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doi:10.1016/j.ta

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Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 1029–1040

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Becoming a health and physical education (HPE) teacher:Student teacher ‘performances’ in the physical education

subject department office

Tony Rossia,�, Karen Sirnab,1, Richard Tinninga

aThe School of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland, AustraliabSports Science Department, Douglas College, Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Received 7 June 2007; received in revised form 30 October 2007; accepted 7 November 2007

Abstract

This study considered how physical education teacher education students ‘perform’ their ‘selves’ within subject

department offices during the practicum or ‘teaching practice’. The research was framed by a conceptual framework

informed by the work of Goffman on ‘performance’ and ‘front’. The findings revealed three common performances across

the whole group across all sites. These were: performance of sports talk, bodily performances, and performance of

masculine repertoires. Such performances were considered to be inconsistent with the coursework ideals and principles

within the teacher education programme but in step with the general ethos of most PE department offices.

r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Performance; Front; Subject department office; Physical education; Teacher education

1. Introduction

The school practicum carries great importance ininitial teacher education (ITE) and recent discus-sions have continued to attempt to determine itsimpact on learning to become a teacher (Cochran-Smith & Fries, 2001; Darling-Hammond, 2000,2006). In Australia, recent inquiries into teaching(e.g., Australian Council of Deans of Education,1998) and teacher education (e.g., AustralianCouncil of Deans of Education, 2005) have revealed

ee front matter r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

te.2007.11.005

ing author. Tel.: +617 33656589;

6877.

ess: trossi@hms.uq.edu.au (T. Rossi).

t School of Human Movement Studies, The

ueensland, Australia.

genuine concerns regarding the quality of profes-sional learning that actually takes place in thepracticum setting. Nonetheless, the practicum isfrequently viewed by student teachers as the mostvaluable and certainly most relevant part of the ITEexperience with significant implications for futureemployment prospects (cf. Tinning, Macdonald,Wright, & Hickey, 2001).2 At a fundamental level,the practicum can be seen as an experience thatoffers student teachers opportunities to participatein teaching, organizational, and social tasks

.

2Within the State of Queensland, Australia, where this research

took place, rather than earning a pass/fail as in other Western

countries, ITE students are given a suitability (S) rating which

conveys to future employers their capability to do the job.

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(Tinning & Siedentop, 1985) in numerous locationsin and around schools.

More recent research has begun to focus on thesubject department office, as one of the specific sitesfor teachers’ work. It has been found to be animportant place influencing curriculum and re-source decisions as well as teachers’ professionalidentity formations (Hodkinson & Hodkinson,2005; McGregor, 2003). Despite this work thereare limited data regarding the professional experi-ences of student teachers specifically in subjectdepartment offices and none that deals particularlywith the departmental office of a physical educationdepartment.

Within the physical education (PE), or inAustralia, the health and physical education(HPE)3 context, there have been attempts tounderstand ITE students’ identities and practicesand these have drawn upon perspectives of identityformation as an ongoing process of negotiatingsocial and cultural contexts of schools and society(see for example O’Connor & Macdonald, 2002;Rossi, 1997). More recently, Brown (2005) andBrown and Evans (2004) have demonstrated thatthe one-to-one relationship of teacher supervisorsand student teachers contribute to sustaining dur-able social and cultural norms, perspectives, andpractices. This paper focuses on this one-to-oneprocess of durability by exploring the ways studentteachers ‘perform’ in the social and cultural space ofthe PE departmental office and how this contributesto their sense of becoming.

2. Background and rationale to this study

We consider teachers’ identities to be intercon-nected to their practice. By this we mean thatteachers’ attitudes, thinking and identities informand shape their curricular decisions and pedagogicalpractices (cf. Brown & Evans, 2004; Macdonald &Kirk, 1996, 1999; O’Connor & Macdonald, 2002;Tinning, 2007). Recent research to understand HPEteachers’ identities and practices reveals physicalactivity and sport occupy a central defining place(Macdonald & Kirk, 1996) as does the ideology ofhealthism (Gard & Wright, 2001). Moreover, there

3In Australia the subject area is called health and physical

education; however, the term physical education is more common

in other countries. In general the literature on physical education

teachers also pertains to health & physical education teachers and

therefore we use the terms interchangeably.

is evidence that many HPE teachers tend to besexist, elitist, and insensitive to social issues (Evans,Davies, & Penney, 1996; Macdonald & Kirk, 1999;Wright, 1999). Yet, as previously mentioned,research (non-HPE focused) has shown subjectdepartment offices to be a powerful influence onprofessional identity development, professionalismand on a sense of belonging (Hodkinson &Hodkinson, 2005; Talbert, 1995). Talbert (1995)as well as others (cf. Siskin, 1991; Siskin &Little, 1995), argue that the culture or subcultureof the department is a key to how a departmentfunctions.

