Pre-service teachers' gendered attitudes towards role modelling in health and physical education

Background: Health and Physical Education (HPE) teachers are in a unique position to act as role models to their students. Purpose: To explore the expectations, beliefs and attitudes towards role modelling of health behaviours by pre-service teachers who were specialising in HPE, and those who were not. Study design: Cross-sectional, Survey Design. Method: N = 637 pre-service teachers (who were in the first three weeks of their undergraduate Bachelor of Education course at three universities in Australia) completed self-report questionnaires asking about attitudes and beliefs toward role modelling of health behaviours. Comparison of attitudes and beliefs between those studying Health and Physical Education (HPE) and those studying other curriculum areas (classified as Bachelor of Education or non-HPE) were made. Results: We found both gender and degree-based differences in attitudes towards role modelling. Men were found to believe more so than women that HPE teachers should maintain a slim, athletic build which makes them appear as though they are fit and healthy. Male teacher education students who were not specialising in HPE were more likely than male HPE students to believe that Health and Physical Educators should maintain a ‘slim, athletic appearance’ and engage in regular physical activity. Conclusion: Pressure for HPE teachers to meet appearance and role modelling expectations may be coming more from men, and more from generalist teachers, as opposed to coming from within the profession. This research contributes to the debate regarding the fitness expectations of HPE teachers and has implications for physical education teacher education programmes.