Background: Despite the evidence that many girls and some boys are regularly subjected to inequalities within school physical education (PE) in Norway today, and international research showing how physical education teacher education (PETE) courses often construct unequal learning opportunities for their students on the basis of gender, few teacher educators' 'instructional discourses' seem to reflect these findings about gender relations. In fact, there is very little empirical research available about PE teacher educators in general and how they develop their professional identities. Purpose: This study has aimed to illuminate the duality of structure of PE teacher educators' professional identities and of the social construction of gender in PETE. By gaining a better understanding of the way in which we are both structured by PETE culture, and yet at the same time structure the culture, PE teacher educators may be better positioned to combat discriminatory practices. Participants and setting: Four PE teacher educators (aged between 31 and 42 years, with 5-13 years of teaching experience in PETE) from three universities offering PETE in Norway comprise the 'purposeful sample'. Research design: The qualitative study is based upon social constructivist theories of professionalism and gender. It asks: 'Are PE teacher educators' professional identities constructed as technical or moral projects?' and 'How are gender, gender equality and equity constructed in PETE?' Data collection: Data were collected via in-depth interviews (two per informant), researcher log books and policy documents. Policy documents were downloaded from university websites or provided by the informants (for example, course plans and literature). Data analysis: Data were coded and analysed using a 'content analysis' approach, in which emerging themes were identified in relation to what being a professional PE teacher educator means and how gender equality and/or equity are constructed within PETE. Findings: The PE teacher educators' identities in this study are closely linked to a performance identity and a desire to pursue a love of sport. Their professional knowledge is based on knowing

This file was dowloaded from the institutional repository Brage NIH -brage.bibsys.no/nih Dowling, F. J. (2011). Are PE teacher identities fit for postmodern schools or are they clinging to modernist notions of professionalism?: a case study of Norwegian PE teacher students' emerging professional identities. Sport, Education and Society,16, about what counts as 'good' practice. By analysing the student teachers' emerging professional identities the paper aims to reveal not only the students' subjective meanings about professionalism, but also illuminate the current power structures which operate in PETE about relevant 'professional' knowledge.It draws upon data from group interviews with 12 Norwegian PE students in their final year of study for a Bachelor Degree in PE teacher education, and a critical content analysis of PETE curricula at two institutions of higher education.The paper highlights the way in which views about professionalism in PETE tend to be normative in nature, and are not founded upon explicit theoretical ideas about 'good' practice or theoretical understandings of the role of the teacher in post-modern schools.Indeed, PETE programmes seem to do little to disrupt recruits' 'apprenticeship-ofobservation', even though Lortie (1976) revealed this problematic aspect of professional socialisation over three decades ago. The student teachers' narratives seem to be locked into 'modernist' or 'classical' ideas about good PE practice, which are inappropriate for meeting the challenges of working with socially diverse pupils or in collaborative teacher 2 groups. Recruitment to PETE via examinable PE appears paradoxically to accentuate the students' sports performing (teacher) selves, rather than providing them with a solid understanding of PE's content knowledge upon which to develop broader PE teacher professional identities. The paper therefore asks whether teacher educators need to reassess their recruitment policies to PETE, as well as to systematically re-analyse our 'taken-for-granted' notions of teacher professionalism.

This paper explores physical educators' perspectives on race and racism as a first step towards disrupting whiteness and supporting the development of antiracist practice. With close links to sport, a practice centrally implicated in the creation and maintenance of racialised bodies and hierarchies, Physical Education (PE) offers an important context for a study of whiteness and racism in education. Using collective biography we examine physical educators' narrative stories for what they reveal about the operation of whiteness and racism in PE. Teachers draw on narratives from curricula texts which uphold and reinforce notions of the racialised other, thereby reasserting normative, universal white knowledge. Their pedagogy is underpinned by a colour blind approach where race is 'not seen', yet essentialist and cultural discourses of race are nevertheless deployed to position particular racialised and gendered bodies as 'problems' in PE. Engagement with antiracism is limited to professional rhetoric within pedagogical practice.

As part of the emergence of new writing practices in the social sciences, qualitative researchers have begun to harness the potential of poetic representations as a means of analysing social worlds and communicating their findings to others. To date, this genre has been little used within the domains of sport and physical education. Accordingly, in this article, we provide examples of poetic representations and seek to generate insights into the process of their construction by exploring the perspectives of their authors. A rationale for choosing this genre is outlined and the potential benefits and risks of making this choice for both the researcher and the audience are considered. It is concluded that poetic representations are a worthy addition to the analytical repertoire in qualitative research.

This paper attempts to illustrate how embodied ways of knowing may enhance our theoretical understanding within the field of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). It seeks to illustrate how teacher educators' viewpoints and understanding of gender relations are inevitably linked to socially constructed webs of emotions, as much as to intellectual rationales. Indeed, the paper argues for the need for PETE research to transcend the dualistic divide of reason/emotion.It builds upon interview data from an investigation interested in illuminating the ways in which teacher educators develop their professional identities, using the lenses of gender equal opportunities and equity to examine the degree to which identities reflect 'managerial' or 'democratic' professional projects. In particular it analyses the way in which 'gender talk' seems to evoke strong emotional reactions, often 'negative' feelings, while at the same time, gender equity concerns remain on the periphery of the discipline, despite increasing research evidence which reveals damaging discriminatory learning environments. By using Hargreaves (2000) concept of 'emotional geographies' the paper contends that 'negative emotions' about gender issues are currently hegemonic on account of today's configurations of human relations in PETE, because the discipline's feeling rules construct 'negative feelings' as being reasonable.Acknowledging that professional identities are on-going projects, and that feeling rules can be reconfigured, the paper also seeks to illustrate how competing emotions may in the future lead to gender equality assuming a new role in PETE's 'regimes of truths'.