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This thesis explores perceptions and implementation of Digital Technology (DT) and Environmental Sustainability (ES) in Physical Education (PE) and Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) in Sweden. The aim is to explore how DT and ES are perceived, recontextualised, and enacted within PE and PETE. Research indicates increasing interest in integrating DT and ES in PE and PETE, highlighting benefits and challenges. The use of DT requires PE teachers to be skilled, yet many PETE students feel unprepared due to insufficient practice and mentorship. Research on ES, though limited, suggests potential development avenues, with outdoor education being a key platform and challenges with integration into PE and PETE. PETE curricula often lack explicit sustainability links, despite its recognised importance. A mixed-methods approach, including questionnaires, observations, and interviews, was used to investigate attitudes and perceptions of PE teachers, PETE students, and PETE educators. Bernstein's theory of the pedagogic device was employed to understand how knowledge is recontextualised from universities to schools. Findings indicate varied perceptions of DT and ES among PE teachers. DT is often seen as a specific content area, while ES is viewed more holistically, leading to ambiguity and less concrete implementation. Enthusiasm for DT integration exists, but there is a lack of preparedness and practical guidance for PETE students and PETE educators. ES faces challenges in clarity and practical application, with outdoor education identified as a key area for integration into PE and PETE. However, ES implementation is limited by a lack of explicit guidelines and the overshadowing of theoretical content. The thesis highlights the need for clearer guidelines and a structured approach to integrating DT and ES in PE and PETE. Regulative and instructional discourses shape the pedagogical discourse, influencing content selection and perception. Results suggest balancing c

Creative dance, that is to say, movements, with or without music, which allow participants to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings, are sometimes accompanied by a ‘there is no right or wrong way to move’ rhetoric. This may reinforce the impression among physical education teacher education (PETE) students, who often have limited experience of (creative) dance, that there is nothing to practise in creative dance and that this activity is merely directionless movement. In this paper, however, based on Aggerholm's notion of practising movements, we explore an occasion in a PETE course where a magic moment occurred, indicating that the students had practised and ‘figured out’ something that made this moment possible. The purpose of the paper is to explore the knowledge in movement that PETE students were practising as they participated in creative dance. The purpose is also to shed light on what pedagogical practice contributed to enabling such practising. Video documentation and short interviews with students in one PETE course and one continuing professional development course for physical education teachers indicate that the magic moment was made possible as the students’ practised making sense of moving in non-predetermined – creative – ways and appreciating the expressive dimension of movement. Laban's movement analysis framework seemed, along with the teachers’ knowledge of movement, to be an important element in the pedagogical practice that made the magic moment possible.

The interest in yoga, mindfulness or similar yoga-based practices (YBP) has grown exponentially in the western world, also within education, including physical education (PE). Although some studies have been conducted on YBP in PE, yoga has not yet been researched in the framework of physical education teacher education (PETE). Using a regional lifeworld approach, the purpose of this article is to investigate how PETE students experience their participation in a YBP didactics unit when it was included in the PETE programme. What thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations were evoked in the students as they explored YBP and their prospects for teaching it themselves? The project involved 13 students during their fifth year in one of Sweden's PETE programmes. Questionnaires and diaries were used as information sources. Ten of the 13 students were also interviewed. In the phenomenological analysis, the phenomenon of friction 'showed itself' to be an essential part of the perceived experiences. Friction was characterised by a tension between an absence of friction, which describes experiences of participating in YBP smoothly, and the presence of friction, which included experiences of resistance. The students also oscillated between experiences of I-here and now, and Me-my future teaching profession. At least to some extent, the YBP that was practised during the course changed the students' views of what education in 'human in motion' can be by discovering and breaking their habitual attitudes towards PE. Rather than being discussed in terms of 'benefits', the YBP practice charged the body, the room and the group with a heightened awareness of the present moment that could also be expressed verbally. It is anticipated that this kind of reflexive knowledge will help the student to make careful didactical considerations in their future teaching practices.