Despite these findings, little is known about theimpact of HPE teachers’ perspectives and practices,as they coalesce in a departmental office, on studentteachers’ identities as physical education teachers.In what follows, we describe our research study infull. First we set out a theoretical framework whichguided our analysis and helped us to understandhow students negotiate the social milieu of thedepartment office. We then describe the methodsused in the study and finally we discuss the findingswith particular references to various ways identitiesare shaped through performance in social andcultural processes associated with being a (tempor-ary) member of a PE departmental office/staffroom.

In summary then, this paper focuses on PEstudent teachers’ participation in the specific spaceidentified as the subject department office (or staffroom depending on local vernacular). In particularwe are interested to understand how the students‘perform’ their role as ‘teachers-in-training’ andhow this contributes to shaping their identityformation as HPE teachers.

3. Theoretical framework

We consider the department office/staff room as astage upon which the drama that is the practicum isconstructed. This research therefore is informed bythe notion of performance as articulated by Goff-man (1959). According to Goffman (1959) topresent ourselves in everyday life we use a con-voluted system of what he terms ‘fronts’, not quite amask but certainly a strategy that has the capacityfor concealment. This enables the individual topresent him or herself in the most appropriate wayas called for by a particular context or for particularaudiences. This may involve concealment, subter-fuge, honesty, exaggeration, minimization and other

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illusionary tactics that assist an individual to ‘go on’with things (Giddens, 1991); in other words to goabout one’s business in conditions of security andwell being such that there is a coherent and in somesenses a cocooned sense of self.

3.1. Performance theory

Goffman’s work can be most easily described as ageneral theory of social interaction. Throughout hiscareer he was most concerned with what has beenreferred to as micro-sociology (see Burns, 1972). Inother words his interests were in the minutia ofinteractions and how this shaped the person and inturn the context in which they commonly andfrequently functioned. Whilst his best known workis The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959),the theme of social interaction was to be found inthe bulk of his work with further emphasis in Frame

Analysis (Goffman, 1974). This has great appeal forus since how a student teacher negotiates the subjectdepartment office and engages with the social tasksinherent within it is dependent on their perceptionsof the social interactions. This is of heightenedimportance in this research since there is much atstake given the employment implications of thesuitability rating students receive.

Goffman (1959) used the term performance torefer to how the self is represented using a repertoireof techniques within a range of contexts, or morespecifically, for given audiences. Whilst this mayhave the appearance of conflating the notion ofperformance with theatricality, this was not Goff-man’s intention. At the same time it is not difficultto see that they are inextricably linked. Goffman’sposition is that subjects or actors are able to do theperformance according to the requirements of thesituation. To this end, Goffman’s notion ofperformance is about the negotiation of socialcontexts such that the actor is able to ‘go on’ withthings. Giddens (1991) suggests that to ‘go on’ withthings requires routines but not routinized practicein the automatic sense but rather through themaintenance of vigilance and control such that aprotective cocoon (Giddens, 1991) is created. Such aprotective device is not static or stable but allows forcreativity and change. In this way an individual’sidentity and sense of self are constructed through anongoing reflexive process. As Giddens (1991) says‘‘y the practical mastery of how to ‘go on’ in thecontexts of social life is not inimical to creativity,but presumes it and is presumed by it’’ (p. 41).

For us, Goffman’s position of performance, andhis notion of ‘front’ resonates most closely with theidea of the subjects/agents (read teachers inpreparation) and their relationship to structures(schools and school systems). Moreover, the capa-city to link the work of Goffman with the identitywork of Giddens we consider to be particularlyuseful in framing the teacher education process as itis played out in the subject department office.

3.2. Performance and identity in late modernity

To use the metaphor of performance and morebroadly of theatre we must do so as Postlewait andDavis (2003) suggest with humility rather thanhubris. Our claims therefore cannot be excessiveand as Postlewait and Davis (2003) further advise‘‘claims need to be particularized’’ (p. 29). Indeed,Goffman (1959) in the final pages of his book The

Presentation of Self in Everyday Life proclaimedthat his use of the terms ‘stage’ and ‘performance’were mere analogy and therefore a rhetorical device.Burns (1972) though is not especially accepting ofGoffman’s final flourish suggesting that evenanalogy contains within what she called the ‘shockof recognition’ which in the dramaturgical sense shesuggests involves coming to recognize particularphenomena, instances and situations that resonateat an emotional level with individuals. Moreovershe argues that the conceptual apparatus affordedby the drama analogy provides a powerful heuristicfor the observation of the ritualistic and she goes onto describe ritual thus:

y a store of otherwise inarticulate understand-ings of the formalities and observances, con-straints and obligations, rights and privilegeswhich are observably present and more or lessunquestioningly maintained. (p. 2)

We consider this a particularly apt description ofthe ways of the HPE departmental office, andGoffman’s metaphor of performance and broaderperformance theory to be a powerful tool ofanalysis. For Goffman (1959) the act of perfor-mance is dramaturgical. However this does notmake it fictional by any means. The drama of thesituation may require emphasis, confirmation, sup-port, disapproval and so on. These can be portrayeddramatically which in turn begins to portray anindividual as being able to perform certain char-acteristics, beliefs, opinions, feelings, and positions.As Goffman (1959) says: ‘‘while in the presence of

