Teachers’ professional identity shapes teachers’ educational views, impacting their behaviour, action and decision making. This study was designed with the goal of locating, compiling and analysing articles regarding professional identity in the physical education context and identifying elements that contribute to professional identity construction. We selected professional identity and physical education as search items in Web of Science, ERIC, SPORTDiscuss and Scopus. To investigate the previous decade of research, we limited the study to articles published between 2010 and 2020. This work combines recent publications written in Portuguese, English and Spanish. The database search yielded 27 relevant articles. The themes present in the articles can be divided into two groups: those linked to key actors and influences on physical education teachers’ professional identity, and those related to physical education preservice teachers. The following themes were discovered to influence teachers’ professional identity formation: relationships (established within their acting context), identity negotiation, identity transformation, lifelong learning, peer perception and the class context. The following themes impact preservice teachers’ professional identity formation: teaching practicum experience, prior experiences, a community of practice and the teachers’ body. Professional identity formation is an intricate process characterised by a diverse mix of personal, professional, environmental and social representations that interact in real time.

The purpose of this study was to investigate preservice physical education teachers’ perceptions of initial teacher education and its impact on their professional lives and teachers’ identities at the end of their school placement. It was also the aim of this study to identify school placement contributing factors and key actors in the formation of professional identities. The sample was composed of 272 preservice teachers in their final year of the master's in teaching physical education at a Portuguese university. We collected data through a questionnaire that included closed- and open-ended questions regarding six aspects of the teaching profession and initial teacher education: agents of training; components of teacher education; roles of teachers; motivation for teaching; conceptions of teaching and learning; and changes experienced during this period. Quantitative data were statistically analysed for measures of central tendency, and the responses to the open-ended question were analysed through thematic content analysis. The findings revealed: that preservice teachers considered the cooperating teacher to be the most important agent of training; that the teaching practicum experience was the most important component of teacher education; that delivering universal values was an essential role of teachers; that they had an intrinsic motivation for teaching; that they perceived a constructivist approach to teaching; and that the most meaningful change they experienced during their education was an improvement in soft skills. With the results, we conclude that professional socialisation influenced how the participants performed as teachers.

Research on teachers’ socialisation years after they begin teaching in schools has not been extensively undertaken, and there are significant long-term consequences for how these experiences in organisational socialisation influence the quality of physical education programs. The purpose of this study was to determine how cooperating teachers perceive their role in the development of preservice physical education teachers’ professional identities. We used a qualitative methodology, gathering data through semi-structured interviews. Seven cooperating physical education teachers (five female and two male) with between 22 and 40 years of service were interviewed. The data were analysed through thematic content analysis using a constant comparative modality. The interview questions were categorised into three themes: reasons for being a cooperating teacher, the role of the cooperating teacher, and the professional identity of the cooperating teacher. The findings suggest various interpretations of the cooperating teacher’s role and ways of working. The most important skills to have in order to be a cooperating teacher appear to be related to how they were socialised and how they continue to experience the socialisation process during organisational socialisation, as well as the career phase in which they currently find themselves.

This project, entitled B-FREE, was designed to develop personal and social skills in adolescents deprived of their liberty. The aim was to facilitate future social inclusion by transforming the participants’ behaviour and self-responsibility for their actions, through Physical Education classes based on Hellison’s Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model. We used a qualitative methodology under a constructivist philosophical worldview and an ethnography research design. Data was collected through observation records, adolescents self-assessment and key actors’ observations. The results revealed evident improvements in the behaviours and attitudes of the adolescents, both in the Physical Education class and in their daily lives, confirming the adequacy and effectiveness of that teaching model to improve the detained adolescents’ behaviours, through physical education.

The teaching profession, being a profession that above all requires human interaction, is inseparable from ethics (Castilho, 2018). Initial teacher training is recognised by its impact in professional development of pre-service teachers, and cooperating teachers are fundamental in this stage. The ethical-professional attitude is transversal to all knowledge related to initial education. Therefore, it is important to study the perspective of cooperating teachers regarding professional ethics. This article presents case studies concerning Portuguese physical education cooperating teachers’ perspective of pre-service teachers’ professional ethics. We followed a qualitative methodology and data was collected from a semi-structured interview with 5 questions. It was interviewed 5 cooperating teachers of the master’s degree in Teaching Physical Education in the University of Coimbra. Data was analysed through thematic content analysis (Bardin, 2011) and revealed that cooperating teachers focus mainly on the personal conduct shown by pre-service teachers. These results reveal a reductionist perception of the notion of professional ethics and the association of professional ethics to personal ethics.

Codes of ethics are essential components of high-quality education, considering they help uphold shared universal values. The role transition experienced during the school placement carries paradoxical notions between pre-established images of teaching and the reality experienced. The purpose of this study was to explore ethical dispositions of preservice teachers at the end of their school placement. We examined 74 school placement reports, written by preservice teachers enrolled in a master’s degree in teaching Physical Education at a Portuguese public university. We followed a qualitative methodology and performed thematic content analysis. Findings showed that the participants’ ethical dispositions were primarily reflected in their engagement in professional development, building effective relationships, personal conduct, commitment to pupils’ learning, teamwork, commitment to one’s own learning, pedagogical content knowledge, initiative and responsibility, embracing innovation, and critical and reflective analysis. Our findings support enhancing ethical training for new teachers throughout their initial teacher education.