Physical education teacher education enrollment numbers are declining with limited empirical understanding. Recruitment into the physical education profession has been passive, although scholars have begun to advocate for an active approach. The present study utilized occupational socialization theory to understand why undergraduate kinesiology…

Physical education teacher education is at a "tipping point" in history, where the survivability of the profession in many institutions of higher education may be in question. This monograph reflects an initial attempt to understand recruitment and retention in physical education teacher education programs from the perspective of program…

The purpose of this study was to understand the unique stressors faced by physical educators working in New York City schools. Participants included 34 New York City physical educators who participated in semi-structured interviews about their experiences teaching in an urban context. Qualitative data analysis resulted in the construction of four…

Physical education teachers face considerable sociopolitical challenges that can impede quality instruction and complicate recruitment into the profession. Physical education teacher education faculty members may not be prepared to address these challenges during their doctoral education. Accordingly, the purpose of the paper was to utilize the…

The preceding chapters of this monograph have served to situate the study of physical education teacher education recruitment and retention within relevant literature and theory. This chapter outlines the sequential explanatory design methods, whereby participants in an online survey were selected using stratified random sampling to participate in…

Chapter 2 (see EJ1202568) overviewed the teacher pipeline and documented some of the challenges faced by the physical education profession in relation to teacher education recruitment and retention. Given declining program enrollments and the elimination of some once-prominent programs, a theory of action is recommended for understanding how the…

While much has been learned about the socialization of physical education teachers through occupational socialization theory, less is known about the socialization of adapted physical educators. The purpose of this study was to examine the experiences leading individuals to enrol in a graduate-level adapted physical education teacher education…

In line with trends in general education, physical education teacher education programs have faced lowering enrollments over the last few decades. These circumstances have led to the closure of some PETE programs while faculty members at others have been called to increase recruitment and retention efforts to reverse the negative enrollment…

Background/Purpose: Teacher educators must help students overcome faulty beliefs they developed through acculturation while also retaining highly qualified candidates through to graduation. This aspect of this study sought to understand physical education teacher education program coordinators' perspectives about their role in the process of…

Background/Purpose: Physical education teacher education (PETE) programs have experienced enrollment decline, leading some PETE faculty to consider increasing efforts to recruit new students to their programs. This aspect of the current study sought to investigate PETE program coordinators' perceptions of possible causes for decreased PETE…

Research suggests that progress in the physical education profession is slowed by a cycle of nonteaching and dominance of traditional methodologies. Socialization factors operate to preserve and perpetuate the status quo of the profession, which is rooted primarily in team sport content. Teacher education programs are challenged to persuade…

The past decade has seen declining enrollments in physical education teacher education, which has contributed to university program closures. Some of the challenges leading to these declines are related to how the physical education profession recruits and socializes new members. Traditionally, recruitment has been a passive process whereby…

Teacher education programs across the country are being asked to systematically and deliberately recruit teacher candidates who are not only highly qualified, but represent diverse backgrounds. Coupled with dwindling enrollments, these programs may want to reevaluate the types of students recruited into a career in physical education. This article…

In the United States, physical education doctoral programs place great stock in recruiting students who have prior in-service teaching experience. However, little is known about how this experience influences perceptions of doctoral education. We conducted this cross-sectional, exploratory study to develop an initial understanding of how prior…

Occupational socialisation theory (OST) is a dialectical approach to understanding teachers' recruitment, training, and lived experiences in school settings. Research using this model has shown that socialisation influences how physical educators interpret or "read" pedagogical models. However, this research has not been extended to the…