Experiences of slow movement practices in upper secondary school physical education

We live in a fast-paced society, but amidst this rush, we can observe opposing trends, the slow movements. However, we know little about how these slow trends might have influenced the school subject of physical education (PE). The purpose of the research was to fill that knowledge gap and, from teachers’ perspectives, investigate what it means to teach slow movement practices (SMPs) within PE. In the present study, SMPs primarily involve yoga; however, they also include mindfulness, meditation, massage, and creative dance. A lifeworld approach guided the study, based on interviews with upper secondary PE teachers in Sweden. The findings show that teaching SMPs was marked in the teacher by a tension between uncertainty and certitude, in which the body became highly tangible, visible, and subject to judgement. However, even amidst this uncertainty, the act of teaching persisted through the reliance on their professional expertise as educators. We conclude that teachers sometimes struggled to teach SMPs because they were unsure of their own physical abilities. At the same time, they realised that teaching SMPs was not about striving for bodily perfection, whether in teaching or learning. The deliberate, slow pace required a unique form of listening and bodily awareness, which in turn called for a different pedagogical approach, one of guidance rather than instruction. By confronting the uncomfortable and unfamiliar aspects of teaching SMPs and remaining in these uncertain ‘spaces’, teachers discovered their capacity to build trust and teach even in the midst of uncertainty.