Fiona Jane Dowling

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2026). Narratives of young coaches’ participation rights in sports clubs: negotiating the liminal spaces of childhood and adulthood. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2026.2737720. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Youth’s participation in, and drop-out from, grassroots sport has attracted considerable attention from scholars. Yet, there has been little focus on youth as rights bearers, in particular, research on young people’s participation rights. This article examines how young coaches and other significant actors in sports clubs (e.g. managers, adult coaches, parents, children) discursively construct youths’ right to be heard in all matters that affect them, acknowledging that free expression is a precondition for realizing all other rights (UNCRC 1989). Young coaches represent an interesting case to study because they are classified as children with specific rights, yet in their role as coaches they are authority figures for children. The study’s premise is that children have a right to play and participate in meaningful leisure, as well as a right to be heard and numerous other rights, but the processes involved in realizing these rights are saturated by power imbalances and micropolitics. Thus, from a critical narrative perspective, it asks, ‘how is young coaches’ ‘right to be heard’ narrated, what discourses are drawn upon and what subject positions are made available?’ The critical discourse analysis reveals that narratives about youths’ ‘right to be heard’ are seemingly scarce. Taken-for-granted ‘Truths’ about traditional forms of competitive sport and persistent narratives that valorize adult knowledge, often casting youth as ‘incompetents’/’immature’ and lacking a capacity to express a valid opinion, are more common. In addition, current neoliberal pressures for clubs to commodify children’s sport, can be seen to displace ideas that promote forms of governance in which power can be shared across generations.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2025). “Adults know what's best for children!”: A critical narrative analysis of children's participation rights in sports. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. ISSN 1012-6902. doi: 10.1177/10126902251391784. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to be heard in all matters that affect their participation in sports and due weight should be given to these views in accordance with a child's evolving capacity. Yet, to date, sports sociologists have paid little attention to participation rights, focusing instead on studying the violation of children's rights with regard to child labour, sexual harassment and abuse and measures for safeguarding young participants. Drawing upon data from a critical narrative study of sport for the very young in Norway (a country that has had children's rights in sport policy for nearly five decades), the article examines how actors (parents, children, coaches, managers) in sports clubs narrate the child's right to be heard. It explores what discourses/narratives of children in sport are constructed and in what ways children are positioned as rights bearers. The critical narrative discourse analysis reveals that children are seldom positioned as learning to be agentic beings, that technologies of dominance in sport work to discipline very young children into docile recipients of adult expertise, and children's right to be heard is peripheral to sports clubs’ agendas of professionalisation.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2024). Children’s rights discourses in sport: serving the rights of children and/or upholding the values of sport? Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2024.2434052. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The article aims to enhance our understanding of how children as rights bearers are constructed in sports policy. Following the ratification of the United Nations’ Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) in 1989 by many countries worldwide, national sports federations and sports clubs have been bound by its articles of provision, protection and participation, yet little research exists that illuminates how children’s right to be heard is practised. From a theoretical position that asserts that language in use and discourse sets limits upon what can be said and done (Ball, 1993. What is policy? Tests, trajectories and toolboxes. Discourse, 13(2), 10–17; Foucault, 1977a. The archaeology of knowledge. Tavistock), the paper asks ‘what conceptualisations of the child can be traced’, ‘how does sport policy construct the fine balance between recognising children’s special needs as dependent and potentially vulnerable, whilst striving to ensure their best interests and agency’, and ‘how is the notion of the child’s right to be heard in sport realised’? The policy sample comprises children’s rights and surrounding sport policy in Norway, which is a country internationally described as being a forerunner of children’s rights in sport with its political agenda dating back to the 1970s and a set of children’s rights being established in 1987. The analyses show that discourses associated with the regulation of competition and sports’ ‘technologies of dominance’ saturate the guidelines on children’s and youth rights in sport, as does an imaginary of the child as being partially or wholly dependent upon adults. These dominant discourses can be interpreted as serving the logic of sports associations to a greater degree than serving the needs and rights of children.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2023). Is sport's ‘gateway for inclusion’ on the latch for ethnic minorities? A discourse analysis of sport policy for inclusion and integration. International Review for the Sociology of Sport. ISSN 1012-6902. doi: 10.1177/10126902231198864. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Scholars have increasingly called for the need to problematise and critically examine sport policy for integration/inclusion. This article aims to contribute to this ongoing debate by presenting a Foucauldian-inspired discourse analysis of the languaging of three decades of Norwegian sport policy for integration/inclusion, as well as non-sport policy that seeks to use sport as a policy tool. The analysis demonstrates how ideas and practices about the integration of ethnic minorities in sport are constructed in the shadows of the ‘real business’ of sport. Self-evident ‘Truths’ about inclusion/integration convey simplistic notions of assimilation into existing sport practices, reify notions of homogenous groups both with regard to the majority and the ethnic minority Norwegian population, distributing power unequally across the majority–minority divide, and contribute to construct sport as a racially coded, Eurocentric practice. The pervasive, long-standing idea that sport is inclusive works discursively to marginalise contradictory ideas, such as the complexities of integration that focus upon the need for a transformation of structures and practices, and ‘Truths’ like resourceful ethnic minorities or an adaptable sports organisation remain currently almost unthinkable. The analysis bears witness to scholars’ claims for the need to broaden research methodologies and policies for integration in/through sport, such that inequitable, Eurocentric, assimilated practices can be re-languaged to enable hybrid, transnational sports spaces frequented by resourceful participants.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2021). Variabel, relasjon, diskurs : hvilke vitenskapelige perspektiver underbygger kunnskap om kjønn og ledelse i norsk idrett? In Tjønndal, Anne (Eds.), Idrett, kjønn og ledelse. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245035353. p. 19–39. Full text in Research Archive
• Evans, Adam B.; Barker-Ruchti, Natalie; Blackwell, Joanna; Clay, Georgia; Dowling, Fiona Jane & Frydenland, Stine [Show all 16 contributors for this article] (2021). Qualitative research in sports studies: challenges, possibilities and the current state of play. European Journal for Sport and Society (EJSS). ISSN 1613-8171. doi: 10.1080/16138171.2021.1899969. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2019). A critical discourse analysis of a local enactment of sport for integration policy: Helping young refugees or self-help for voluntary sports clubs? International Review for the Sociology of Sport. ISSN 1012-6902. p. 1–15. doi: 10.1177/1012690219874437. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  An increasing number of scholars argue that politicians’ ill-defined policies of sport for integration are difficult to realize and, paradoxically, can lead to a sense of alterity and exclusion. This paper provides a micro-analysis of the ‘slippage’ between government visions of sport for integration for refugees and the local, contextual interpretations of sport policy for inclusion. From a critical constructivist perspective, influenced by critical race theory, it examines policy enactment by asking: ‘How did sport for integration of young refugees get talked and written about in a voluntary sports club?’; ‘How did this language in use construct the practices that became locally naturalized?’; and ‘What ideologies were underpinning these realities’? Findings from the critical discourse analysis revealed that local enactments of policy for integration were mostly built upon assimilationist ideas that can exclude, rather than integrate, refugees, and did ideological work to uphold racialized hierarchies in sport. Alternative visions of integration (such as two-way processes of integration or ideas about celebrating cultural diversity) were rationally marginalized in the everyday business of the voluntary sports club, namely, competitive sport. The findings contribute to the literature that claims VSCs may be unsuitable arenas for integration initiatives aiming to provide meaningful physical activity for refugee youth.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane & Garrett, Robyne (2017). The transformative possibilities of narrative inquiry. In Ennis, Catherine D. (Eds.), Routledge handbook of physical education pedagogies. Routledge. ISSN 9781138820999. p. 332–342. Full text in Research Archive
• Flintoff, Anne & Dowling, Fiona Jane (2017). ‘I just treat them all the same, really’: teachers, whiteness and (anti) racism in physical education. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 24(2), p. 121–133. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2017.1332583. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper explores physical educators’ perspectives on race and racism as a first step towards disrupting whiteness and supporting the development of antiracist practice. With close links to sport, a practice centrally implicated in the creation and maintenance of racialised bodies and hierarchies, Physical Education (PE) offers an important context for a study of whiteness and racism in education. Using collective biography we examine physical educators’ narrative stories for what they reveal about the operation of whiteness and racism in PE. Teachers draw on narratives from curricula texts which uphold and reinforce notions of the racialised other, thereby reasserting normative, universal white knowledge. Their pedagogy is underpinned by a colour blind approach where race is ‘not seen’, yet essentialist and cultural discourses of race are nevertheless deployed to position particular racialised and gendered bodies as ‘problems’ in PE. Engagement with antiracism is limited to professional rhetoric within pedagogical practice.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2017). "'Rase' og etnisitet? Det kan ikke jeg si noe særlig om - her er det 'Blenda-hvitt'!". Norsk pedagogisk tidsskrift. ISSN 0029-2052. 101(3), p. 252–265. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-2987-2017-03-06. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2016). De idrettsflinkes arena : ungdoms fortellinger fra kroppsøvingsfaget med blikk på sosial klasse. In Seippel, Ørnulf Nicolay; Sisjord, Mari Kristin & Strandbu, Åse (Ed.), Ungdom og idrett. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202449674. p. 249–268. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2016). Family narratives of PE, physical activity and sport : contingent stories. In Dagkas, Symeon & Burrows, Lisette (Ed.), Families, young people, physical activity and health : critical perspectives. Routledge. ISSN 9781138838185. p. 209–218. doi: 10.4324/9781315734576-16. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2015). Parents’ narratives of physically educating their children at the interplay of home and school. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. ISSN 2159-676X. 7(5), p. 776–792. doi: 10.1080/2159676X.2015.1026384. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Scholars within physical education (PE) have paid relatively little attention to social class. Studies have tended to quantify inequities in participation in leisure activities and overlooked the processes of how social class structures attitudes towards particular forms of physical culture, including PE, and how they are practised. In this context, the paper focuses upon the dynamics between families and schools, and the economics of embodiment. It provides insights from parents/guardians’ narratives of social location and positionality in physical culture and how these stories-as-lived influence their children’s physical identities, whilst socialising them into the rules of a culture and class. Data have been generated from in-depth interviews and have been thematically analysed drawing upon the analytic tools of Bourdieu’s theory of social reproduction and narrative inquiry’s concept of plot. The findings reveal that middle class parents/guardians narrated stories about cultivating their children’s physical capital as central to their upbringing. In contrast, working class parents/guardians told tales couched in a laissez faire attitude with regard to their children’s physical literacy and participation in physical culture. Interestingly, neither middle class nor working class parents/guardians talked about the significance of school PE lessons for their children’s physical capital. This seemingly shared ambivalence was, nonetheless, configured in significantly different ways reflecting their differing social locations, lifestyles and narrative repertories. The narrative consequences for the children are arguably great and contribute to the social reproduction of physical capital, rather than social transformation as policy-makers desire.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane; Fitzgerald, Hayley & Flintoff, Anne (2015). Narratives from the road to social justice in PETE: teacher educator perspectives. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 20(8), p. 1029–1047. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2013.871249. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Developing teacher education programmes founded upon principles of critical pedagogy and social justice has become increasingly difficult in the current neoliberal climate of higher education. In this article, we adopt a narrative approach to illuminate some of the dilemmas which advocates of education for social justice face and to reflect upon how pedagogy for inclusion in the field of physical education (PE) teacher education (PETE) is defined and practiced. As a professional group, teacher educators seem largely hesitant to expose themselves to the researcher’s gaze, which is problematic if we expect preservice teachers to engage in messy, biographical reflexivity with regard to their own teaching practice. By engaging in self- and collective biographical story sharing about ‘our’ teacher educator struggles in England and Norway, we hope that the reader can identify ‘her/his’ struggles in the narratives about power and domination, and the spaces of opportunity in between.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane & Flintoff, Anne (2015). A whitewashed curriculum? The construction of race in contemporary PE curriculum policy. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 23(1), p. 1–13. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2015.1122584. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Analyses of curricula in a range of countries show how they tend to reinforce, rather than challenge, popular theories of racism. To date, we know little about the contribution of physical education (PE) curriculum policy to the overall policy landscape. This paper examines the construction of race and racism in two national contexts (Norway and England) as a means of putting race and anti-racism on the PE policy research agenda. It adopts a critical whiteness perspective to analyse how whiteness, as a system of privilege, contributes to the racialisation of valued knowledge in PE and asks, who potentially benefits and/or is marginalised within the learning spaces available in the texts? The discourse analysis reveals that two discursive techniques of whiteness combine to privilege white, Eurocentric knowledge content. Unmarked white PE practices and students are constructed as universal, normative and contingent. As a result, non-white PE practices and students are positioned on the margins in contemporary policy texts. By revealing the racialisation processes evident in the texts, we aim to trouble the profession’s taken-for-granted truths about race in PE as integral to working towards the development of an antiracist subject.

