Experiences and identities: Pre-service elementary classroom teachers being and becoming teachers of physical education

Shaping a professional identity is an important process in learning to teach. Case studies of Natasha and Julia, two pre-service elementary classroom teachers, were analysed to explore how they developed identities for teaching physical education during a pre-service teacher education programme. By critically analysing their physical education experiences and engaging in inclusive pedagogies, both challenged their prior assumptions of what teaching physical education entailed and meant to them. While both cases did not necessarily form identities that they believed were required to successfully teach physical education, they engaged in processes that allowed them to make small but important steps to shaping positive professional identities as teachers of physical education. Implications for preparing elementary classroom teachers to teach physical education are discussed in light of the findings.