Over the last decade, five specific themes were consistently addressed associated with the physical education (PE) teacher’s socialization process in schools: reality shock, the wash-out effect, workload, marginalization, and isolation. Teachers have different socialization experiences based upon their gender, career stage, and the subjects they teach. Especially, Templin (1989) suggested that one of the areas which have been frequently discussed was differences in socialization experiences between male and female teachers. The purpose of this study was to explore socialization experiences of female physical education teachers in the secondary schools. The research questions were: 1) What were the conflicts which arose when they were in school, and 2) what kind of coping strategies did they use?
Method:
Eight female secondary PE teachers whose teaching experience ranged from 7-10 years participated in this study. Two types of qualitative data were collected. In-depth interview data were conducted twice for each teacher. Each interview lasted approximately 60-90 minutes. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. The investigator’s interview journal, which reported detailed notes after each interview, was also included in the study.
Analysis/Results:
Data were analyzed using content and constant comparison. Trustworthiness was established through triangulation of the data, peer review and debriefing, and member checking. Coded data pertaining conflicts were categorized into four situations. The participant female teachers experienced conflicts in these situations: 1) when teaching classes (e.g., low confidence in skill demonstration and game play with students), 2) when interacting with male PE teachers (e.g., isolation from male PE teachers), 3) when working for promotion (e.g., limited opportunity for promotion to non-coaching administrator position), and 4) when negotiating sexual identify (e.g., muscular stereotype of PE teachers). These female PE teachers employed the following strategies to deal with and overcome conflict situations: 1) avoiding conflict situations, 2) compromising, 3) self-developing in skill development, and 4) engaging social relationships with people outside of school.
Conclusions:
In order to help female teachers overcome conflicts, this study suggested continuing professional development to improve their confidence in their teaching, increasing communication with other male PE teachers, and building female mentoring programs through social networks.