Background/Purpose Early career teachers face many challenges as they adjust to the demands of full-time teaching and learn about communities where they teach. These challenges increase in urban schools, where students face additional hardships (e.g., poverty, crime). Teaching is a high turnover profession, with the highest attrition rates in urban schools. Additionally, cultural discrepancies exist between many urban teachers and students, leading to mistrust and disengagement in physical education (PE), and missed opportunities for physical activity. Using theories of occupational socialization and cultural relevance, the purpose of this study was to examine how three teachers' experiences during professional socialization (formal teacher education) influenced their early careers in urban schools.
Method Data collection occurred for six weeks with each teacher via lesson observations and daily in-depth interviews lasting approximately one hour (n=54). Data were analyzed using constant comparison. By study design, the teachers had four to six years of urban school teaching experience, but did not grow up in urban communities.
Analysis/Results The teachers described several factors from their professional socialization experiences that led to successes and struggles as early career urban physical educators. These included lack of diversity in teacher education programs, lack of coursework in socio-cultural issues, curricular emphasis on team sports, and varying exposure to urban schools and communities.
Conclusions The successes and struggles of these teachers emphasize the need for diverse teacher preparation programs that address socio-cultural aspects of PE. Further research examining how PETE programs prepare mostly White, middle-class teaching candidates for diverse school contexts seems warranted.