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others, the individual typically infuses his activitywith signs which dramatically highlight and portrayconfirmatory facts that might otherwise remainunapparent or obscure’’ (p. 40). At the same timeGoffman (1959) does suggest that the performanceof fronts can be used for purposes of misrepresenta-tion. Not withstanding Goffman’s caution aboutbeing ‘caught out’ misrepresentation can act as‘strategic ambiguity’ (p. 69), or as he says thepossibility to ‘‘profit from lies without actuallytelling any’’ (p. 69). When under conditions ofextreme surveillance in the HPE departmental officeand throughout a school more generally, theperformance of fronts may be a useful way torespond to dynamic situations and have thepotential to allow a student teacher to participatein the departmental community in the hope ofassuming full membership. In this way the perfor-mer can make sense of their reality and themselves.As such, ontological security is a key feature inidentity formation (see Giddens, 1991). In circum-stances of high stakes such as being rated forteaching suitability by the teachers such perfor-mances and security are crucial.

As Goffman (1959) describes, front is frequentlyused to display impressiveness and in the case of thepracticum in teacher education all students want toappear impressive and be considered worthy ofcertification as an HPE teacher. Importantly Goff-man (1959) recognizes that when established rolesare taken on there is already a particular front thathas been established for it. This is akin to Giddens’(1991) notion of rules and resources which shapesocial structure and impinge upon the performancesof those within or who enter the structure. In theprofessional context Goffman (1959) captures thiswell when talking about professionals in theiroccupational space. As he says:

y in the social sphere which encompasses hisdisplay of professional competency, he will bemuch concerned to make an effective showing. Inmobilizing his behaviour to make a showing, hewill be concerned not so much with the full roundof the different routines he performs but onlywith the one from which his occupationalreputation derives. (p. 43)

In other words Goffman (1959) is suggesting that inoccupational circles we tend to try and idealize theperformance in accordance with the professionalexpectations and the social expectations of thecommunity. There will be some dominant values

for example within a HPE subject departmentaloffice to which pre-service teachers need to sub-scribe and show support. Drawing from Goffman’sanalysis, when there is dissonance in this arrange-ment, the performance of the student teacherbecomes both more complicated and potentiallytenuous. On the one hand student teachers need toshow competence through what Goffman (1959)calls the ‘rhetoric of training’ (p. 55). In other wordsthey have to demonstrate that they are qualified tobe part of the HPE community as a consequence ofhaving been through the rigours of professionaleducation and training. However, student teachers(and anyone else within the apprenticeship-typesituation for that matter) also have to show howthey value and ascribe great worth to the learningexperiences within the department. Indeed, theyoften feel compelled to support the view that this iswhere the real learning takes place. Students withinthe departmental office, who are seeking ontologicalsecurity (Giddens, 1991) need to perform thisidentity even if it is a misrepresentation.

There is an additional complexity in performancewhich perhaps is exaggerated in HPE departmentaloffices. Performance in any context is an embodiedundertaking and performances must pass strict testsof aptness, of fit, decorum, and so on. To do this weembody the performance so that the way we goabout tasks is as important as their successfulconclusion. Nowhere is this more apparent than in aHPE subject department office, where deportment,dress, language, image, and most of all motorcompetence (indeed expertise) are all ‘tests’ (with avery critical audience) that must be passed and areadditional to the performance of professional andsocial expectations. How student teachers experi-ence and negotiate this within a community ofpractice which has been variously described ashyper-masculine, sexist, motor elitist, occasionallyracist and usually body-shapist is of interest to us.

4. The study

Data were collected in two phases. Phase I was ageneral ‘probe’ into students’ perceptions of theoffice environment. Prior to their 10-week majorpracticum the HPE student teachers were informedthat they would be invited to share via email theirperceptions of the department office, the HPEteachers, and their relations with teachers in theoffice. Thirteen of the 35 students responded to this

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request and this feedback was used to create theinterview guide for phase II.

During phase II semi-structured interviews wereconducted with the student teachers followingcompletion of their practicum. Participation inphase I was not a criterion for phase II involvement.At the time of the interviews some students hadgraduated and left the program. Twenty-twostudents of the remaining 24 students in theprogram volunteered to participate in an interview.For phase II we considered the semi-structuredformat offered guidance along with flexibilityduring the interview (Fontana & Frey, 2000).Open-ended interview questions were used toencourage participants’ sharing of perspectives andexperiences. Interviews were audio-taped and tran-scribed for analysis. The profile of the students whoresponded both to the email request in phase I andto the interview invitation in phase II was consistentwith the entire student cohort in the teacherpreparation stream (years 3 and 4 of a 4-yeardegree programme). That is, they were betweenthe ages of 19 and 21; of mixed gender thoughslightly over half the respondents were women. Theplace of sport features strongly in their lives andsignificantly they are high academic performers inso far as they are accepted into the programmebased on what are considered to be high universityentrance scores.

