“My Methods Courses Feel Like Walmart”: Influence of Secondary Organizational Socialization on Early Career Faculty Members’ Implementation of PETE

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the influence of secondary organizational socialization on seven early career faculty members’ (FMs’) implementation of physical education teacher education (PETE). Data were collected with four qualitative techniques and analyzed with standard interpretive methods. FMs delivered PETE that was either a hybrid of the traditional/craft and behavioristic orientations to teacher education or of the critical inquiry, traditional/craft, and behavioristic orientations. Cultural elements and conditions that helped or hindered FMs’ in PETE were identified. FMs coped with negative and unfavorable elements of their cultures and conditions by fully complying with, strategically complying with, and strategically redefining their situations, or finding a new position. The stories of these FMs should inspire administrators, senior colleagues, and those training doctoral students to reflect on the degree to which they help or hinder neophyte FMs, as well as aid doctoral students preparing to make the transition into faculty positions.