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Teacher/coach role conflict was assessed by surveying individuals who have served simultaneously as teachers and coaches to determine their perceptions of how intense this conflict is. Five areas were examined: (1) value conflicts between society's attitudes and coaching ethics; (2) unequal professional status of coaches; (3) conflict between personal career advancement and commitment to coaching; (4) incompatible expectations regarding the combined work load of coaching and teaching; and (5) differences in skills demanded in coaching and academic teaching. Results indicated that it is increasingly difficult for coaches to maintain traditional values for the behavior of their players. Coaches are trained professionals and members of the educational community, but are frequently treated as if they are not. Though expected to produce winning teams, coaches are expected to consider individual student needs first, whether or not coaching actions based on those considerations would contribute to a winning season. Heavy demands on the coach's time make it difficult to be an effective teacher also. The coach is an expert in teaching sport skills, yet is often assigned to teaching academic subjects which demand a considerably different set of abilities and interests for effective teaching. (JD)

The author discusses the role that ethnography can play in understanding interaction processes in physical education classrooms, with the aim being improvement of instructional techniques. The characteristics of ethnography are described as: (1) dealing solely with action-watching and analyzing the things people say and do; (2) dealing with action directly--through the use of human instrumentation, with one's own eyes and ears, and/or through the use of technical hardware, with video-tapes or audio-tapes; and (3) dealing with a particular place within a particular context. Several illustrative examples of using ethnographic methods to improve university instruction are given. (MJB)