We are conscious that though we are drawing ona theoretical frame constructed around the ideas ofGoffman (1959) we did not gather data using theethnographic processes which characterize his work.The design conventions of his work and thenecessary attention to minute social interactionsare simply impossible in the practicum context. As aconsequence we have relied on the reports ofinteractions between the students and their super-vising teachers as well as additional significantothers (such as the head of department if he/shewere not the supervising teacher). We accept thatsuch reports will be filtered through the students’perceptions of their everyday interactions. Thismeans we are consciously engaging in second-orderinterpretations. We acknowledge that such aninterpretive design might limit the findings particu-larly as we are relying on the interpretive skills ofthe students to make sense of what can be complexenvironments. However, none of us as teachereducators were involved in the course work ofwhich the practicum was a part, though two of ushad known the students for a number of years. We

considered the trust established over a prolongedperiod of association would encourage the studentsto be as truthful as possible and to attempt to readthe department milieu as accurately as possible.

Data were analyzed using open coding inconjunction with a recursive process of constantcomparison (LeCompte & Schensul, 1999) todetermine emergent themes. The next section is ananalysis and discussion of findings regarding var-ious ways ITE students both performed and forgedidentities in relation to HPE teaching communityprofessional.

5. Findings and discussion

During their practicum experience, student tea-chers spent the great majority of their non-teachingtime in HPE subject department offices. These weresignificant social spaces for ITE students becausethey afforded opportunities to interact, forgerelationships with other teachers (particularly theirsupervisors), and through this participation, con-struct understandings and identities associated withbeing an HPE teacher.

5.1. Performing sports talk

Student teachers noticed that the HPE teachersshared an interest in certain male-dominated sportsabout which they reported high levels of socialengagement and interaction. While rugby, Austra-lian-Rules football and soccer at professional,school-team, and recreational levels dominated thesports conversations, discussion also extended toother sports. Brad, a student teacher, describedtypical interaction:

A lot (of conversation) about football, they werereally big on footbally[y]yA lot just on sportsin general. Sometimes they’d just talk aboutstuff, what had been happening with differentsports and that.

For the most part, student teachers were compelledto perform sport-related discourses. This wasparticularly effective when they were able to drawupon their own interests, and experiences.

I was quite comfortable. Rugby league and AFLwere the hot topics while I was there. They wereboth sort of in the middle of the season and I likefootball so, it worked out well.

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Establishing an alignment to the discourses of sportcontributed to ITE students’ comfort in theenvironment. This was particularly the case wherethe demonstration of knowledge was at a personallevel and, in terms of identity performance, wasindicative of Giddens’ (1991) notion of ontologicalsecurity. This sense of being seemed to create a senseof protection from a more hostile gaze. Theirembodiment of similar ways of thinking influencedthe sense of ease student teachers expressed feelingabout department office practices.

Student teachers’ past experiences with sport wassomething they had in common with other HPEteachers in the department office, clearly a commonfeature in the recruitment process in physicaleducation (Dewar, 1989). However, regardless oftheir investments in specific sports, ITE studentsfound they needed a broad sports vocabulary. Thecomments below indicate this:

World cup was coming up and quite a few of theguys, the males in the staffroom were soccer boysso they were getting quite excited and I coulddefinitely join in on that. (Sam)A lot of volleyball because they were the Schoolof Excellence in Volleyball and they train morethan six teams continuouslyy[y]yThey’d talkabout some general things that are happening,you know, sports like football. (Brendan)

Being able to participate in discussions aboutparticular sports of interest in the office affordedcertain student teachers access to contact with keyteachers (i.e., supervisors) who acted as the ‘audi-ence’ to this performance participation. In somecases, the necessity of performance spilled into theirprivate lives and whilst this was indicative of fullerparticipation in the community it required a level ofengagement beyond the norm. These interactionsoffered opportunities to demonstrate impressivenesseven when the commitment to some of the sportsbeing talked about was limited. In contrast, thosestudent teachers unable or unwilling to perform thesports discourses found themselves on the peripheryof the HPE community in the school. In thefollowing segment, Mark shows how it was desir-able to extend his performance to social interactionsoutside of the school context:

Mark: I think a few of them were pretty goodfriends and would meet up on the weekends fordrinks and stuff as well.Interviewer: Did they include you in that?

Mark: Yes, I was always invited and I went mostFridaysy[y]yI’d been invited to the ones onthe weekend and went once or twice. They triedto meet up occasionally and I think near the endof the term we went to a volleyball place andstuff. I got invited to that and went along to thatas well.Interviewer: Did you go because you wanted to?Was your Supervisor going?Mark: The supervisor was there so I felt a bitobligated to try and be part of it. It was mainly thefour in the group who were to do with the RugbyLeague which I was part of. There were thefive males, four of them were really big in theRugby League and the other one just did the PEsort of and I was sort of in with the Rugby Leagueones.

