Generalist Early Education and Specialist Physical Education Teachers’ Views on the Scope of Early Childhood Physical Education

Abstract

On a national ministerial announcement concerning employing specialist Physical Education (PE) teachers to teach PE in early childhood education (as opposed to generalist early education teachers), this research sought to investigate teachers’ views on this issue. Taking Lawson's (1983) theory of occupational socialization as a sensitizing framework, we examined whether teachers' specialization and experiences of participation in PE influenced their perspectives on early childhood PE teaching. Twenty in-service teachers, male and female, working in public education as generalist early childhood teachers (n = 10) and specialist physical education teachers (n = 10) participated in the study. Semi-structured interviews and the thematic analysis technique were used to generate data. The results showed that irrespective of their specialization, teachers’ positive acculturation experiences in PE and sports influenced their attitudes towards early childhood PE. However, all participants assigned a functional-practical value to PE rather than an educational one. This finding was attributed to broader socio-cultural influences concerning the scope of school PE in early education. Both generalist and specialist teachers perceived their professional roles and responsibilities as distinct. They advocated for establishing interdisciplinary professional training programs as a prerequisite for employing PE specialists in early childhood education. Even though teachers’ specialization shapes their scientific assumptions and understandings, personal acculturation and professional socialization experiences seem influential in determining their daily practices at school. The emerging early childhood PE literature could open up a myriad of opportunities for research in this field, always keeping in mind that the learning needs and interests of young children stay in the foreground.