The overall interest of this thesis is to contribute with knowledge about meaning making processes in educational encounters with nature in different educational practices. The exploration consists of four studies based on a pragmatic perspective on meaning making inspired by the works of John Dewey and Ludwig Wittgenstein. A discourse analytical approach is also used in the first study to analyse the curriculum documents. The result confirms that encounters with nature have a clear position in the curriculum documents, and friluftsliv is a prioritised content in PETE. It is further confirmed that the field of outdoor education is a field of conflicting meanings that pose significant educational challenges. Indeterminate situations occur and may influence students’ possibilities to transform the educational content in PETE to a school context. Another conclusion from the results is that instrumental meanings and a sportification of friluftsliv often get precedence over more emotional based meanings connected to nature. The results also show empirical examples where encounters with nature enable participants to create moral relations towards nature. This potential is highlighted in previous research as one of the most important in order to (re)connect our relation towards nature and in extension better conditions to deal with environmental questions.

Scholars have long questioned the impact of teacher education programmes. Persistent claims are that pre-service teachers have fixed ideas about pedagogy when they enter training and that they become enculturated once in the profession. Within physical education (PE), similar concerns have been raised with respect to ball games. Research suggests that pre-service PE teachers typically have substantial experience of ball sports and find it difficult to implement non-traditional ball games pedagogies when they enter schools. Against this background, the aim of the study is to explore how pre-service teachers recontextualise ball games as pedagogic discourse in their transitions from university to school placement. Bernstein's pedagogic device and pedagogic discourse are employed as the theoretical framework. The investigation focuses on a Swedish PETE programme and the participants are six pre-service teachers. The empirical material consists of written assessments, observations of the pre-service teachers' lessons during school placements, and individual interviews. Findings suggest that the pedagogic discourse of ball games at the university was aligned with course learning outcomes and included the need to communicate goals, adapt and modify teaching, and combine different approaches. The pedagogic discourse at school placement involved traditional ball games, minimal curriculum references, progression in two or three lessons, and inclusive, enjoyable lessons. Factors that regulated the discourse were: familiarity with the pupils; the conceptualizing of inclusive teaching; norms regarding ball games in PE; expectations of the pre-service teachers; and the framing of ball games education in PETE. Recontextualising rules highlight challenges in transitions related to ball games.

The aim with this article is to contribute knowledge about the meanings of friluftsliv in educational practice. This is done by investigating what friluftsliv becomes in the ongoing practices of PETE in Sweden and how these meanings are established in the studied activities. The empirical material consists of different kinds of material from friluftsliv activities in PETE programmes: study guides, field trip plans, students' vlogs from overnight stays outdoors, video recordings from two longer field trips, audio recordings from evening seminars during the field trips and students' written reflections after them. In order to identify meanings of friluftsliv and how these are established we used a transactional analysis based on Dewey. Five different ways of what friluftsliv becomes in PETE practice were identified in this study. The different meanings reflect the complex picture of contradictions and lack of common ground for the content and motives identified in the outdoor education field. Our study also confirms how the meaning of friluftsliv as skills is established by putting up tents, lighting fires, building wind shelters and so on, and how this contributes to a focus on the instrumental values in PETE. On the other hand, our study shows that other meanings of friluftsliv are established in the ongoing practice, where more intrinsic values are at stake even if they are often overshadowed in PETE practice. In conclusion the results also point to the potential of fritluftsliv in terms of a suggested move away from an activity-based personal and social development discourse in favour of experiences of educating for environmentally sustainable human-nature relations. The challenge is how to make these experiences educational in PETE and how to guide students in transforming experiences in more exclusive friluftsliv into pedagogical competence as future teachers using friluftsliv for different purposes in school PE.

