In light of growing concern over the relation between physical inactivity and a variety of biomedical and psychosocial conditions and the disjuncture between larger physical activity culture and secondary school physical education curriculum, the purpose of this study was to examine how middle school physical education teachers negotiated content and curricular decisions. A variety of theories guided this study, including Bourdieu's theories of habitus and field (1977), teacher socialization theory (Lawson, 1983; 1988), teacher ideology (Apple, 2004), teacher emotion (Hargreaves, 1998; McCaughtry, 2004), curriculum as a political text (Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 2004), and range of critical and post-structural social theories (Ingram & Simon-Ingram, 1991; Wilber, 2001). This qualitative study was grounded in the interpretive tradition. Eight middle school teachers were observed and interviewed for five whole days over the span of one school year. The main finding from this study revealed that the complex interplay of teachers' personal, institutional, and student factors, and the teachers' consideration of these factors, coalesced in ways that resulted in the perpetuation of competitive sport as the dominant content of their curricula.
","abstract_html":"<p>In light of growing concern over the relation between physical inactivity and a variety of biomedical and psychosocial conditions and the disjuncture between larger physical activity culture and secondary school physical education curriculum, the purpose of this study was to examine how middle school physical education teachers negotiated content and curricular decisions. A variety of theories guided this study, including Bourdieu's theories of habitus and field (1977), teacher socialization theory (Lawson, 1983; 1988), teacher ideology (Apple, 2004), teacher emotion (Hargreaves, 1998; McCaughtry, 2004), curriculum as a political text (Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 2004), and range of critical and post-structural social theories (Ingram & Simon-Ingram, 1991; Wilber, 2001). This qualitative study was grounded in the interpretive tradition. Eight middle school teachers were observed and interviewed for five whole days over the span of one school year. The main finding from this study revealed that the complex interplay of teachers' personal, institutional, and student factors, and the teachers' consideration of these factors, coalesced in ways that resulted in the perpetuation of competitive sport as the dominant content of their curricula.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ferry, Matthew Daniel"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Ph.D.","degree_level":"Open Access Dissertation","degree_discipline":"Kinesiology and Pedagogy","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Nathan McCaughtry"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2011-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:58:57Z","subjects":["Bourdieu, Content, Curriculum","Education","Kinesiology"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/372","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Nathan McCaughtry"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ferry, Matthew Daniel"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2011-01-01T08:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Kinesiology and Pedagogy"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Open Access Dissertation"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Ph.D."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Bourdieu, Content, Curriculum","Education","Kinesiology"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/372"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["In light of growing concern over the relation between physical inactivity and a variety of biomedical and psychosocial conditions and the disjuncture between larger physical activity culture and secondary school physical education curriculum, the purpose of this study was to examine how middle school physical education teachers negotiated content and curricular decisions. A variety of theories guided this study, including Bourdieu's theories of habitus and field (1977), teacher socialization theory (Lawson, 1983; 1988), teacher ideology (Apple, 2004), teacher emotion (Hargreaves, 1998; McCaughtry, 2004), curriculum as a political text (Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 2004), and range of critical and post-structural social theories (Ingram & Simon-Ingram, 1991; Wilber, 2001). This qualitative study was grounded in the interpretive tradition. Eight middle school teachers were observed and interviewed for five whole days over the span of one school year. The main finding from this study revealed that the complex interplay of teachers' personal, institutional, and student factors, and the teachers' consideration of these factors, coalesced in ways that resulted in the perpetuation of competitive sport as the dominant content of their curricula.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Secondary physical educators' content negotiations"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Nathan McCaughtry"],"dc:creator":["Ferry, Matthew Daniel"],"dc:date.available":["2011-01-01T08:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["In light of growing concern over the relation between physical inactivity and a variety of biomedical and psychosocial conditions and the disjuncture between larger physical activity culture and secondary school physical education curriculum, the purpose of this study was to examine how middle school physical education teachers negotiated content and curricular decisions. A variety of theories guided this study, including Bourdieu's theories of habitus and field (1977), teacher socialization theory (Lawson, 1983; 1988), teacher ideology (Apple, 2004), teacher emotion (Hargreaves, 1998; McCaughtry, 2004), curriculum as a political text (Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 2004), and range of critical and post-structural social theories (Ingram & Simon-Ingram, 1991; Wilber, 2001). This qualitative study was grounded in the interpretive tradition. Eight middle school teachers were observed and interviewed for five whole days over the span of one school year. The main finding from this study revealed that the complex interplay of teachers' personal, institutional, and student factors, and the teachers' consideration of these factors, coalesced in ways that resulted in the perpetuation of competitive sport as the dominant content of their curricula.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_dissertations/372"],"dc:subject":["Bourdieu, Content, Curriculum","Education","Kinesiology"],"dc:title":["Secondary physical educators' content negotiations"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Kinesiology and Pedagogy"],"thesis:degree_level":["Open Access Dissertation"],"thesis:degree_name":["Ph.D."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:58:57Z"}