Thinking and feeling ‘right’ for physical education teaching: vocational habitus of preservice teachers

Drawing on a Bourdieusian perspective and the concept of vocational habitus, this qualitative study examined what is valued and reproduced within and through physical education (PE) teacher education (PETE) programs in the United States (US) by exploring the ways in which graduating preservice teachers (PSTs) think and feel during their culminating student teaching experiences. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 PSTs in the final stage of their PETE programs across 11 US states. Through collaborative qualitative analysis, two themes were identified: (a) thinking ‘right’ for teaching: student-centered and physically active PE and (b) ‘putting on a happy face’ amid the emotional rollercoaster of PE teaching. Despite entering PETE with diverse understandings of PE, participants largely came to share two beliefs about what constitutes good PE by the culmination of teacher education, namely, that PE should be student-centered and physically active. Despite experiencing a wide range of emotions during student teaching, participants reported masking negative emotions while projecting positivity and enthusiasm in response to perceived professional expectations. These findings suggest that US-based PETE appears to value and reproduce particular ways of thinking, feeling and being associated with legitimate PE teaching, which graduating PSTs came to embody as part of their developing vocational habitus. This study highlights the importance of critically examining the taken-for-granted assumptions (doxa) within PETE rather than accepting them as given. Equally important is intentionally embedding preparation for the emotional dimensions of PE teaching throughout PETE rather than deferring it to the culminating student teaching experience.