data was also collected during this period.
Analysis of the data pointed to three emergent themes. First, that the teaching of primary physical education is practised in a way that provides a degree of comfort for women in physical activity that is consistent with their values. Second, that the amount of time in the gymnasium space for physical education represents both a valuable break from classroom routine and the lower status of primary teachers and primary physical education within the school. And lastly, that time issues surrounding primary physical education reflect its low priority for the women as influenced by the value administrators' and parents' assign to other subjects but it also is a time when the women have fun with the children in their class.
In these contexts we explored how power relationships between the primary teachers and others permeate the culture and influence the women's practice of physical education. Having identified such relationships those interested can assist in resisting patriarchal values as perpetuated in sport and physical education and create change that is beneficial for the primary teachers, the children they teach and the subject of physical education.
As a result of this inquiry and because of the large number of women teaching primary physical education, it is suggested that professionals in physical education critically reflect on the experiences of both the women and children in this context when designing curricula, implementing professional workshops and assigning value to particular teaching experiences within the discipline === Graduate |
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