According to Mark, sharing an interest in RugbyLeague with other teachers, including his super-visor, afforded him opportunities beyond the schoolboundaries to deepen his relationship with hissupervisor and other HPE teachers.

For these ITE students, learning the value placedon being perceived by the HPE community as a‘good’ fit contributed their perception that thepracticum was a game (Tinning et al., 2001) withparticular rules and resources (cf. Giddens, 1991).Sports talk performances meant that studentsunderstood the value of these types of socialinteractions:

If you can play the game a little bit and get toknow them a bit better that a good thing. Just beinvolved in whatever. (Alan)

It was further apparent some student teachersunderstood the rules for participation and madenecessary adjustments in order engage in andperform sports-related conversations and activities.

I was really interested in what he was doingbecause he did a lot of the health education stuff.I wanted to speak to him but that was kind ofoff-putting at the start. But after about five or sixweeks he kind of got to know me a little bit betterthrough just general conversations like, he’sa big rugby union person and I helped him outwith a few rugby union things. After that it wasreally, really good and we became like mates.(Eric)

Forging relationships through the performance ofsports talk was one approach used by students to

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4All the student teachers in this study did junior science as their

second teaching subject (i.e., HPE and junior science) and were

judged on their performance in both discipline areas. However,

HPE constituted approximately 80% of their teaching time.

T. Rossi et al. / Teaching and Teacher Education 24 (2008) 1029–1040 1035

positively influence their evaluation. However,where students lacked the necessary background,the performance was more sophisticated. Theyemployed alternative strategies. Leanne for exampledrew upon the ‘performance of inquiry’ to initiatethe need for help and to acknowledge the expertiseof her supervising teacher. In other words she chosea particular ‘front’ for the social interaction whichwould draw her into the center of the community byshowing her commitment to learning, rather thanexpose her lack of knowledge in certain areas. Asshe described:

I would ask questions of him to clarify, [well] notnecessarily clarify but make him feel like he wasimportant by answering them if you know what Imean; like asking questions about differentsports. (Leanne)

Leanne’s capacity to read the rules of game play, ledto a realization that sport mediated interactions hadto be conducted through the ‘front of inquiry’. Herlack of personal experience and knowledge was infact used to her advantage and her strategy allowedher join in the conversation.

Not all students were able to perform theiridentities in this way, not even for the purposes ofmisrepresentation. For student teacher Tom, themis-alignment between his own ways of being andthose of the community left him feeling uncomfor-table in the space. When asked to share hisperceptions of the HPE department office Tomstated:

Very masculine is the first thing I think of, verymasculine. The whole room was intimidating.They were not like big kind of men, they werevery masculine, the way they spoke about andwhat they spoke about was very. Yeah I thinkmasculinity is the thing I think when I thinkabout that room.

Although Tom recognized there to be discordbetween his performance and the expectations ofthe HPE community, he acknowledges that ‘‘spend-

ing a lot of time coachingy[y]yor doing that stuff

with them outside so that you get acceptance into

those things’’ might have helped him fit in. Yet, hechose not to adjust his behaviors to accommodatethe social environment of the HPE subject depart-ment office but instead to spend his time in anothersubject department office where he felt his sense ofself more closely aligned with those structuring the

community.4 As a consequence he felt more securein his sense of self:

I think is important for pre-service teachers to beable to feel a part of the culture and feel valued.There were some instances that I didn’t thinkthat my ideas were valued and that’s when Istarted going towards the maths and sciencebecause that was where I was getting a lot ofbenefit and a lot of value I suppose from myteaching and that’s where I got the most [fromthe] practicum as opposed to the PE where Ididn’t feel like I was getting the attention that Iwanted, the development more than anything.

Despite Tom’s action to resist participating in theHPE community, he admitted his concerns aboutrepercussions on his evaluation. He attributed hisacceptable evaluation to having a positive relation-ship with one of his two supervisors who wasassociated with the Maths/Science department.Thus, the underlying premise of a positive relation-ship influencing evaluation remained. So for Tom,his performance was one of resistance as far as theHPE community was concerned and perhaps thisperformance even endeared him to the Maths andScience department.

In summary, student teachers’ capacity to de-monstrate an alignment of their interests and thoseof the social field in the HPE subject departmentwas high stakes in that failing to do so could haverepercussions such as, social isolation, a low rating,and/or limited employment opportunities.

5.2. ‘Looking’ like an HPE teacher: bodily

performances

5.2.1. Slender and fit-looking bodies

In addition to norms of sports-related interestsstructuring the social space of the department office,student teachers also learned about HPE teachers’beliefs and expectations regarding body form,maintenance, and health. They witnessed andexperienced scrutiny and regulating actions fromthe community. For Patty, a student teacher, beingpart of a department office shared by HPE and Artteachers led to tensions associated with norms andassumptions regarding bodies.

