Physical health education preservice teachers’ experiences with autobiographical narrative inquiry and transformative pedagogies

Background: Issues of social justice require the understanding and intervention of teachers across all subject areas. Teachers must be positioned to uphold fairness for all individuals in their classes while considering the disparities of wealth, opportunities, and social privileges that may impact the student experience. This paper explores the challenges and benefits of choosing transformative teaching methods when preparing preservice teachers to adopt socially just teaching practices. In the study, the experiences of four student participants, shared through autobiographical narrative inquiry, help us to better understand how transformative teaching modalities might best be applied in the Physical and Health Education Teacher Education (PHETE) context to assist student understanding of, and engagement with, social justice concepts. Study aims: The purpose of the study was to (1) better understand how PHETE students experienced transformative teaching methods in the post-secondary classroom, and (2) learn about student tensions, challenges, and successes felt whilst learning through this novel approach. Methods: The study uses narrative inquiry methodology to engage with the individual and shared experiences of participants. Drawing on four preservice teachers’ narratives, our study brought to life the struggles PHETE educators and students face in confronting the hardwired ‘rules of school’ in university contexts. Results: Strong theoretical underpinnings for our methods did not entirely liberate students from their institutional understanding of learning and achievement. However, students did show greater critical awareness once they felt acknowledged as having individual agency. Conclusion: Our findings expose the shift in student perceptions of PHETE instruction to appreciate more reflexive methods and transformative pedagogies. They signal opportunities for larger institutional shifts, like removing rigid assessment structures which undermine the theories we’re implementing.