Exploring Social Justice Issues in Physical Education Teacher Education

Social justice has been steadily gaining traction in physical education and physical education teacher education (PETE) for more than 40 years. During that time, scholars have argued for the importance of explicating the... [ view full abstract ]

Social justice has been steadily gaining traction in physical education and physical education teacher education (PETE) for more than 40 years. During that time, scholars have argued for the importance of explicating the hidden curriculum (Bain, 1975), educating pre-service teachers about equality (e.g., Evans, 1990), sociocultural perspectives and issues (e.g., Tischler & Sanders 2014) critical pedagogy (e.g., Fernandez-Balboa, 1997) and most recently, taking action through social justice initiatives (Tinning, 2016). A growing body of PETE literature has highlighted issues such as racism (Fitzpatrick 2013), body image (Kirk 2006;), gender (Dewar 1991), and motor elitism (Evans 2004); however, limited research has focused specifically on how social justice education is enacted in PETE programs throughout our global society, particularly within the current neoliberal culture.

The aim of this symposium is to explore how social justice issues are addressed and implemented in PETE programs internationally. Concerns for teachers oriented to issues of social justice continue to be at the forefront of educational debate. Globalization presents new challenges to education and to issues of social justice. Therefore, theorists, critical pedagogues, and teacher educators have called attention to the intensification of diversity that is now occurring inside and outside of school, while critically engaging with the detrimental effects of globalization on equity, diversity, and social justice. In the current global context, several scholars have observed 21^st century education as increasingly being reduced to a commodity—a corporate curriculum—that grants privileges to a few students while marginalizing many others because of their social class, race, disability, gender and sexuality. Thus, this symposium seeks to underscore the need to examine how contemporary teacher educators approach teaching about sociocultural issues and for social justice within their PETE programs.