Knowledge in movement is often tacit. It does not need to be verbalised to exist. That it is verbalised is, however, of great importance to enable deliberation about its meaning in educational contexts, and how to reason about it in relation to, e.g., selection. Arguably, it also needs to be verbalised if it is to gain value in the academy, a place where "knowledge about" often trumps "knowledge in". In this paper we explore knowledge in movement as it is expressed in creative dance in physical ed-ucation teacher education (PETE). In the literature, creative dance is sometimes as-sociated with a view that "there is no right or wrong way to move". But if there is no "right or wrong", or at least something "better or worse", then what is there to know? Or is it activity without direction? The purpose of the study is to explore what knowledge in movement is becoming as PETE students are practising creative dance. The notion of practising is sometimes negatively connoted (it has been likened to drill, for example). However, we draw on Aggerholm et al's (2018) conceptualisation of practising as “the form of activity in which we seek to improve our capabilities through repeated efforts” (p. 201). An analysis of WHAT the students are practising makes it possible to discern knowledge in movement in creative dance. Two units of creative dance have been documented using video filming, short interviews and field notes. In total, around 15 hours of teaching have been documented, with around 30 students in one course and 20 in the other. The preliminary analysis shows that knowledge in movement among these students, who often have a background in competitive sports, is expressed as an ability to shift focus from the unction of movements to the expression of movements. Furthermore, knowledge in movement is also expressed as the ability to move outside of one's habitual move-ment patterns, and to distinguish nuances regarding the expression of movements in connection with a differ

As part of a longitudinal research project on the transition from physical education teacher education (PETE) to school physical education (PE) in Sweden and exploring whether and how PETE matters, this article uses narrative inquiry to ‘represent’ a PE teacher’s professional journey from PETE to the induction phase of PE teaching. The study focuses on his use of, and reflections on, ‘assessment for learning’ (AfL) at different stages of his teaching experience. The purpose of the study is to contribute knowledge about how positive experiences of AfL during PETE can enable the use of AfL in school PE for a newly qualified teacher. This is done by analysing one male PETE student’s reflections on AfL in the context of a campus-based course on PE assessment, his use of and reflections on AfL during his practicum, and in school PE as a newly qualified teacher. The data generation consisted of recordings of a PETE seminar, a stimulated recall interview with the participant during his final school placement, and two interviews with him in his role as a newly qualified PE teacher at two different schools. Through the PE teacher’s tale, we show how the campus-based course on PE assessment in PETE and the student teacher’s positive experience of using AfL during his practicum seem to have inspired him in his later positions. The results are discussed in relation to the perspective of occupational socialisation theory. This narrative inquiry suggests that PETE can make a difference for student teachers who are prepared to face the challenges of the induction phase of PE teaching and are able to navigate between the barriers that get in their way. We conclude the paper with some considerations regarding the study’s potential strength (trustworthiness), sharing (transferability) and service (usefulness)., Transitions from Physical Education Teacher Education to School PE

Peer assessment has been proven to improve learning for both the observer and the observed. One dimension of peer assessment that has been given little attention in the context of physical education teacher education (PETE) is the tension that exists when peers give feedback on each other's work. In this paper, we report on Swedish preservice teachers' (PST) views on peer assessment used in PETE school placements. Our findings reveal four mechanisms of peer assessment assigned value in PETE: (i) building social relations, (ii) making 'what to learn' visible, (iii) giving correct feedback, and (iv) handling sensitive and gendered comments. Inspired by Bourdieu, we discuss learning potentials and complex challenges with peer assessment, where the combination of social capital and physical capital decides what is possible to say and to whom when peer assessment is used in the PETE school placement and in school physical education (PE).

Scholars have highlighted that physical education teacher education (PETE) reproduce a managerial rather than educational notion of physical education (PE) teacher professionalism. Research grounded in explicit theories of learning can productively contribute to reflective discussions of teaching and learning in PE practices, for example PETE’s role in promoting professional knowledge and critical judgement. The aim of the study is to empirically explore, from a transactional approach, what happens in learning occasions when preservice teachers (PSTs) participate in a PETE subject matter course. The purposive sampling resulted in choosing a group consisting of 24 PSTs (11 female students and 13 male students) studying a course given at one Swedish PETE institution. Data consisted of field notes from participant observations during 28 lessons. A practical epistemology analysis was used to explore how knowledge is produced and reproduced in PETE lessons. Two major themes were found in the analysis: indeterminate situations connected to (a) PSTs developing movement capability and (b) PSTs developing a teacher’s perspective. The indeterminate situations the PSTs noticed, which varied between two types of staged encounters and elements in PETE characterised by a theory-practice dualism, seemed to contribute to certain processes of inquiry but not others. Within both themes, a contextualisation of the covered subject matter and the teacher educators’ use of concepts were important to the direction of the PSTs’ learning processes. An understanding of the role of inquiry, and of how individuals’ prior experience take part in learning processes, are argued to be important in PETE teaching.