• Flintoff, Anne; Dowling, Fiona Jane & Fitzgerald, Hayley (2015). Working through whiteness, race and (anti) racism in physical education teacher education. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. ISSN 1740-8989. 20(5), p. 559–570. doi: 10.1080/17408989.2014.962017. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background: The persistent gaps between a largely white profession and ethnically diverse school populations have brought renewed calls to support teachers’ critical engagement with race. Programmes examining the effects of racism have had limited impact on practice, with student teachers responding with either denial, guilt or fear; they also contribute to a deficit view of racialised students in relation to an accepted white ‘norm’, and position white teachers ‘outside’ of race. Recent calls argue for a shift in focus towards an examination of the workings of the dominant culture through a critical engagement with whiteness, positioning white teachers within the processes of racialisation. Teacher educators’ roles are central, and yet, while we routinely expect student teachers to reflect critically on issues of social justice, we have been less willing to engage in such work ourselves. This is particularly the case within physical education teacher education (PETE), an overwhelmingly white, embodied space, and where race and racism as professional issues are largely invisible. Purpose: This paper examines the operation of whiteness within PETE through a critical reflection on the three co-authors’ careers and experiences working for social justice. The research questions were twofold: How are race, (anti) racism and whiteness constructed through everyday experiences of families, schooling and teacher education? How can collective biography be used to excavate discourses of race, racism and whiteness as the first step towards challenging them? In beginning the process of reflecting on what it means for us ‘to do own work’ in relation to (anti) racism, we examine some of the tensions and challenges for teacher educators in PE attempting to work to dismantle whiteness. Methodology: As co-authors, we engaged in collective biography work – a process in which we reflected upon, wrote about and shared our embodied experiences and memories about race, racism and whiteness as educators working for social justice. Using a critical whiteness lens, these narratives were examined for what they reveal about the collective practices and discourses about whiteness and (anti)racism within PETE. Results: The narratives reveal the ways in which whiteness operates within PETE through processes of naturalisation, ex-denomination and universalisation. We have been educated, and now work within, teacher education contexts where professional discourse about race at best focuses on understanding the racialised ‘other’, and at worse is invisible. By drawing on a ‘racialised other’, deficit discourse in our pedagogy,

