Developing a socially-just teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) approach: a pedagogy for social justice for physical education (teacher education)

• Published in: Physical education and sport pedagogy 2024-09, Vol.29 (5), p.452-464
• Main Authors: Scanlon, Dylan, Baker, Kellie, Tannehill, Deborah
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Exercise; Pedagogy; pedagogy for social justice; physical education; physical education teacher education; Physical education teachers; Preservice teachers; Social justice; Social responsibility; Teacher education; Teaching; teaching personal and social responsibility
• ISSN: 1740-8989; 1742-5786
• DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2022.2123464

Social justice as a concept and a pedagogy has (and is) gaining traction in physical education teacher education [Walton-Fisette, J. L., and S. Sutherland. 2018. "Moving Forward with Social Justice Education in Physical Education Teacher Education". Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 23 (5): 461-468] and school physical education [Philpot, R., G. Gerdin, W. Smith, S. Linnér, K. Schenker, K. Westlie, K. M. Moen, and L. Larsson. 2021. "Taking Action for Social Justice in HPE Classrooms Through Explicit Critical Pedagogies." Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 26 (6): 662-674]. Despite this growing body of research, there seems to be a lack of understanding around the 'how' question; 'how' can we teach about, through, and for social justice (pedagogies) in PETE (in preparing pre-service teachers) and in school physical education? Reflecting on a number of papers as part of a Special Issue in Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, [Flory, S. B., and D. Landi. 2020. "Equity and Diversity in Health, Physical Activity, and Education: Connecting the Past, Mapping the Present, and Exploring the Future." Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy 25 (3): 213-224, 221] suggest the need to re-think and re-imagine physical education curriculum, practice and policy by making new connections and relationships between models-based practices and sociocultural theories. Guided by asking 'What is worth doing?' and 'Is it working?' [Hellison, D. 2011. Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Through Physical Activity. 3rd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics], we explore, re-conceptualise, and re-imagine the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model as an approach to teach about, through, and for social justice (pedagogies). A Figure, consisting of three strands, was constructed to visualise the socially-just TPSR approach. As part of this, we have reconceptualised the TPSR levels to 'spaces'. As spaces, students can start in different (and multiple) spaces and move between spaces throughout the lesson. The first two strands of the Figure (social justice topic and the TPSR spaces) inform the pedagogical approaches (strand three) and the pedagogical approaches are underpinned by the teaching about (social justice topic - strand one) and through (TPSR spaces - strand two) social justice. The alignment of the three strands can therefore lead to meaningful, informed, and socially-just learning experiences. The need for social justice education is clear. And yet, te