Sport, as a human activity, contributes to the changes happening in the natural environment, making the sport sector a responsible actor for sustainable development. Experiences in nature can raise awareness about our natural environment and possibly influence pro-environmental behaviour and our identities. Such nature experiences can be reached in schools with teachers as implementers and role models. Swedish schools for example, have a concept called friluftsliv, which introduces children to outdoor experiences as part of Physical Education (PE). In Switzerland, a similar country to Sweden in many aspects, such a concept is non-existent. Thus, this study aims to observe possible differences and similarities between environmental identities of PE teachers in Sweden and Switzerland, how those developed and manifest today. Primary and secondary school PE teachers from Switzerland and Sweden were asked to draw nature and were interviewed individually as well as in separate group discussions. The model of Education for Sustainability, Transformative Learning Theory, and Identity Theory serve as the theoretical framework of this work. The results show that there are many individual differences in how the PE teachers’ environmental identities manifest. Some see nature as a platform for activities, some deeply care for it, some seek interactions with it or even perceive themselves as a part of the natural world. When it comes to Swiss participants, main influences on their environmental identity were identified before Physical Education teacher education (PETE) through sport-related activities with their family, in associations or their leisure time, whereas the Swedish experiences were more sport-unrelated, connected to family experiences and as part of PETE. I conclude, according to the model of Education for Sustainability, that there were less transformative learning effects and therefore less behavioural change achieved in Swiss PETE than in Swedish PETE. The main d

Central Tasks of Learning to Teach provided the theoretical framework for the first study involving one in-service elementary physical educator teaching integrated classes while reflecting on three major stages of the teacher’s career, (1) the preservice, (2) the induction, and (3) the continuing professional development periods. Data revealed the following four themes: (a) authentic field experiences in immersive environments; (b) practice teaching in integrated settings enhanced self-confidence; (c) comprehensive and in-depth knowledge of students; and (d) disposition toward support when teaching and professional work outside of the teaching space. The Situated Expectancy-Value Theory provided the theoretical underpinning to our second case study looking to understand how a Physical Education Teacher Educator’s motivation influenced her choice, persistence, and performance to teach an Adapted Physical Education undergraduate course. Three themes emerged from the data: (a) significance of K-12 experiences; (b) educational preparation; and (c) strong desire to share her knowledge and experiences.