• Dowling, Fiona Jane; Garrett, Robyne; Hunter, Lisa & Wrench, Alison (2015). Narrative inquiry in physical education research: the story so far and its future promise. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 20(7), p. 924–940. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2013.857301. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  At a recent international education conference, current life history and narrative research within Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) was criticised for its seeming inability to ‘produce anything new’ and for lacking ‘rigour’. This paper aims to respond to the criticism and to reassert the strengths of narrative inquiry in the current moment. It maps out narrative and life history research (published in English) carried out in PETE, illuminating a spectrum of narrative approaches and a richness of theoretical perspectives. It underscores the need for PETE scholars to acknowledge the broad range of philosophical assumptions about knowledge and how we come to know as this underpins all research, whether carried out within a qualitative or quantitative research tradition, and to develop a climate of mutual respect for these various positions if we are to avoid stagnation, hegemony or blind spots in our research agendas.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2013). Teacher educators' gendered workplace tales. In Pfister, Gertrud & Sisjord, Mari-Kristin (Ed.), Gender and Sport: Changes and Challenges. Waxmann Verlag. ISSN 9783830928737. p. 217–231. Full text in Research Archive
• Svendby, Ellen Berg & Dowling, Fiona Jane (2013). Negotiating the discursive spaces of inclusive education : narratives of experience from contemporary physical education. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. ISSN 1501-7419. 15(4), p. 361–378. doi: 10.1080/15017419.2012.735200. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Responding to calls about the urgent need to better understand young disabled people's experiences in the subject of Physical Education (PE), this paper adopts a narrative approach to explore how they experience and value teaching and learning in PE; when and how they feel in/excluded; and to ask ‘what barriers/facilitators are perceived to be of importance for their sense of in/exclusion?’ Narratives structure and illuminate not only young people's own experiences and self-identities, but they also reveal insights about the socio-cultural locations they inhabit. When they are well told they can persuade us to revisit our taken-for-granted realities about disability and inclusive education. Analyses of a case study of stories from the discursive spaces of PE lessons reveal that the deep culture of schooling and the hegemonic ‘truths’ of PE, not least of performativity, often result in segregated and alienating experiences, in which the disabled student is defined as malfunctioning and lacking ‘ability’.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2012). A narrative approach to research in physical education, youth sport and health. In Dowling, Fiona Jane; Fitzgerald, Hayley & Flintoff, Anne (Ed.), Equity and difference in physical education, youth sport and health: A narrative approach. Routledge. ISSN 9780415601498. p. 37–59. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2012). Making the grade. In Dowling, Fiona Jane; Fitzgerald, Hayley & Flintoff, Anne (Ed.), Equity and difference in physical education, youth sport and health: A narrative approach. Routledge. ISSN 9780415601498. p. 131–135. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2012). Health, physical education, pupils, parents and teachers. In Dowling, Fiona Jane; Fitzgerald, Hayley & Flintoff, Anne (Ed.), Equity and difference in physical education, youth sport and health: A narrative approach. Routledge. ISSN 9780415601498. p. 159–171. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2012). Professional development and narrative inquiry. In Dowling, Fiona Jane; Fitzgerald, Hayley & Flintoff, Anne (Ed.), Equity and difference in physical education, youth sport and health: A narrative approach. Routledge. ISSN 9780415601498. p. 153–158. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane & Kårhus, Svein (2011). An analysis of the ideological work of the discourses of 'fair play' and moral education in perpetuating inequitable gender practices in PETE. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. ISSN 1740-8989. 16(2), p. 197–211. doi: 10.1080/17408989.2010.532781. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Background: Physical education (PE) is a subject which has a long history of legitimising itself on the grounds of its contribution to pupils' social and moral welfare. It therefore seems probable that PE teacher education (PETE) might embrace recent calls for the need to re-moralise society due to the conditions of the late-modern age and not least the pleas for professional teachers to perceive their role within moral, as opposed to technical terms. It seems pertinent to ask whether PETE culture strives to nurture tomorrow's PE teachers within a philosophy which values inclusive, local learning environments which celebrate and respect the diversity of citizens in a democratic, late-modern society, even though it has traditionally been founded upon scientific functionalism and a positivistic pedagogy. Purpose: The study aimed to explore the extent to which PETE can be seen to nurture equitable learning environments, within a discourse of teacher professionalism which celebrates diversity, by using the lens of gender equity. Research design and data collection: Qualitative data have been generated from individual, in-depth interviews, group interviews and the content analysis of PETE curricula. The sample comprised eight PE teacher educators (two female, six male), 12 student teachers (three female, nine male), and five supervisory teachers (one female, four male) from three institutions of higher education offering PETE in Norway. Participants were asked questions such as 'what do you see as being the most important knowledge in PETE?', 'how would you describe a good, professional PE teacher?', 'how do you interpret providing students with equitable learning experiences?', 'what type of gender theory informs your PETE practice?', and 'what does gender equity mean to you?' Local policy documents were collected from each institution, including PETE course outlines, overviews of compulsory literature, and PETE evaluation procedures. A critical hermeneutical analysis of the data drawing upon a range of theoretical perspectives and research findings on gender, moral education through the physical, and teacher professionalism, was used to explore the overriding research question. Findings: The analyses revealed that the concept of 'fair play', combined with the prevailing gender discourses and dominant views of teacher professionalism in PETE, does considerable 'ideological work' to sustain inequitable gender relations. The discourse of 'fair play' draws upon actors' common sense understandings of the concept as opposed to theoretical perspectives, as does the hegemonic discourse of gender which is evident in the data. Rather than developing professional identities which celebrate diversity, PETE culture in Norway seems to continue a subject tradition of constructing teachers, student teachers and pupils as universal, disembodied, and de-contextualised subjects. Conclusions: The study alights us to the dangers of imposing 'discursive closure' if PETE culture legitimates discourses about gender and morality which limit actors' understandings of the complexities of these phenomena. We advocate a PETE culture that emphasises plurality and acknowledges the inevitable power structures imbued in different ways of knowing.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane & Flintoff, Anne (2011). Getting beyond normative interview talk of sameness and celebrating difference. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health. ISSN 2159-676X. 3(1), p. 63–79. doi: 10.1080/19398441.2011.547689. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The aim of this article is to problematise the use of the qualitative interview method within physical education (PE) research, but the discussion is equally relevant for the broader field of sport and exercise sciences. We argue that there is a tendency to pay lip‐service to the notion that knowledge is co‐constructed as multiple, contradictory, partial, cognitive, sensory and experienced in our research projects, whilst our interview practice can best be likened to a ‘form of opinion polling’. As critical, feminist researchers with an interest in matters of social justice, we explore the extent to which we are able to create interview encounters as arenas where researchers and informants can co‐construct stories of difference, and in particular, when faced with oppressive stories, whether they can create the space for alternative storylines to emerge? Drawing upon a critical analysis of our own interview practice, we suggest that a more ‘antagonistic’ form of interviewing may be appropriate if we wish to heed the linguistic turn in qualitative research and fulfil our ‘modest’ critical pedagogical objectives.

• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2011). ‘Getting in Touch with our Feelings: The Emotional Geographies of Gender Relations in PETE’. In Kirk, David (Eds.), Physical education : major themes in education. Routledge. ISSN 9780415578059. doi: 10.1080/13573320802200560. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2011). 'Are PE teacher identities fit for postmodern schools or are they clinging to modernist notions of professionalism?' A case study of Norwegian PE teacher students' emerging professional identities. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 16(2), p. 201–222. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2011.540425. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The concept of the 'professional teacher' is highly contestable, and the array of definitions that circulate in teacher education draw on competing theoretical and ideological positions. This paper explores what discourses about professionalism are currently available within Norwegian physical education teacher education (PETE) and, in particular, asks whether they reflect the needs of postmodern teachers in a 'knowledge society'? It acknowledges that there are currently two dominant discourses about the 'professional' teacher, so-called 'activist' or 'managerial' professionalism, and asks whether, and in what ways, PE student teachers engage with and/or reject the discourses' competing ideas about what counts as 'good' practice. By analysing the student teachers' emerging professional identities, the paper aims to reveal not only the students' subjective meanings about professionalism, but also illuminate the current power structures that operate in PETE about relevant 'professional' knowledge. It draws on data from group interviews with 12 Norwegian PE students in their final year of study for a bachelor degree in PETE, and a critical content analysis of PETE curricula at two institutions of higher education. The paper highlights the way in which views about professionalism in PETE tend to be normative in nature, and are not founded on explicit theoretical ideas about 'good' practice or theoretical understandings of the role of the teacher in postmodern schools. Indeed, PETE programmes seem to do little to disrupt recruits' 'apprenticeship-of-observation', even though Lortie revealed this problematic aspect of professional socialisation over three decades ago. The student teachers' narratives seem to be locked into 'modernist' or 'classical' ideas about good PE practice, which are inappropriate for meeting the challenges of working with socially diverse pupils or in collaborative teacher groups. Recruitment to PETE via examinable PE appears paradoxically to accentuate the students' sports performing (teacher) selves, rather than providing them with a solid understanding of PE's content knowledge on which to develop broader PE teacher professional identities. Therefore, the paper asks whether teacher educators need to reassess their recruitment policies to PETE, as well as to systematically re-analyse their 'taken-for-granted' notions of teacher professionalism.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2010). Fysisk aktivitet og god helse i kroppsøvingsfaget : problematisk, ikke automatisk, Aktive liv. Idrettspedagogiske perspektiver på kropp, bevegelse og dannelse. Tapir Akademisk Forlag. ISSN 9788251926201. p. 205–218. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona J. (2008). Getting in touch with our feelings: the emotional geographies of gender relations in PETE. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 13(3), p. 247–266. doi: 10.1080/13573320802200560. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  It builds upon interview data from an investigation interested in illuminating the ways in which teacher educators develop their professional identities, using the lenses of gender equal opportunities and equity to examine the degree to which identities reflect 'managerial' or 'democratic' professional projects. In particular it analyses the way in which 'gender talk' seems to evoke strong emotional reactions, often 'negative' feelings, while at the same time, gender equity concerns remain on the periphery of the discipline, despite increasing research evidence which reveals damaging discriminatory learning environments. By using Hargreaves (2000) concept of 'emotional geographies' the paper contends that 'negative emotions' about gender issues are currently hegemonic on account of today's configurations of human relations in PETE, because the discipline's feeling rules construct 'negative feelings' as being reasonable. Acknowledging that professional identities are on-going projects, and that feeling rules can be re-configured, the paper also seeks to illustrate how competing emotions may in the future lead to gender equality assuming a new role in PETE's 'regimes of truths'.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2006). Physical education teacher educators? : professional identities, continuing professional development and the issue of gender equality. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. ISSN 1740-8989. 11(3), p. 247–263. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite the evidence that many girls and some boys are regularly subjected to inequalities within school PE in Norway today, and international research shows how Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) courses often construct unequal learning opportunities for their students on the basis of gender, few teacher educators? ?instructional discourses? seem to reflect these findings about gender relations. In fact, there is very little empirical research available about PE teacher educators in general and how they develop their professional identities. This study has aimed to illuminate the duality of structure of PE teacher educators? professional identities and of the social construction of gender in PETE. By gaining a better understanding of the way in which we are both structured by PETE culture, and yet at the same time structure the culture, PE teacher educators may be better positioned to combat discriminatory practices. The PE teacher educators? lack of a theoretical understanding of gender unwittingly leads them to perpetuate a discourse which discriminates many young female and some male students in PETE. Today?s neo-liberal, outcomes driven teacher education tends to strengthen the PE teacher educators? technical view of professionalism and provides little room for alternative professional identities. PE teacher educators may benefit from the sharing of self-narratives about our gendered, professional identities with the view to engaging in fruitful continual professional learning.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Supervisory Teachers' Conctructions of Femininities and Masculininities in the 'Gym'. In Jørgensen, Per & Vogensen, Niels (Ed.), What's Going On In The Gym? Learning, Teaching and Research in Physical Education. Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics. p. 199–212. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Aksjonsforskning og livshistorier. In Tiller, Tom (Eds.), Aksjonsforskning i skole og utdanning. Høyskole Forlaget. ISSN 9788276345384. p. 231–248. Full text in Research Archive
• Sparkes, Andrew; Nigles, Lynda; Swan, Peter & Dowling, Fiona (2003). Poetic representations in sport and physical education : insider perspectives. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 8(2), p. 153–177. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As part of the emergence of new writing practices in the social sciences, qualitative researchers have begun to harness the potential of poetic representations as a means of analysing social worlds and communicating their findings to others. To date, this genre has been little used within the domains of sport and physical education. Accordingly, in this article, we provide examples of poetic representations and seek to generate insights into the process of their construction by exploring the perspectives of their authors. A rationale for choosing this genre is outlined and the potential benefits and risks of making this choice for both the researcher and the audience are considered. It is concluded that poetic representations are a worthy addition to the analytical repertoire in qualitative research.

