Doctoral programme in Physical Education Didactics for Teacher Educators

This application concerns a doctoral programme for physical education and health (PEH) didactics in teacher education. It springs from a joint collaboration between all the nine Swedish universities with physical education teacher education (PETE). Physical education and health didactics is one sub-area within the four areas that are especially highlighted in the call. Since research into PEH didactics has grown in recent years, and while subject specific didactics within physical education teacher education (PETE) is still a largely unexplored area, the nine universities with PETE have decided to join in an effort to establish a graduate school of PETE didactics. The decision to focus on PETE is also related to both the Swedish Schools Inspectorate’s and the Swedish government’s criticism of the quality of the teaching of PEH in schools.

The overall purpose of the graduate school is to create a research-based knowledge basis with which to improve, firstly, the quality of subject specific didactics in PETE, and secondly the quality of the teaching of PEH in schools. The research will explore didactic considerations within PETE, but with relevance for the teaching of PEH in schools. Thus, it will explore the relationships between the subject specific didactics of PETE and PEH. Ultimately, the aim is to offer teachers a knowledge base with which, in turn, to offer a relevant PEH teaching to all students, and to help all students reach the goals of the subject?