The aim of the study was to explore the effect of three sessions of Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) using alternative sports on the knowledge and game skills and attitudinal variables of pupils in the last cycle of Primary Education in Physical Education. Thirty-five students (18 boys and 17 girls, 10-12 years old) participated. The study design was quasi-experimental with pre-test and post-test measures. The independent variable was the implementation of the three sessions with TGfU. The dependent variables were: game knowledge (tactical and technical knowledge), game performance (tactical and technical performance) and attitudinal variables (social relations, participation, respect for rules and respect for peers). The teacher was trained for 30 hours, the sessions were designed and validated, they were carried out over two weeks and the intervention was verified. Data were collected by the teacher, through direct observation, using three different Likert-type scales. The students improved in game knowledge, game performance and social attitudes, but not in respect for peers, because they had maximum values in both evaluations. The TGfU allows the teaching of competences through learning situations that integrate knowledge of various contents based on challenge tasks., El objetivo del estudio fue comprobar el efecto de tres sesiones de Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) empleando deportes alternativos sobre el conocimiento y destrezas de juego y variables actitudinales de alumnado del último ciclo de Educación Primaria en Educación Física. Participaron 35 discentes (18 chicos y 17 chicas, 10-12 años). El diseño del estudio fue cuasi-experimental con medidas pre-test y post-test. La variable independiente fue la implementación de las tres sesiones con TGfU. Las variables dependientes fueron: el conocimiento de juego (conocimiento táctico y técnico), destrezas de juego (destrezas tácticas y técnicas) y variables actitudinales (relaciones sociales, participación, respeto a las reglas y respeto a iguales). Se formó a la docente durante 30 horas, se diseñaron y validaron las sesiones, se llevaron a cabo las sesiones en dos semanas y se verificó la intervención. Los datos fueron tomados por la docente, mediante la observación directa, empleando tres escalas tipo Likert diferentes. El alumnado mejoró en conocimiento de juego, destrezas y actitudes sociales, pero no en respeto a iguales, porque tuvo valores máximos en ambas evaluaciones. El TGfU permite la enseñanza competencial a través de situaciones de aprendizaje que integran saberes de varios contenidos a partir de situaciones problema.

Research and quality reports show a relatively unified picture of the school subject physical education (PE) as an educational context in which pupils are at risk of being marginalized or excluded. PE teacher education (TE) has a mission to equip all PE preservice teachers with knowledge and abilities that enable them to teach all pupils based on their individual needs and conditions. In this compilation thesis, I analyze the meaning-making process of becoming a PE teacher. I aim to study meaning-making as intertwined processes of learning and socialization in becoming a PE teacher while transitioning between a university-based and school-based context. The research questions addressed in the thesis include how encounters with PETE and work can be described and understood as well as what meaning-making is enabled and constrained in these encounters. The study employs a transactional understanding of meaning-making and a theoretical framework based on the work of John Dewey and on Occupational Socialization Theory (OST). The thesis comprises four articles, each emphasizing the individual and social dimensions of meaning-making processes analyzed in relation to cultural dimensions. In Article 1, I explore the challenges novice PE teachers face in Sweden and how they manage these challenges. In Article 2, I examine how PE teachers cope with challenges such as reality shock, marginalization, and isolation as novices and as more experienced teachers. Articles 1 and 2 present interview studies, revealing that the socialization process of PE teachers entering the profession relies more on the individual and on informal collegial support than on formal organizational support. In Article 3, I utilized lesson observations to explore how preservice PE teachers produce and reproduce knowledge when participating in PE TE. Finally, in Article 4, I use a series of interviews conducted over a year to investigate how preservice PE teachers make meaning of their participation in a su

Background: There is a global consensus that stimulating and fostering children's creativity in education is crucial. Addressing creativity has become an imperative in educational policies and in school curricula internationally. School-based physical education (PE), and specifically the teaching area of dance, has been identified as an important pedagogical setting within which to develop creativity. Existing studies have suggested, however, that dance is seldom taught in PE in ways that acknowledge creative aspects of movement learning. Scholars have claimed that teaching pre-arranged dances with predetermined movement outcomes dominate dance teaching in PE. Furthermore, studies have asserted that the overarching regulative principles of PE and PETE that privilege sport skills and physical exercise hinder creative movement learning. Still, dance teaching is frequently seen as part of expressive dance teaching in PE and PETE and is regarded as holding potential in the area of education for creativity. Little scholarly attention has been given to how teacher educators approach creative aspects in dance teaching. Purpose: This article aims to create insights into how PETE teacher educators understand and work with creative aspects of dance in their educational practice. Method and theory: To address our aim, we investigate how teacher educators describe their teaching of creative aspects of dance. To do this, empirical material was generated through qualitative interviews with PE teacher educators from each of the PETE institutions in Sweden. The theoretical concepts of smooth and striated spaces and experimentation by Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari were used to guide the analysis of how the PETE educators described their teaching of creative aspects of dance. Deleuze and Guattari developed a framework that concerned questions of creativity and newness. Despite this conceptual framework having not yet been used in dance education in PE and PETE, their writing fits