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• Dowling, Fiona Jane; Fitzgerald, Hayley & Flintoff, Anne (2012). Equity and difference in physical education, youth sport and health: A narrative approach. Routledge. ISBN 9780415601498. Full text in Research Archive

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• Evans, Adam B.; Barker-Ruchti, Natalie; Blackwell, Joanna; Clay, Georgia; Dowling, Fiona Jane & Frydendal, Stine [Show all 16 contributors for this article] (2021). Qualitative research in sports studies: challenges, possibilities and the current state of play. European Journal for Sport and Society (EJSS). ISSN 1613-8171. 18(1), p. 1–17. doi: 10.1080/16138171.2021.1899969. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane & Garrett, Robyne (2016). Narrative inquiry and research on physical activity, sport and health: exploring current tensions. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 21(1), p. 1–6. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2015.1112262. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane & Svendby, Ellen Berg (2013). Reflecting upon new forms of representation: pushing new boundaries and being ‘pushed’ around’. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona Jane (2011). The Hustle: one team and ten lives in black and white. Sport, Education and Society. ISSN 1357-3322. 16(4), p. 547–549. doi: 10.1080/13573322.2011.595166. Full text in Research Archive
• Aspen, Thomas Høili & Dowling, Fiona J. (2009). Et varsko om konsekvensene av forenklete helsebudskap i kroppsøvingsfaget. Kroppsøving. ISSN 0333-0141. 59(4), p. 10–13. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona J. (2008). The dilemmas of getting beyond normative interview talk of sameness and celebrating difference. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As a critical researcher concerned with understanding and challenging oppressive structures in Physical Education (PE), I have recently been engaged in a project which endeavoured to unravel the complex realities and contradictions of gender relations in Norwegian Initial Physical Education Teacher Education (IPETE). Integral to the project was a desire to ¿give voice¿ to teacher educators and students teachers, as well as to provide an analysis of the organizational and political context for current gender relations in teacher education. Ultimately the project had the ambitious aim of contributing to transforming the social order of IPETE in the interest of social justice and equality. The latter rested somewhat lamely on a naïve, rational assumption that participation in the project could contribute to consciousness-raising about gender matters in PE, which in turn could lead to changes in practice, despite the project¿s epistemological and ontological position which saw knowledge as being subjective, experienced, partial, prismatic, and positional. Whilst it is pertinent to debate the degree of active participation which is required in research projects which claim to be transformative and emancipatory, this is nevertheless not the focus here. Instead I wish to reflect upon the notion of ¿giving voice¿, not least to marginalized individuals, and to problematise the way in which some research methods may inadvertently contribute to strengthening the normative relations within IPETE rather than challenging them. In particular, I will draw upon examples of interview talk, both from individual in-depth interviews and focus group interviews, to illustrate how the narrative form of these communication conventions may do more ¿rhetoric work¿ (Atkinson, 1997) to consolidate dominant (sometimes discriminatory) story-lines than offering opportunities for alternative stories. Indeed, rather than contributing to a celebration of difference (Evans & Davies, 1993) the interview talk can in fact reify stereotypes and prejudice, awarding or reaffirming higher status to such narratives. I will then reflect upon, on the one hand, the ethical dilemma of respecting the informants¿ narrative identities (Kohler Riessman, 1993) and viewpoints and ¿re-presenting them authentically¿, and on the other hand, challenging discourses which limit the life chances of certain actors in IPETE, and in turn, pupils in school PE classes.

• Dowling, Fiona J. & Kårhus, Svein (2008). PE Student teachers¿ views of gender, pupils¿ moral development and ¿fairplay¿. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  There is little doubt that the field of moral development in education and PE is a highly complex and contentious one, and there exists an array of competing philosophical and professional-oriented positions (Arnold, 1980; Bergem, 199Dewar, 1990; Loland, 2006; McNamee, 2005). Over 15 years ago Dewar (1990) posed the important questions of ¿whose morality are we talking about?¿ and ¿whose interests are served by dominant moral beliefs?¿ Indeed feminist scholars, such as Hekman (1995), have increasingly drawn our attention to the need for a critique of the modernist, universal moral project. From a critical-interpretive standpoint, this paper asks how do today¿s student teachers construct discourses concerning the potential role of PE to contribute to pupils¿ moral development, particularly with regard to gender and equality, and in what ways do these belief systems influence their teaching in PE? The data have been collected via group interviews with 12 students attending PETE courses at 2 universities in Norway (4 students in each group), as well as from document analysis of PETE policy at each institution. They have been coded and analysed using a ¿content analysis¿ approach. The findings show that many students construct simple and superficial arguments concerning PE¿s potential to enrich pupils¿ moral development, which inadvertently create repressive teaching narratives. The latter can be partially explained by the seeming failure of PETE institutions to devote sufficient resources to this complex aspect of teacher preparation, but the student teachers¿ ¿managerial professional identities¿ (Sachs, 2001) leave little room for personal and/or professional moral reflection.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2008). What does being a professional teacher mean for today¿s PE students? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper will ask ¿what types of professional identities do PE student teachers construct?¿ At a time when society seems to be placing impossible expectations upon the profession to solve social issues such as the ¿obesity crisis¿ (Evans et al, 2004) or ¿re-engaging disaffected youth¿ (Sandford et al, 2006), it seems poignant to ask whether tomorrow¿s teachers¿ notions of professionalism equip them to intellectually challenge such ambitious goals and at the same time provide their pupils with meaningful learning experiences in PE? Recent research on teacher educators in PETE in Norway indicates that many teacher educators draw heavily upon ¿managerial¿ as opposed to ¿democratic professionalism¿ (Dowling, 2006). They appear to be more concerned with the successful transmission of the ¿truths¿ of PETE, rather than developing critically reflective students as democratic citizens with an interest in social justice. This paper will therefore ask whether PE student teachers construct similar professional identities or whether they form different identities given their dissimilar socio-historical locations in the PETE culture? In particular it will use the lens of gender equality and equity to explore to what extent today¿s PE student teachers identify with Hargreaves (2003) claim for the need to teach beyond the knowledge society? The data have been collected via group interviews with 12 students attending PETE courses at 2 universities in Norway (4-5 students in each group), as well as from document analysis of PETE policy at each institution. They have been coded and analysed using a ¿content analysis¿ approach. It is hoped that the findings will enrich our understanding of young peoples¿ on-going identity construction within the PE profession and enable both students and teacher educators to critically reflect upon the types of ¿professionalism¿ with which we engage.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2008). What can we learn from stories about Physical Education? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The lecture addresses issues concerning the strengths of narrative research in Physical Education. It provides an overview of the 'narrative turn' in social theory, and discusses specific examples of narrative forms within the field of PE teaching.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2008). Kjønnsperspektiv i idrettspedagogisk forskning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Forelesningen ga en oversikt over ulike teoretiske perspektiv på kjønn, og knyttet disse opp til hvordan de kan belyse forhold innen fagfeltet kroppsøving. Følgende spørsmål ble drøftet: 1) Hvorfor bør vi som idrettspedagoger/forskere interessere oss for teori knyttet til kjønn? 2) Hva menes med teoretiske kjønnsperspektiv? 3) Hvilke konsekvenser har kjønnsteori for våre forskningsprosjekt (for eksempel i friluftsliv, lederskap i fotball, eller verdier i lærersosialisering) i forhold til våre problemstillinger, våre utvalg, og vår rolle som forsker?

