<p> The purpose of this study was to compare the athletic participation rate of males and females within the high school of study. Freshmen and senior students were surveyed to gather data on the reasons students chose to participate or not participate in athletics. Focus groups were conducted at a local university to further explore why students participated in athletics and why some of these students discontinued their participation in athletics. Focus groups also explored challenges facing athletes and student perceptions of female participation in athletics. Athletic participation data from the high school of study were also taken into consideration. </p><p> This study also touched on the history of females as they journeyed throughout history from the Theory of Separate Spheres to Title IX. The impact of Title IX on female athletics is also touched upon. Special attention was paid to the struggle female athletes have as they compete in athletics, why athletics are good for all participants, and health risks specific to females. Based on all of the data gathered, recommendations were made to the high school of study, to parents of female athletes, and for future studies to increase female athletic participation. Results of this study will assist administrators as they look for ways to increase female athletic participation within the high school of study.</p>

The purpose of this study was to examine how college freshmen make meaning of their secondary school physical education experiences. The study was also designed to explore the events, individuals or factors associated with their physical education experiences that influenced the ways in which students construct their meanings. Using concepts first identified in Kelly's (1955) "personal construct psychology", the study was designed to understand how college students describe their experiences in high school physical education and their current beliefs about the value and meaning of those experiences. A semi-structured, open-ended interview format was used to engage 27 college freshmen from a small private, two year college in New England in a discussion about their high school physical education experiences. This methodology allowed the students/participants to ascribe their own meaning to the experiences they had in physical education. Each audiotaped interview session lasted approximately sixty minutes and was later transcribed for analysis. Two overriding themes emerged from the data. Students recognized and have come to understand that athleticism means power and physical education has little value as a subject matter offering. Several factors contributed to these understandings. The most influential factor was student skill level. Skill level influenced interactions with and treatment by teachers and other students. In many schools it created an adolescent society where personal status and underlying self worth were accorded solely on an individual's physical ability. Curriculum content and teaching behaviors were also identified as strongly influencing student experience. Programs which had a strong team sport foundation disenfranchised many students whose talents and interests did not find avenues of expression in the activities offered. Closely aligned with participants' remarks about curriculum choices were comments regarding the lack of instruction. Participants indicated that little teaching was occurring and low-skilled students believed this put them at an even greater disadvantage. Participants believed physical education had little value as a subject matter offering. These beliefs were most directly influenced by their association with parents and peers, while indirectly influenced by grading schemes and contrasts with other more "academic" subjects.

The lives and careers of teachers have been studied from several perspectives (e.g., teacher career stage development, adult development, and the organizational context of teachers). Teacher career stages have been the focus of much educational research since Fuller (1969) first outlined her stages of teacher concern. Over the course of the next three decades multiple models of teacher career development were proposed and tested. Teacher career development, as conceptualized by Burke and colleagues, emphasizes the influence of teachers' organizational (i.e., work) and personal (i.e., adult development) contexts on their development as teachers (Burke, Christensen, & Fessler, 1984; Burke, Christensen, Fessler, McDonell, & Price, 1987). Taking into account contexts in which teacher career development occurs provides a dynamic lens through which to view teacher development. Therefore, the teacher career cycle model served as the theoretical framework for this qualitative study of the lives and careers of urban physical education teachers. The purpose of this qualitative study was twofold. First, it was designed to understand how veteran urban physical education teachers experience their lives and careers. Second, it explored ways in which the factors influencing the lives and careers of these physical education teachers affected their career longevity in urban schools. Participants included 9 (4F, 5M) urban physical education teachers who had between four and 31 years of teaching experience in urban schools (mean = 10yrs.). Data were collected through observation and in depth interviews. Data analysis consisted of open and axial coding to identify themes and categories across participants. Results indicated that for this group of teachers, organizational context, personal context, and their development as teachers influenced their work lives and careers. In addition, as this group of teachers gained experience in urban schools, they developed skills necessary to maintain order to facilitate learning in their dynamic work environments. This study has implications for teacher education and professional development. As we learn more about the teachers who stay in urban schools we will be better able to prepare them to meet the needs of working in urban school contexts.

This study examined teacher and student beliefs about physical education by addressing the following questions (a) what beliefs about physical education do the teacher and students bring with them to class? (b) are there differences between the beliefs held by the teacher and those held by the students? and (c) what role does context play in facilitating or inhibiting the translation of these beliefs into action? Participants in this case study were one high school physical education teacher and twelve students from the same physical education class. Methodology included qualitative field notes taken during observations of two activity units (volleyball and team handball), five interviews with the teacher, four interviews with each student, and administration of the repertory grid. Data were analyzed concurrently using constant comparison to identify common themes. Throughout the study data were returned to the participants for their responses. The teacher's beliefs formed an intricate, multi-dimensional system with the core belief that, "physical education should provide an equitable environment for all students." Secondary level beliefs included for example, "the teacher is responsible for creating a safe atmosphere," and, "physical education should be recreational." The two student belief systems were, "gym class is not important now or in the future," and "it's really important to have friends in gym class." There were five key differences between teacher and student beliefs focused on the following issues, (a) the importance of physical education, (b) whether it should be mandatory, (c) the definition of learning, (d) the importance of equity, and (e) the role of the teacher. Although the teacher and students held very different beliefs about physical education, they co-existed in the same class by manipulating the context to facilitate the translation of their beliefs into action. While the teacher acted on her beliefs, she never explained them in class and the students left this program with no understanding of how the teacher viewed physical education or why she believed it to be important. Instead, students' beliefs were strongly influenced by other contextual factors and they embraced the marginal status of physical education promoted by parents, administrators, and teachers.

