The importance of the Physical Education (PE) teacher’s body, particularly for teaching PE, has been highlighted in literature. PE teachers are expected to be clear role models to students through their acts, behaviours and bodies. However, their strong embodied subjectivities, particularly those related to their teaching practices, may be problematised. This paper explores the ways in which a group of 15 pre-service PE teachers from a Spanish university constructed perspectives about the body and health in relation to their professional practices. Body journals were used to collect data, which were analysed using a Deleuze-Guattarian approach. The findings reveal the significant emphasis participants placed on their own bodies while teaching PE and the pressure they felt to conform to certain expectations of their professional roles. In response, we propose critical reflection on the content of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programmes and incorporation of alternative pedagogical approaches to alleviate the heavy reliance on pre-service teachers’ bodies.

This autobiographical article shows how the initial teacher´s training plays a crucial role in the reconstruction of his professional identity. Over this period, the teacher begins to analyze, observe and reflect on what he does and how he does it. This study revolves around three key issues: a) the importance of initial training in the quest for a more fully human education; b) the importance of initial training in the quest for coeducation; c) the importance of initial training for teacher educators. The conclusion is clear: a teacher´s professional identity is strongly determined by the initial stages of his formation, which enable him to build, develop and apply his pedagogical knowledge.

The teaching profession requires an understanding of teachers’ and students’ emotions, and teachers’ emotions can influence their teaching practice, professional development and pedagogical approaches. Furthermore, emotions are embodied and they may have a detrimental effect on wellbeing if they are not addressed properly. This paper explores the emotional dimensions of preservice primary teachers’ practicum experiences in physical education (PE). Body journals were used to collect data which were analysed using a Sociology of Emotions (SoE) approach. The findings revealed that preservice teachers’ emotions manifest physically during their practicum, especially at particular junctures, such as at the beginning of their teaching. Preservice teachers felt the need to make a ‘good impression’ within the school through the regulation of their emotions as they faced continual challenges to succeed in unfamiliar teaching circumstances. The conclusions of this study demonstrate the benefits of providing opportunities for preservice PE teachers to reflect on their emotions during the practicum and the consequences that these may have on their bodies and teaching practices.

In the current study, we investigate the implementation of a musical workshop in an early childhood education setting. The workshop is based on a shared space for musical creativity (the Active Musical Room) comprising six different musically relevant objects, which toddlers were free to explore and play with. Inspired by Delalande’s Pedagogie musicale d’éveil, the workshop was facilitated by a teacher who developed strategies to help the toddlers’ musical engagement. Data sources for this case study included semistructured interviews with the teacher and school principal, video recordings of each session, field notes and observations made by nonparticipant observers, and questionnaires completed by parents of the toddlers. Categories concerning three interrelated dimensions of interest emerged from our analyses: the decisions of the teacher, the affordances of the objects in the room, and the creative potential of each toddler. Although generalizations cannot be proposed given the nature of the study, our results point to the recursive interplay between the exploratory drive of the toddlers, their sensorimotor ability, and the constraints afforded by the environment in which they are situated (i.e., teachers, objects).

The decrease in touch has been explored in recent literature in relation to child protection discourses and no touch policies and it has been suggested that Physical Education (PE) has been weakened by the lack of touch. Significantly, the issue of touch has remained largely unexplored in Latin societies, which are characterised by an amplified tactile approach to people and comparatively little personal space. This paper examines how a group of pre-service PE teachers in Spain responded to, acted and negotiated touch with primary school students. It draws on data generated from body journals and the concepts of risk society, surveillance and moral panic. The findings indicate that touching school students is still common practice in Spain and was considered something positive. The influence of other individuals and certain spaces was also noted by participants, who felt more surveilled and distressed on particular occasions and some of them strategically introduced touch with students in a progressive manner. The results of the study invite us to reflect on the possibility of doing more harm than good by presenting topics about touch to pre-service teachers and how pre-service teacher educators may need to provide PE students with proper resources and understandings to successfully negotiate touch with school students.

En este artículo defendemos la importancia del cuerpo en la comprensión de la escuela y la educación, frente a la concepción mayoritaria en formación inicial que prioriza una visión técnica y académica y deja el cuerpo del docente en un segundo plano. El objetivo principal es mostrar cómo los diarios corporales docentes permiten al alumnado en formación inicial descubrir y explorar algunas de sus dimensiones corporales y su implicación en la enseñanza. El artículo adopta una metodología cualitativa para conocer la percepción de siete futuros docentes de Educación Física acerca de la utilidad de los diarios corporales como instrumento de reflexión y de evaluación formativa. Los resultados reflejan cómo los diarios corporales docentes sirven de nexo entre las dimensiones pedagógica y corporal de los educadores desde los primeros contactos con la profesión. Asimismo, manifiestan la manera en que sirven de herramienta para la evaluación formativa del alumnado, en tanto que tienen una gran relación con el resto de asignaturas de la carrera; principalmente, con el Prácticum.