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2008). Lærerutdannernes medskyld i urettferdige kjønnsforhold. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Forelesningen belyste forhold knyttet til reproduksjonen av diskriminerende kjønnsrelasjoner innen lærerutdanning for kroppsøvingslærere. Den tok utgangspunkt i et norsk prosjekt som har sett på den sosiale konstruksjonen av kjønn i 3 ulike intsitusjoner. Lærerutdanneres moderne syn på profesjonalitet, fagkulturens prioritering av teknokratisk-rasjonelle kunnskap, og følelser (the 'feeling rules') i kroppsøvingslærerutdanningen knyttet til kjønn var forhold som ble drøftet.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2007). Physical Educators¿ Gender Identities and Embodied Practice. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper explores the way in which the emotional geographies (Hargreaves, 2001) of Physical Education Teacher Education in Norway structure gender relations. It draws upon in-depth interview data with teacher educators and student teachers to illuminate the ways in which deterministic attitudes towards gender are reproduced in a subject culture which ridicules and belittles challenges to patriarchal values.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2007). PE Student Teachers¿ Professional Identities. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  It is widely acknowledged that the term ¿a professional teacher¿ remains contested, reflecting competing ideologies and theoretical positions (Bolam, 2002; Furlong et al, 2002; Goodson, 2000; Robson, 2006; Sachs, 2001). From a post-modern perspective, Sachs (2001) identifies two main current discourses which she calls ¿managerial professionalism¿ and ¿democratic professionalism¿. Many other researchers echo her work, although they use a variety of terms to describe these opposing positions: for example, neo-liberal and embedded professionalism (Dillabough, 1999); standardized performative professionalism and professional learning for humanity and democracy (Hargreaves, 2003); and instrumental professionalism and professionalism for citizenship (Day, 1999). This paper will ask ¿what types of professional identities do PE student teachers construct?¿. At a time when society seems to be placing impossible expectations upon the profession to solve social issues such as the ¿obesity crisis¿ (Evans et al, 2004) or ¿re-engaging disaffected youth¿ (Sandford et al, 2006), it seems poignant to ask whether tomorrow¿s teachers¿ notion of professionalism equips them to intellectually challenge such ambitious goals yet still provide their pupils with meaningful learning experiences in PE? In particular it will use the lens of gender equality and equity to explore to what extent today¿s PE student teachers draw upon the ¿democratic¿ discourse, or in Hargreaves (2003) terms, to explore whether they identify with the need to teach beyond the knowledge society?

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2006). Lærerutdanneres kjønnete biografi og dens betydning for arbeid med kjønn i lærerutdanning. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Det er forbausende lite forskning som er blitt gjennomført om lærerutdannere i Skandinavia generelt (Bergem et al, 1999), og kroppsøvingslærerutdannere spesielt. I Sverige er Annerstedts (1991) studie et unntak, og Møller Hansens hovedfagsoppgave representerer et modest bidrag til vår kunnskap om oss selv i Norge. Internasjonalt er det ikke noe særlig mer interesse for denne gruppen av hovedaktører i krølærerutdanning. Det finnes bare noen få studier i USA fra tidlig på 90-tallet. Dette er noe vi alle burde interesse oss for og begynne å rette opp mangelen på kunnskap. I denne paper, spør jeg om kjønn og likestilling er sentralt eller peripherert til kroppsøvingslærerutdanneres profesjonell utvikling, og vil belyse om kjønn/likestilling er konstruert av lærerutdannere innenfor tekniske-rasjonell oppfatninger om profesjonalitet eller innen en oppfatning av profesjonalitet som et moralsk, demokratisk prosjekt? Videre drøfter jeg følgende spørsmål: ?Hvilke teoretiske ståsted har lærerutdannere om kjønn og dens plass i læringsarenaer innen kroppsøving?? ? Hvor mye vekt legger de på kjønn og likestilling i sin undervisning, og hvordan ivaretar de hensyn til likestillingsspørsmål?? og ?I hvilken grad spiller nasjonale og lokale likestillingsstrategier en rolle i den enkeltes arbeid i lærerutdanningen??