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A couple of the HPE staff made comments infront of me stating ‘‘they (art teachers) are solazy’’ even Susan (the student’s supervisor) saidto me ‘‘he’s just a fat lazy slob’’ (student laughs)about this one arts guy.

Community expectations, values, and taken-for-granted norms interconnecting bodies, activity,health, and values were explicitly and implicitlyconveyed through the words, actions, and organiza-tion structures of the HPE community in thedepartment office. Indeed in the report of thisinteraction, the ‘laugh’ within the descriptionindicates either, a degree of approval for the useof the language (and thereby offering support forthe discourse). The normalized process of ascribingcharacteristics of personality to particular bodyshapes also seemed to meet with little resistance

The PE staff were (sic) conscientious, fit, they’vesort of got that image I suppose. Then there’sthese arts staff, who are lazy, they do no work intheir spare time, they clearly don’t plan as well(from the HPE staff perspective). Some of themare overweight and they smoke; they’re nothealthy individuals, this sort of thing. There’ssort of this big values gap and attitudes gapbetween them. (Patty)

Patty’s perspective of the situation reveals herembodiment of identities that align with those ofthe HPE community. Social constructions of bodiesthat are valorized by HPE communities become sodeeply entrenched that they seem ‘natural’.

Assessments regarding body shape, size, andmaintenance lead to judgements (by Patty andother HPE teachers) that the Art teachers lackself-control or discipline. Corporeality is assumed toreflect values, characteristics, behaviors, and life-style choices. Moreover, having a thin, fit-looking,body reflects what Macdonald and Kirk (1999) referto as ‘‘corporeal regimes’’ (p. 135) where the bodybecomes a signifier for social and personal behavior.The individualistic and unproblematic correlationbetween body-shape, health, and fitness found inthis study confirms previous research findings(Macdonald & Kirk, 1999; Macdonald & Tinning,1995). From Patty’s narrative we can assume she‘played along’ with the general corporeal discoursesprevalent within this community. However this isinconsistent with her university course in which oneof the underpinning principles of which is accep-tance of difference. This could be a problem which

lies within the university course itself; there is avalorizing of health discourses, risk reduction andhealthy lifestyles juxtaposed with the social justiceprinciple of embracing ‘difference’. Of concern forus, is that the performance of the students inrelation to the dominant corporeal discoursesappears to have some authenticity mainly becausethe students identify with the corporeal character-istics within particular social spaces such as theHPE subject department office.

Surveillance of body shape and size also appliedto the HPE community itself. Through departmentoffice interactions ITE students’ received messagesregarding gender-specific expectations for HPEteachers’ bodies.

I remember one of the guys telling me that I wasno shrinking violet meaning that one of thestudents asked me if I was a Rugby Leagueplayer because I’m not exactly petite. Well hegoes, ‘well you’re no shrinking violet’. Oh,thanks. (Dianne)

The entrenched durability of office norms consti-tuted a space where demeaning enforcement prac-tices were tolerated by both teachers and studentteachers. Regulating experiences have also beenreported by HPE student teachers (Macdonald &Kirk, 1996) however in this study, the regulatorswere colleagues from within the subject departmentand part of the regulation came through the gaze ofthe ‘audience’ with respect to possible suspicionsabout gender and sexual preferences.

5.2.2. Legitimate attire

ITE students learned that certain attire waspivotal to ‘looking the part’ of an HPE teacher.According to one student teacher:

Everyone knew who the HPE teachers were bythe dress that they wore. So, they had therunning shoes and sorts or whatever, they hadthe polo shirts with a hat and whistle. (Kendra)

Although a few student teachers expressed theirdislike for this mode of dress, it was deemedappropriate ‘professional’ HPE wear and conse-quently they engaged in the performance ofappearance. Even though some felt they wereperpetuating the ‘jock image’ which was the basisfor their discomfort, they used the front of‘appearance’ to consolidate their professionalism.Any challenges to this occurred only at the margins.

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I wore joggers if I was doing a prac butotherwise, I’d wear more like white dress shoeskind of think with straighter shorts. More dressshorts rather than running shorts. But, I’d alwayswear polo shirts. (Jake)

Through habits of dress style, values and historicalconstructions of HPE teachers were performedwithin the department offices in highly explicitways. Specifically, gender constructions under-pinned these norms and as one student teacherobserved, resistance was minimized by the regula-tory practices by the boundary keepers.

