2 research outputs found
Front stage, backstage and off stage: the socialisation of first year physical education and primary education students on an initial teacher education programme at a Scottish university
This is a study of two cultures in a School of Education where, since 1998, PE
students and primary students have taken a generic Education course that comprises
one third of their study programme. PE students have been perceived to be a problem
for the people responsible for running the Education course because their behaviour
and attitudes have not matched the expectations of the staff. Drawing on Goffman's
metaphor of theatre, and on Becker's analysis of the collectively held perspectives of
medical students, this study examines the hidden curriculum of the academic front
stage and students' activities back stage and off stage. The study uses an
ethnographic approach using multiple methods and direct and prolonged observation
of front stage, back stage and off stage settings. Three aspects of the hidden
curriculum are identified, tensions between the Education courses and the ITE
programmes, assessment and timetabling.The hidden curriculum supports and defines students' beliefs and defines the two
student cultures. For PE students the effect was to marginalise the Education courses
and promote 'mainstream' PE courses. For primary students this effect was absent.
The front stage supports the development of two separate cultures and on the back
stage there is an influential PE culture supported by a 'family system' that links the
four year groups. Backstage is an arena for the acquisition of social capital and the
deliberate construction of sociability through bonding activities and it is here that PE
students are socialised into the norms and values of the group. Primary students did
not appear to have an identifiable group culture, either on campus or off campus.
Despite the different socialisation experiences, both groups of first year students
successfully accomplished placement and had relatively similar perspectives on
teachers and teaching