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2006). Physical Education Teacher Educators? Professional Identities and Continuing Professional Development. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper will address the issue of what it means to be a professional Physical Education (PE) teacher educator in Norway today. In the early 1990s Lawson (1991) and Stroot & Williamson (1993) drew attention to the fact that little is known about the professional socialization of Physical Education (PE) teacher educators, yet it appears that few researchers have taken up the challenge to explore these key actors? career paths, their beliefs about professionalism or their on-going pathways of professional development. Recent international research on teacher professionalism has identified two main competing discourses, which Sachs (2001) calls ?managerial professionalism? and ?democratic professionalism?. The former is driven by society?s economic and social needs, reducing educators to the technical deliverers of pre-defined knowledge standards and tends to promote an egoistic professional identity. The latter is built upon the belief that learning and knowledge are not fixed but rather created via the interaction between the ethical and moral practices of individual educators and student teachers, and builds upon the notion of learning communities. By adopting a postmodern approach to professional identities (Robson, 2006), the paper uses qualitative data to reflect upon what can be said, thought and done about being professional in the PETE culture and these broader educational discourses. It asks ?what types of professional knowledge are valued?; ?who can exercise autonomy in PETE cultures, in what context and with whom??; and ?who feels responsible for whom?? In other words, it will illuminate the inevitable power structures within which individual teacher educators must negotiate their professional identities, as well as the potential agency of individuals in establishing their identities.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2005). Supervisory teachers? talk about gender and equality: technical or moral discourses? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Whilst acknowledging that formal teacher education is problematic rather than automatic (Dowling Næss, 1996, 1998, 2001), research reveals how teaching practice for many students represents the closet juncture between formal training in higher education and experiential development in schools (Zeichner et al, 1987). Accordingly supervisory teachers? ?practical theories? (Handal & Lauvås, 1987) represent an important contribution to educational discourse (Cherryholmes, 1988), including discourses about gender and education. Against the backcloth of the current tension between on the one hand education as a moral or on the other hand as a technical activity, the paper will explore how supervisory teachers within Physical Education teacher education construct masculinities and femininities, and equality within their supervision of student teachers. It will explore which values emerge, whose interests the values serve, as well as asking why other perspectives do not emerge, and will ask whether the emerging gender and education discourses are framed within the Scandinavian trend towards reflective practice in teacher education (Bergem et al, 1997).

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2005). Supervisory teachers? talk about gender and equality: technical or moral discourses? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Whilst acknowledging that formal teacher education is problematic rather than automatic (Dowling Næss, 1996, 1998, 2001), research reveals how teaching practice for many students represents the closet juncture between formal training in higher education and experiential development in schools (Zeichner et al, 1987). Accordingly supervisory teachers? ?practical theories? (Handal & Lauvås, 1987) represent an important contribution to educational discourse (Cherryholmes, 1988), including discourses about gender and education. Against the backcloth of the current tension between on the one hand education as a moral or on the other hand as a technical activity, the paper will explore how supervisory teachers within Physical Education teacher education construct masculinities and femininities, and equality within their supervision of student teachers. It will explore which values emerge, whose interests the values serve, as well as asking why other perspectives do not emerge, and will ask whether the emerging gender and education discourses are framed within the Scandinavian trend towards reflective practice in teacher education (Bergem et al, 1997).

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2005). ?Gendered teacher selves, gendered teaching practices ? biography and emotions as a key for professional development? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper explores the role of biography in physical educators? lifelong professional development, and in particular, the social construction of emotions (Hargreaves, 2000) in teaching. It will draw upon data from an on-going project which is looking at whether PE teacher education in Norway is framed within technical or moral terms, with a particular focus upon gender equality in education. Preliminary analyses show how individual gender identities strongly influence teacher educators? teaching with regard to gender equality and therefore young peoples? learning outcomes in PE. PE teachers? attitudes towards equality and equity in PE lectures/lessons mostly reflect biographical experiences and strong emotions rather than educational visions. Following Tinning (2002), I would like to develop the notion that physical educators? emotions in relation to gender and gender identities may be a fruitful means of engaging the profession in gender ?storysharing? (Barone, 1995), with the view to being able to tell different stories about being male and female in PE contexts. In other words, that professional development is far from being a rational, technical activity and requires individual actors to embrace a wide range of ways of knowing the social and educational world.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2005). ?Gendered teacher selves, gendered teaching practices ? biography as a key for professional development?? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper will explore the role of biography in physical educators? lifelong professional development. It will draw upon data from an on-going project which is looking at whether PE teacher education in Norway is framed within technical or moral terms, with a particular focus upon gender equality in education. Preliminary analyses show how individual gender identities strongly influence teachers? (including teacher educators, supervisory teachers and student teachers) teaching with regard to gender equality and therefore young peoples? learning outcomes in PE. Despite 30 years of government equal opportunities policies in schools and Norway?s international profile of ?radical? gender politics, PE teachers? attitudes towards equality and equity in PE lectures/lessons mostly reflect biographical experiences rather than educational visions. Following Tinning (2002), I would like to develop the notion that physical educators? emotions in relation to gender and gender identities may be a fruitful means of engaging the profession in gender ?storysharing? (Barone, 1995), with the view to being able to tell different stories about being male and female in PE contexts. In other words, that professional development is far from being a rational, technical activity and requires individual actors to embrace a wide range of ways of knowing the social and educational world.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Are Physical Education Lessons for All Girls and Boys? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  School policies for equal opportunities have long since led to the abandonment of single sex Physical Education teaching. This paper draws upon international research to call into question whether mixed gender classes in fact live up to their promise of equality for all pupils and whether they in fact discriminate certain pupils, in particular large numbers of girls.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Teacher Educators' Talk About Gender Equality in Physical Education - Rhetorical Illusions, Derisions or Pedagogical Visions? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Drawing upon data from an on-going project on gender equality in Physical Education teacher education, the paper examines the degree to which this social issue is constructed within technical or moral frames by the actors involved. Furthermore, it analyses the findings of the research within the recent call for a 'modest (critical) pedagogy' in Physical Education.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Stories from Physical Education. Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Hva betyr 'praksistrekanten' for den enkelte lærerstudenten? Full text in Research Archive
• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Constructing Gender in Physical Education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The paper addresses different forms of representation for gender construction in Physical Education, including poetic transcriptions and realist tales.

• Dowling, Fiona (2003). Supervisory teachers' constructions of femininities and masculinities in the 'Gym'. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  International research illuminates PE lessons as an arena for the reproduction of gender inequality, where some groups of boys benefit from the so-called ‘patriarchal dividend’ at the expense of other female and male pupils. Adopting a critical-interpretive position, this paper will explore the way in which supervisory teachers in Norway construct gender within their PE lessons and within their mentoring role with student PE teachers. It asks whether issues relating to gender equality and equity are seen as ‘technical rational’ problems or within a perspective of education as a moral issue. Building upon the body of knowledge which sees teaching as intensely personal, where biography plays an important role in establishing individual teachers’practice theory, and the view that teacher socialisation is an on-going, problematic dialectic process, rather than a predictable path through specific stages, the paper will ask how and why do supervisory teachers construct femininities and masculinities in the way they do, and how and why do they choose to reconstruct them with student teachers? Within a social constructivist perspective of gender, it will be asking which constructions of gender are legitimated, who has access to these constructions and who is excluded from them?