They used to pay out on [make fun of] Barb, thisgirl that was the second year out, all the time.Everyone, not just the guys, well mainly the guysbut even my teachers would pay out on her allthe time as well because she was really ditzy, sheused to wear little shorts and sometimes she’dwear little skirts and thongs [rubber sandals] andstuff to teach PE and they used to always give herheaps. They kind of gave it to her face as well butbehind her back they’d just be likey‘‘she’s sucha girl, she such ay’’, you know that kind ofthing. (Patty)

Making sense of Patty’s unquestioning acceptanceof a female teacher being made an example of by thecommunity for dressing outside the norms iscomplicated particularly given Patty’s claim that,as an HPE teacher, she too will challenge norms ofthe field regarding attire. It seems that Patty’sinterpretation of the HPE teacher’s experience doesnot resonate with her perspective of ‘self’. None-theless it was crucial that she maintain the ‘front’ ofdisapproval; she had realized that this was the rolein this interaction she needed to perform

5.3. Performance of masculine repertoires

Joking, taunting, and teasing were methods ofinteracting within the department office. ITEstudents reported being teased as well as witnessing‘‘rude’’ and ‘‘vulgar’’ comments and ‘jokes’ aimedparticularly at women. Initiation of these behaviorswas attributed to male physical education teacherswith correlations made between these behaviors andthe male to female ratio in the office.

At times you could see that the guys would makea joke, it’s more of a guy’s joke you know, yourtypical PE type guys stuff. (Neil)

Words and actions which expressed and (re)pro-duced systemic inequalities in gender relations wereunproblematically accepted within the social field ofthe HPE subject department. However, thesepractices had to be interpreted as harmless withno suggestion that any offense was intended ortaken.

It (sexist, sexual mode of engaging in thedepartment) wasn’t anything that you’d takepersonally. Well, I never did. I guess there aresome people who were quite prim and proper anddidn’t like that sort of thing and might getoffended. But if you had a pretty good sense ofhumour and were relaxed, you got along reallywell. (Angela)

Although few in number, certain student teachersnoticed women HPE teachers’ attempts to diffusesexist conversations or demonstrate disagreementwith the perspective. For example Anna, a studentteacher, described some female HPE teachersresponding to male HPE teachers’ commentsregarding women and sexual acts by standing upand stating, ‘‘Okay, well then, the break is over’’.Anna joined the women and left the social space.Yet, in another situation student teacher David,noted that one woman HPE teacher’s requests tomen that they stop sex-related talk went unnoticed.

The talk, the jokes, that kind of stuff (referenceto being male oriented). It was like they forgotshe was there. She was pretty used to it. Shealways used to say, ‘‘Hey guys, I’m still here.’’She would just put on the headphones and do herwork.

For HPE teachers (men or women) who did notapprove of or participate in the jokes and com-ments, community members’ disapproval of non-conformity was demonstrated through teasing,shunning, and alienation. Student teacher Angela’scomment (see above) suggests she embodies normsthat align with the dominant perspective of thespace and as such, takes the practices for granted.

In addition to tales of gender stereotyping therewere also stories of physical taunting which in othercontexts would border on abuse and potentiallyattract harassment charges. One case involved a‘game’ of cricket in the departmental office. Thisgame involved throwing a cricket ball (which is hardlike a field hockey ball) at the ‘new student teacher’shead. The student concerned in this incident passedit off as the sort of thing to be expected. In other

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words his performance was one of acceptance and indoing so put up a benign front of masculinedurability.

Generally speaking, ITE students’ unquestionedacceptance of the repertoires organizing the socialspace of the HPE subject department lead us tosuggest that the students aligned their performancesand used ‘fronts’ with the accepted ways ofengaging (repertoires) in the department office. Thisfinding is not surprising given the literature indicat-ing that students with values and beliefs similar tothose of HPE teachers tend to be recruited into theprofession (Brown, 2005; Dewar, 1989; Macdonald& Tinning, 1995). When drawing on Goffman(1959), we find ourselves in something of a dilemma.In performing identity do PETE students use‘fronts’ in the university setting and perhaps revertto a pre-disposed self when in the practicum? Weask this question because the students in thisresearch are all part of a program which extols thevirtues of equality, social justice, fairness and theacceptance of difference and yet such principles areeschewed in favor of an acceptance (indeed ajustification of) behavior that might be deemedinappropriate. We are compelled to propose thatwhen ITE students’ performances aligned withthose of the department office, their practices (i.e.,words and actions) further entrenched these normsin the social space and their embodiment of them.However, we are mindful that the high stakesenvironment may encourage this performance. It isa performance which of course demonstrates anaturalizing process in which those who are unableto ‘fit in’ are perceived as ‘soft’, ‘not up to the job’or just plain deviant. As an example, the naturalnessof certain repertoires was evident in the previouscomment by Angela when she suggested thatanyone who had issues with the joking or teasingbehaviors of the office ‘‘lacked in social skills’’(Angela).

Although our findings like others’ (Brown, 2005;Brown & Evans, 2004), suggest that practicumperformances may lead to a tendency for socialreproduction, we argue there were instances ofagency which hold potential for social change. Wereturn to our examples of mis-alignment betweenITE students’ performances and the expectations ofthe social field of the HPE subject departmentoffice. ITE students such as Dianne, Patty, and Tomengaged in performances that rubbed against theboundaries of what was understood as acceptable inthe space. Drawing upon Lovell (2003) we propose

that actions of these ITE students may contribute toreadying the stage and indeed the audience for abroadening of what is recognized as a legitimateway of being (in terms of interest, attire, orbehavior). Over time these sorts of actions thatpush at and broaden the boundaries of what isacceptable may lead to environments where studentpracticum performance can be deemed authentic.We acknowledge however we are some way fromthis yet.

