Beginning teachers’ reflections on the reproduction of ball games knowledge in Swedish physical education

This paper focuses on beginning teachers’ reflections on the transformation and use of ball games knowledge in the transition from physical education teacher education (PETE) to physical education (PE) practice. The aim is to provide an understanding of the recontextualisation of ball games as pedagogic discourse in the transition from PETE to PE from the perspective of beginning teachers. Basil Bernstein's concept of pedagogic device comprised the theoretical framework. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 12 beginning teachers. The participants had graduated from two PETE institutions in Sweden and had between 1 and 3 years’ teaching experience. The findings reveal that recontextualised elements of the pedagogic discourse of ball games were: (1) having a learning purpose with ball games in PE; (2) adapting teaching to all pupils; and (3) varying one's pedagogy based on a technical approach with concepts from game-based approaches. The findings also reveal that the teachers were missing knowledge about how to plan, implement and assess ball games. The findings further illustrate how contextual factors regulated the pedagogic practice of ball games teaching. These factors included: (1) the heterogeneous groups of pupils; (2) pupils’ expectations of specific content; and (3) material conditions and facilities. The conclusion from the study is that while PETE provides beginning teachers with some knowledge that is useful and relevant, other practical knowledge that would be useful is not addressed in PETE and some knowledge that is addressed proves difficult to put into practice.