The theoretical framework of occupational socialization (Curtner-Smith, 2001; Curtner-Smith et al., 2008; Lawson, 1983a, 1983b; Templin & Schempp, 1989) describes how Physical education (PE) teachers’ past and current experiences influence their teaching practices. In addition, Lawson (1988) explains occupational socialization as “all kinds of socialization that initially influence persons to enter the field of Physical Education (PE) and are responsible for their perspectives and practices as teacher educators and teachers” (p. 107). There has been little research on influence of professional socialization on teacher effectiveness which has been informed and guided by occupational socialization theory. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify the impact of professional socialization on PE teachers’ teaching effectiveness and to investigate how this impact is mediated by PE teachers’ professional socialization experiences. The research questions that guide this study are: 1. What are the common socialization experiences of PE teachers? 2. What professional socialization factors are perceived as meaningful to PE teachers? 3. Regarding PE teachers’ socialization experiences, what recommendations do PE teachers have for physical education teacher education program? The participants are four PE teachers. Formal and informal interviewing, passive participant observation, and document analysis will be employed to gain an understanding of what factors effect PE teachers’ professional socialization. Data will be analyzed using analytic induction and constant comparison. A timeline of this project: August 2015 (Finish IRB process and start passive observation), August 2015-July 2016 (Start the formal interview and work on analysis), and August 2016 (Writing a paper).
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