‘It's already set in my mind’: Investigating the acculturation of secondary school pupils aspiring to teach physical education

The occupational socialisation of physical education (PE) teachers has received limited scholarly attention in the UK, and even less is known about the influence of acculturation on their ideological preconceptions of PE teaching. Most research investigating PE teachers’ acculturation has relied on the retrospective accounts of PE teacher education (PETE) students or in-service teachers, what we call reflection- on -acculturation. Understanding the pre-existing ideological orientations that prospective recruits bring to PETE is vital for the disruption of conservative practice. Given that PE in England exceeded recruitment targets for trainee teachers in 2023/24 and 2024/25, establishing how these preconceptions are formed is increasingly important. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the acculturation of prospective pre-service PE teachers while they are still in secondary school, and how it has shaped their perceptions of PE before formal recruitment into PETE. We call this reflection- in -acculturation. Data were generated through focus groups ( N = 9) with secondary school pupils aspiring to become PE teachers ( N = 62) from eight different secondary schools in the North of England. Data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis and principles of collaborative qualitative analysis. Findings suggest that acculturation is profoundly influential to prospective recruits’ ideological preconceptions. Far from being ‘blank slates’, the prospective recruits had developed strong anticipatory ideas about, and fixed ideological preconceptions of, what PE teaching is or should be. We recommend that PETE programmes facilitate prolonged opportunities for recruits to critically reflect on their experiences, potentially disrupting and unlearning detrimental orientations developed during acculturation.