Background/Purpose Scholars who have investigated physical educators' experience in their working environment have found physical educators to express feelings of isolation, limited resources, and a continued struggle to be perceived as legitimate professionals by others in the school community (Hendry, 1975; Macdonald, 1995; Templin, 1989). The purpose of this study was to analyze how one exceptional elementary physical education teacher navigated her working environment as the teacher of a marginal subject. Structuration Theory (Giddens, 1984) and Marginality Theory (Grant & Breese, 1997) were utilized to make meaning of how the teacher navigated the marginality in her working environment.
Method Data collection lasted 11 weeks spending 8 hours each day three days a week. Data sources included observation and field notes, interviews, and critical incident (Flanagan, 1957) reports. Data trustworthiness was established through triangulation, member checks and a peer debriefer.
Analysis/Results Inductive analysis (Huberman & Miles, 1994) of the data generated themes pertaining to Structuration Theory (Giddens, 1984) and Marginality Theory (Park, 1928; Stonequist, 1935).
Analysis revealed that the teacher navigated marginality using four strategies. The teacher enacted these strategies using a combination of 16 tactics and 24 micro-behaviors collectively to form a comprehensive plan to navigate marginality.
Conclusions Findings indicated that the teacher responded to marginality with a variety of reactions forming an overall emissarial approach. Implications include: (a) a physical educator must be an effective teacher and (b) be a diplomatic professional. Findings from this study have additional implications for the preparation of teachers, National Standards, and formalized mentoring programs.