Conceptualizing Gender Perspective in Physical Education Teacher Education in Chile

Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) remains shaped by gendered disciplinary traditions despite increasing policy commitments to gender equality. This study examined how gender perspective is conceptualized by teacher educators within a PETE programme at a Chilean state university and how these understandings relate to professional preparation. Fifteen teacher educators participated in semi-structured interviews analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis informed by feminist and sociological perspectives on gender. Three interrelated themes were identified. Gender perspective was reduced to interpersonal values such as respect and equality, conflated with gender identity, and understood within a context of limited formal preparation in gender-related issues. These findings reveal a disconnect between institutional commitments to gender equality and the conceptual resources available to teacher educators. Meaningful integration of gender perspective within PETE therefore requires strengthening conceptual clarity and discipline-specific professional preparation so that gender becomes embedded within disciplinary knowledge rather than treated as an external institutional requirement.