The Impact of Biography, Teacher Education, and Organizational Socialization on the Perspectives and Practices of First‐year Physical Education Teachers: Case Studies of Recruits with Coaching Orientations

To‐date, there has been little longitudinal research of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) recruits' perspectives and practices which has been informed and guided by occupational socialization theory. The purpose of this study was to discover the impact of one university's core PETE program, developed from the knowledge base on effective teaching, on the perspectives and practices of two first‐year teachers and to examine how this impact was mediated by organizational socialization and the teachers' biographies. Data collection techniques employed were passive participant observation, formal and informal interviewing, and document analysis. Results indicated that despite being subjected to poor physical education themselves, entering PETE with coaching orientations, and facing restrictive school socialization tactics and other workplace influences, these teachers struggled to innovate the physical education programs at their schools.