Dominant white discourse embedded within physical education (PE) teacher education creates metaphorical borders of whiteness that pre-service PE Teachers of Color come "up against" at predominantly white institutions. Borderland theory is useful to examine the experiences of pre-service Teachers of Color who dwell at, and cross, borders of "difference." The study explored 10 Black and Latine pre-service teachers' negotiations of white borders within predominantly white programs. We employed qualitative visual narrative methods using borderland's trenza (braid), weaving together interviews, visuals, and researcher reflections. The stories evidence how whiteness established borders for participants to "cross," constructing them as "other." The duality of marginalization and empowerment represented a borderland location; the pre-service teachers were neither insiders nor outsiders but rather "co-existed" in multiple worlds. The braided landscapes of participants' cultural critical consciousness highlight the need for culturally relevant pedagogies, along with introspective reflection by PE faculty on embodied, discursive, and material whiteness..

Disproportionate rates of poverty among Black and Latine populations in the United States exemplify material consequences and ideological meritocracies of systemic racism. While education is often touted as a way to escape poverty, legacies of racism, classism, and ableism embedded within higher education and physical education teacher education (PETE) confront Black and Latine undergraduates directly, forcing them to navigate additional emotional and social barriers. We examined how Black and Latine pre-service physical education (PE) teachers enrolled in predominantly white institutions faced specific hurdles and/or barriers to teacher licensure along with material consequences of classism and ableism. We used qualitative visual inquiry, including narrative-based, semi-structured, and conversational interviews, and photo elicitation. We analyzed data deductively using intersectional Critical Race Theory. The first theme highlights a collective narrative of socioeconomic status’ bounding role in participants’ PETE stories, evidencing potential disruptions to successful teacher licensure. We then shift focus to share the stories of four Black and Latine pre-service PE teachers with learning disabilities. Participants highlighted a discourse of meritocracy, where academic accommodations were perceived as “advantages,” overlapping with institutional neoliberalism that ignores systemic oppression for poor and working-class pre-service PE teachers with and without learning disabilities. Participants’ narratives highlight systematic patterns of marginalization related directly to socioeconomic status and learning ability that PETE faculty and administrators are responsible for addressing.

This paper presents the experiences of a racially integrated research team - two Black male scholars and one white female scholar - drawn from a series of recorded conversations and journal entries as part of weekly research meetings while engaging in race research across more than a year's time. While our work inherently centered race by nature of the topics we researched, we chose to also critically reflect on what it means to do research together as Black and white scholars, and how kinesiology might benefit from our model of working together. Through thoughtful reflection linked to scholarship, we aimed to answer the questions of how our work yielded new understandings of the data we were collecting and analyzing, and how the field might utilize our collective research team experience. Using Critical Race Theory, Critical Whiteness Studies, and intersectionality, we situated our experiences of working together within the existing literature on race dynamics in higher education to illustrate how our processes disrupted whiteness and furthered a justice-oriented approach to conducting race research. First, we highlight the status of race in higher education and kinesiology, with a specific focus on PE teacher education (PETE), since that is our field of study. From there, we outline the theoretical frameworks that informed the research project and our approach to working together. Next, we use the meeting recordings and transcriptions to analyze how the research team functioned, highlighting Korey Boyd's and Cory Dixon's experiences of engaging in race-related research and then turning to Mara Simon's reflexive attempts to disrupt whiteness even as she embodied it within the group dynamics. Finally, we conclude by addressing negotiations and tensions of this process, along with implications and recommendations for future race research in kinesiology.

ABSTRACT Critical reflection and transformative action in a cyclical rhythm are the fundamental features of the process of praxis (Freire, P. [1970]. Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum). A self-study methodology was used to explore the lead researcher’s pedagogical experiences teaching at a youth development center (YDC) while utilizing praxis as critical reflection. Those pedagogical experiences included both teaching physical education to the students at the center, and instructing a cohort of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) students as they participated in a field experience there. The research question that guided this study was: how have the lead researcher’s pedagogical experiences at a YDC prompted praxis? Data were expanded upon in recorded interviews with an experienced colleague who probed and interviewed the lead researcher. Interview data were interpreted using qualitative methods. The findings of this study are derived from the lead researcher’s critical reflections and are organized into two major themes: (a) unexpected success prompting praxis: a vignette … and (b) praxis prompting pedagogy as an early teacher educator. The first theme describes the lead researcher’s initial experiences while teaching physical education at the YDC. The second theme outlines the lead researcher’s critical reflection and pedagogical experiences while teaching preservice teachers using the YDC as a context for a field experience. Lastly, the implications of his pedagogical experiences at the YDC are discussed.