The purpose of this study was to gain an understanding of how 16 secondary school physical educators working in three different schools described and made sense of the place in which they worked. Three broad views of the school as a workplace were identified in the literature: (a) the physical setting of the school, (b) how the school is organized, and (c) the culture in which teachers do their work. Teachers were asked to take pictures of their school as a workplace and then to describe their pictures. A minimum of three weeks was spent at each school. Field notes were taken during job shadowing and observations and transcripts of informal and formal interviews were generated. School profiles were developed to describe the physical, organizational, and cultural characteristics of each school. Although the profiles represent the job of teaching physical education in secondary schools, they represent three distinctly different work environments in which the job of teaching occurs. There were also broad similarities identified among the three schools. These similarities are represented in the form of the following themes: (a) teachers feel ambivalent about the effects of isolation, (b) teachers lack control over significant aspects of their daily work lives, (c) teachers seek rewards for activities other than physical education instruction, (d) teachers feel a vacuum in department leadership: like a boat without a rudder, (e) teachers are influenced more by students than by any other aspect of their workplace, (f) teachers' finite time and energy are drawn away from instruction toward other responsibilities. This study found that school context has a significant impact on teachers, their work and their behavior in the workplace and that schools have a strong role in defining the job of teaching physical education. Although the construct of teaching implies work that is common and well-known, work in schools varies in relation to the specific context of each school. Cultural variation among these schools defined their most important differences.

<p> Adolescents use literacies in order to build identities in a variety of figured worlds. Some identities become more powerful than others as adolescents attempt to understand and successfully utilize the valuations and literacies of the diverse figured worlds in which they participate. The goals of this study were to describe the figured worlds of football and the classroom of a highly recognized high school football program and school. My study involved four participants from the varsity football squad and the coaches and teachers who guided and shaped both figured worlds.</p><p> I used a qualitative case study design to explore each figured world and the literacies demanded from my participants. Data were gathered from observations in both the football and classroom figured worlds, interviews with my participants, their coaches, and teachers. I also studied various artifacts from both figured worlds in order to describe the valuations and literacies endemic to both. </p><p> Findings show that both figured worlds demanded key beliefs and valuations from my participants in order to gain power and positionality in each one. My study also shows that the football figured world expects players to comprehend key literacies in order to gain recognition and esteem. For some of my participants, connecting the valuations and literacies between the worlds allowed them to build strong identities in both. However, one participant was unable to take on the expected valuations and literacies in recognizable ways in the classroom figured world, and as a result, was unable to build a strong identity there. </p>

Thèses (M.Sc.)--Université de Sherbrooke (Canada), 2007. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 1 février 2007). In ProQuest dissertations and theses. Publié aussi en version papier.

<p> The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the influence of the athletic health care team on urban secondary school student-athlete physical health, academic engagement, and academic success. Limited and inconsistent research had been identified that linked student-athlete physical health to academic engagement and success at the time of research. In question is how the presence of an athletic health care team influenced student-athlete health, academic engagement, and academic success. A qualitative intrinsic case study using a face-to-face responsive interview model was deployed for data collection. The population was identified as all student-athletes, coaches, and parents/guardians involved with one urban secondary school district athletic program. Five male student-athletes, two male and one female parent, and three male coaches voluntarily participated in the research study. Data analysis occurred through an iterative process beginning with manual transcription of audio recordings into a Microsoft Word document that was uploaded into the NVIVO 11 computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software for organizing further coding and theme development. A conceptually clustered matrix was further used for data analysis to help identify themes among student-athletes, their parents, and coaches to triangulate responses. The athletic health care team in this research study was found to directly influence student-athlete health, have a minimal influence on academic engagement, but have indirect influence on academic success according to participants. The athletic trainer was the key athletic health care team member contributing to student-athlete physical health, while coach was identified as most dominant figure on academic engagement, with coaches and parents being most powerful on academic success. Additional research is needed to fully understand the collaboration between athletic health services and general health services for the secondary school student-athlete. The variability between health care programing offers an opportunity for standardization that can be replicated and then studied across different settings, such as rural versus urban, or among diverse socioeconomic groups. Future research collaboration between health care and education is also needed specifically in the area of athletic health care team implementation at the secondary school level to fully understand the positive educational impacts that may be achieved. Extending health services beyond than the traditional student and into the extracurricular environment may be a powerful tool that offers additional academic engagement and success opportunities.</p><p>