This article discusses dis/ability and physical education teacher education (PETE). The aim is twofold. First, I explore how dis/ability is problematised in PETE syllabi from nine Swedish universities. Bacchi's What's the problem represented to be? approach for analysing policy texts is used. The centre of attention thus shifts from a problem and its solution, to how a phenomenon is made into a problem and to the effects of this problematisation. Second, a theoretical framework that corresponds better with the aims of the steering documents advising Swedish compulsory schools and PETE is proposed. In the analysis, two dominant problem representations were discerned. First, pupils with impairment or special needs are constructed as the problem. When pupils with impairment are problematised, they risk being constructed as deviant and marginal in PE. This is reinforced by the fact that, in some cases, the subject is dealt with in only a few pages of text and as part of a single course. Second, power relations, norms or inequality are constructed as the problem. Thus, the focus shifts from the pupils’ reduced physical, cognitive or neuropsychiatric ability to the interactions with able-bodied teachers and peers. Bacchi also asks where the silences are in the texts. The notion of disability, caused by social barriers such as inaccessibility and prejudices, is completely missing. Moreover, ableism – discrimination that favours being able-bodied – is not explicitly dealt with, not even when the syllabi bring up power relations or norms. A change within PETE is required, with inclusive education as the goal. I suggest that both the effects of impairment and ableism, which lead to disabilities, need to be taken into account. Cripistemologies – that is, the knowledge of disabled people – would be useful in this process, as a way to dismantle ableism and appreciate differences.

Physical education (PE), and specifically the teaching area of dance, has been identified as an important pedagogical setting within which young people develop creativity. Creativity is thus an important aspect of schooling. Several studies have suggested however, that dance is seldom taught in PE in ways that acknowledge creative aspects of movement learning, and that students in physical education teacher education (PETE) receive insufficient training in the area of dance. Very little research has been conducted specifically on how teachers and PETE students understand the subject tradition of creative dance. The aim of this paper is to create insights into what PETE students express and experience in creative dance lessons where we specifically explore a pedagogy based on imitation. To address this aim, empirical material was generated through observations and logbooks during a pedagogical sequence of creative dance at a Swedish PETE institution. Deleuzian concepts of palpation and experimentation were used to guide our analysis. The results of this study show alternative ways of understanding what can happen when students participate in creative dance lessons. Our findings contribute to researchers' and teacher educators' understandings of students' experiences of working with spaces of creativity in PETE, and how these experiences can be used in teaching of creative dance.

Background: Various forms and types of knowledge have enjoyed legitimacy in physical education (PE) since sports techniques became the orienting idea for PE in economically advanced countries in the mid-twentieth century. The forms and types of knowledge granted legitimacy at any one moment are dependent on a range of socio-discursive factors. In this paper, we consider ball games knowledge within the Swedish PE teacher education context in the 2020s. Purpose: The specific aim of the paper is to generate insights into how ball games experts within PE teacher education define legitimate ball games knowledge. Our proposition is that by examining the ways these experts define ball games knowledge, physical education teacher educators may develop more nuanced understandings of how and why knowledge comes to be seen as legitimate. Methods: In order to conceptualize experts' knowledge of ball games, Shulman's concepts of content knowledge (CK) and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) were employed. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two teacher educators who specialized in ball games education from three different PETE institutions in Sweden (n = 6). The interviews focused on the PETE educators' understandings of ball games and how they prepared preservice teachers to teach ball games. Findings: The PETE educators defined ball games CK as: (1) understanding of games as a cultural phenomenon, (2) tactical understanding of games, and (3) embodied understanding of how to play ball games. The PETE educators defined ball games PCK as: (1) using ball games to meet different curricular goals, (2) focusing on tactical understanding with a small number of concepts, (3) adapting teaching so that all pupils are included, and (4) managing competition. Conclusions: Four issues related to the legitimacy of this knowledge are raised. The issues concern the ways in which: (1) a complementary sport discourse is permeated by educational discourse to achieve legitimacy; (2) CK an