Background The concept of engagement is a multidimensional construct that has long been used by researchers as a means of explaining student behaviour in classrooms and schools. However, the research using this construct within physical education has been particularly uneven. Purpose The goal of this paper was to examine the application of the concept of student engagement with the research literature on physical education. Method The scoping review was conducted using the boundaries of including the terms 'physical education' and 'engagement' in the title, being located specifically within physical education settings, and focused on student (rather than teacher) engagement. Results Analysis of the corpus of papers led to the conclusion that studies could be grouped into five categories, with each differentiated by source, involvement of theory, methodology, definitions of engagement, and intended audience. These were given the following labels: (i) studies involving operational and multi-dimensional definitions of engagement (ii) figurative studies (iii) single dimension studies, (iv) qualitative studies, and (v) reviews and practitioner-oriented papers. Discussion Given the considerable diversity in the application of the term engagement, it is recommended that future research in the field (no matter the intended audience), should consider the author's interpretation of the term formally somewhere in the introduction. In addition, it is proposed that future empirical research examining student engagement in physical education could also benefit from including evidence of both student self-perceptions about their engagement as well as observations of their in-class behaviours.

Purpose : Acknowledging the growing ethnic and cultural gap in diverse teacher and student populations, this study examined the pedagogical experiences of undergraduate physical education teacher education seniors following a teaching experience at a youth development center. Method : A phenomenological case study approach was employed in which preservice teachers taught and participated in over 45 secondary physical education lessons. The primary data sources were reflective journals and semistructured interviews. Results : Two major themes were constructed that describe the journeys of the physical education teacher education seniors teaching at both the youth development center field experience and in their internship placements the following semester. Initially, the preservice teachers experienced nervousness, uncertainty, and concern but, across time, experienced a degree of change and growth that saw them becoming particularly aware of and appreciating the personal biographies of their students. Discussion : The extent to which the physical education teacher education seniors’ experiences at the youth development center were transferred into their internships is discussed in addition to implications for introducing culturally relevant pedagogies in nontraditional settings.

Purpose: This study examined the pedagogical experiences of former graduate teaching assistants following their teaching experiences at a youth development center. Method: A case study approach was utilized to investigate each participant case while a phenomenological approach was employed to analyze each case. The participants, Malik, Dante, and Ray, previously taught physical education at a youth development center as graduate teaching assistants. Results: The results of this study are presented as three cases centered on the participants and their experiences. The first case, “developing people from where they are, not where you want them to be . . .” (Malik) highlights the participants’ appreciation of their students’ culture and context. The second case, “resiliency to teach well regardless of circumstance or situation . . .” (Dante) features the participants’ ability to teach diverse learners. The third case, “uphill battles . . . you cannot learn this in a textbook . . .” (Ray) features the challenges faced while teaching at the youth development center. Discussion: Consistencies across participants’ experiences, the impact on their current careers, and implications for introducing culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies via nontraditional settings are discussed.

Introduction: Physical education (PE) and physical education teacher education (PETE) are informed by whiteness, resulting in marginalization and forced hypervisibility for community members of color. Culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies (CRSP) facilitate “within group . . . [and] across-group cultural practices” for students and teachers of color to thrive. Purpose: This study highlights CRSP grounded in the experiences of Black and Latinx preservice PE teachers enrolled in predominantly White PETE programs. Methods: For this qualitative visual inquiry, 10 Black and Latinx PETE students each completed three interviews, coupled with participant-generated imagery. Data were analyzed inductively and deductively. Results: Students’ narratives included “othering” and hypervisibility. Participants’ understandings of CRSP illustrated the meaning-making they associated with CRSP. Participants identified co-conspirators, sources of support, and PETE pedagogies within a CRSP framework. Conclusion: The narratives support the call to embed CRSP within PETE programs to center students’ diverse cultural and ethnic identities.