6. Conclusions

Through this examination of HPE studentteachers’ perspectives of their participation insubject department offices, we consider it importantto return to a question we posed earlier. Where arethe performances in PETE students likely to bemost authentic? This study demonstrates that thereare various ways in which social processes of HPEcommunities get played out. By returning to ourearlier question we are forced to ask a furtherquestion at this juncture: Were the performances ofthe students within the practicum performances ofidentities or were they the fronts of misrepresenta-tion? The strong alignment many of the studentteachers felt with the HPE teaching community(even if the alignment took longer for some) and thepractices in the department office contributed to theseeming naturalness of the perspectives. We areaware of such alignments from the work on therecruitment that appeared in the 1980s (Dewar,1989). So we could expect that through dailypractices these student teachers will reify andreproduce these same behaviors, norms, and waysof being an HPE teacher. However as we notedearlier, the program of which these students are apart is founded upon non-discriminatory practices,gender equity, social justice and a critique of sportas a social practice. As a consequence we are tosome extent surprised by the degree of masculinitydemonstrated by some of the students (and notexclusively males) and how this positions femalestudent teachers and teachers alike. The pervasivemasculinized profile of sport and more specificallyphysical education which has been widely writtenabout (cf. Connell, 1995; Dewar, 1990; Messner andSabo, 1990; Wright, 1999) seems to have had aprofound effect in creating a context of exclusion inthe departmental office or a context in whichfemales see ‘being one of the boys’ as a necessary‘front’ to assume in order to ‘get on’. It is not clear

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whether the principles of the university course workare washed out as Zeichner (1983) suggests; whetherthe high stakes context encourages performances ofcompliance; whether our practices as teachereducators are really as socially critical as we think;or, and not the least worrying, whether the frontused when the students are ‘in session’ at theuniversity is the performance of misrepresentation.Whether it is one, none, or a combination of all ofthese possibilities, it does suggest that somewhere inthe process of physical education teacher educationthe students attempt to idealize the performancesrequired within the process. In doing so, theyconform to Giddens’ (1991) idea of maintaining adivision between their self-identity and their perfor-mance. This is somewhat perplexing for those in thebusiness of preparing physical education teachersand perhaps in teacher education more generally. Inour view the practicum does come across as theatre.There clearly is a front and back stage as Goffman(1959) would say and the students have to ‘pick’their performances when they are on front stageaccordingly and plan them to have effect when theyare in back stage. To do this, irrespective of anynotions of authentic self (if there is such a thing), thestudents use a number of fronts to negotiate thetricky waters of the subject department office andthis is particularly so in this case as so much rides onthe overall performance.

We are further perplexed in terms of under-standing these performances. We have to try tounderstand whether the fronts used during thispracticum period were performances of identity (asGoffman suggests) or whether they were strategiesfor coping with the social task demands of theenvironment. However Giddens (1991) can be ofassistance here since his idea of the self beingroutinely created and sustained reflexively suggeststhat the students in this study used fronts as part oftheir identity performance but reflexively adjustedself-narratives to deal with the phenomena encoun-tered during the practicum. The students in thisstudy show remarkable dexterity in managing thevariety within the context and the idea of multipleselves cannot be overlooked. Among these ‘selves’would be the self as university student—the frontpresented to us as teacher educators.

However, there is reason for concern because asthis research like Brown (2005) and Dewar (1989)before demonstrate, the fronts used in the practicumsetting have the propensity to contribute to thenaturalization of practices and social (re)produc-

tion. Furthermore, our findings indicate the powerof the practicum in that through practice in work-places, such as the subject department office, normssupported by and even ‘played out’ in studentteacher performance become further entrenched andassumed. Through their daily practices as studentteachers and then teachers, these socially con-structed norms become sustained. For example,although it has been over 20 years since Tinning(1985) first argued that the HPE profession wasimplicated in reproducing the cult of slenderness westill witness such processes in HPE departmentcommunities. Although as a profession we may talkmore about matters of difference and change,certain norms endure.

Given our own programme’s explicit advocacyfor an ethic of social justice and for our studentscreating supporting environments which accommo-date difference and diversity, we would have liked tobe able to report more instances of our studentteachers offering resistance to practices whichcontravened such an ethic. Even if we activelyrecruit more ITE students who have pre-disposedselves that vary from the dominant HPE model, westill must recognize the power of the social space ofthe HPE subject department and the need for ITEstudents to conform to the expected (and evenidealized) performances of that community. Theextent to which strategic conformity or perhaps touse the prophetic words of Goffman (1959) ‘‘im-pression management’’ (e.g. to facilitate a goodgrading or performance rating) actually contributesto facilitate their identity constructions that repro-duce the dominant order is an important questionand one for which we are now trying to establishworkable research protocols.

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