• Dowling, Fiona (2003). Aksjonsforskning og livshistorier. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Foredraget tar opp livshistoriens mulige bidrag til aksjonsforkningsprosjekter i skolen. Den belyser kompleksiteten av livshistorie som metode i lys av de såkalte 'dual crises of representation and legitimation', men argumenterer at i dagens skole kanen slik tilnærming åpne for lokale tolkninger av erfarte problemer, samt 'gir' marginaliserte lærere 'en stemme'.

• Dowling, Fiona & Kårhus, Svein (2003). Daglig fysisk aktivitet i skolen. p. 3–3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Artikkelen etterlyser at Kvalitetsutvalgets vurdering av stsus for dagens kroppsøvingsfag, som hittil har ivaretatt et særlig fokus på elevens fysiske 'jeg' i skolen. Vi mener fysisk utvikling dreier seg om mer enn bare endrede verdier på en skala med helesindikatorere. Og vi mener det må avspeiles i skolens ansvar for elevers fysiske fostring. Det er et paradoks at utvalget bak en innstilling om kvalitet i utdanning, er tilsynelatende mest opptatt av kvantitet når det gjelder fysisk aktivitet i skolen.

• Næss, Fiona Dowling & Kårhus, Svein (2001). Fokus på redaksjonelt budskap og fagpolitisk profil. Kroppsøving. ISSN 0333-0141. 51(2), p. 32–32. Full text in Research Archive
• Næss, Fiona Dowling & Kårhus, Svein (2000). Internasjonalt fokus på 'Physical Education' - relevans for norsk helse- og skolepolitikk? Kroppsøving. ISSN 0333-0141. 50(6), p. 5–9. Full text in Research Archive
• Næss, Fiona Dowling (1999). Understanding Physical Education Teachers' Narratives of Physicality - a key to nurturing gender sensitive PE lessons? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  If girls and women are to derive pleasure from active participation i n sport, to glean health benefits and gain a sense of empowerment, th en they h to have positive experiences of physical activity. Researc h in Norway indicates that there are still many women who don't parti cipate in organised sport because it continues to be pervaded by masc uline ideals. How do we provide them with positive experiences? PE lessons provide a potential arena for all children to experience the benefits of physical activity. Unfortunately, like the world of orga nised sport, PE lessons are still dominated by masculine norms. Afte r 25 years of equal rights policy how can we alter this state of affa irs? Drawing upon my life history data, I propose that a focu s on who the teacher is, rather than a focus on simply the teacher's p ractice , may lead to more

• NÆSS, FIONA DOWLING (1999). Does 'poetic transcription' have a role to play in challenging the taken-for-granted realities about teachers' lives and careers? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As an interpretive scholar influenced by the dual crises of represent ation and legitimation, I have come to realise that 'writing up' rese arch cannot be conceived of as a "mopping-up activity at the end of a research project" (Richardson, 1994, p. 516). Heeding the weaknesse s of 'realist tales', whereby researcher-authors uphold the distincti on between subject/object, portray their position as authoritative, a nd write in a form so as to portray theories as being fixed and stabl e, I want to explore the potential contribution of other, less tradit ional writing genres, as a means to enhance our understanding of educ ational phenomena. Impressionist tales, narratives of self, poetic t ranscription, and ethnographic fiction seem to be more in keeping wit h the tenets of a non-foundational position, and of the blurring of t he boundaries between science and art. In particular, I wish to focu s upon a 'poetic transcription' of the life and career of Randi Karl sen (a thirty-four year old, female, Norwegian PE teacher), which I h ave constructed on the basis of nine hours of 'reflexive, unstructure d interviews' within a life history study. The 'poem' addresses a nu mber of themes, including G

• Næss, Fiona Dowling (1999). Den kvalitative idrettsforskeren - tusenkunstner inn i nytt århundre. Full text in Research Archive
• Næss, Fiona J. Dowling & Næss, Fiona J. Dowling (1998). Single sex or mixed sex grouping in physical education? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This lecture provides an overview of research conducted in Norway whi ch addresses the issue of equal rights for girls and boys in Physical Educatio (PE) classes. It reveals, in fact, a lack of interest in m atters of gender equity in compulsory PE programmes, which partially can be explained by a general lack of ideological clarity in national curriculum policy documents. Research to date indicates that current PE programmes reproduce traditional gender stereotypes.

• Næss, Fiona Dowling (1997). Kvinner som kroppsøvinglærere: upåvirket av kjønnsrolledebatten? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Siden midten av 1970-årene har både internasjonal og norsk forskning om kjønn og utdanning pekt på forhold innen ulike skolesystemer som f remmer forkjellsbehandling av jenter og gutter, samt bestemte oppfatn inger om femininitet og maskulinitet. Undervisningstimer i kroppsøvi ngsfaget viser seg ikke å representere noe unntak her. Vi er nødt ti l å spørre hvorfor slike forhold ikke synes å endres til det bedre, s ærlig på bakgrunn av nasjonale fagplaner som setter likhet på dagsord en. Dette foredrag tar utgangspunkt i livshistorien til Randi Karlse n, som er kroppsøvingslærer med 12 års erfaring i den videregående sk ole. Det bekrefter Goodsons (1983) påstand om at det er nødvendig å fokusere på lærere som individer for å kunne forstå undervisningens d ynamikk, og på den måten heve kvaliteten på elevenes utbytte av lærin gsprosessen. Selv om Randi var aktiv i kvinnebevegelsen da hun var y ngre, mangler hennes beskrivelse av egen lærerrolle referanse til en bevisst strategi for å inkludere et kjønnsperspektiv i undervisningen . En tematisk analyse av data fra en rekke dybdeintervjuer viser at kjønnsrolleproblematikken er begrenset til Randis eget dilemma i det å kombinere rollen som god

• Næss, Fiona Dowling (1997). Collective or individual ways of coping with change? The case of some Norwegian physical education teachers. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The title of this conference is somewhat typical of the way in which teachers so often are treated as a homogeneous group. By drawing upo n intervi data from a life history study of eight Norwegian Physical Education (PE) teachers, I want to argue that if we are to gain a bet ter understanding of the impact of wide-ranging educational innovatio ns it is necessary to see teachers from the perspective of different subject subcultures and as individuals. How the individual teacher i s affected by or copes with change depends on where she/he is situate d. My evidence suggests that PE teachers as a group, and PE teachers within their own group, have specific problems in dealing with chang e.

• Dowling, Fiona J. (2004). Stories from the Gymnasium - Facts or Fiction? Literary Glimpses From Norwegian Physical Education Classes. Center for Idræt. ISSN 9788799000111. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As a teacher educator, I am interested in what Thomas Barone (1995) has called ‘educational storysharing’, as a means to collective reflection about the social construction of learning. In previous research projects, I have focused upon the stories which teachers tell about their lives and careers, as well as the narratives young people tell about their physical identities. In this paper I wish to turn my attention to a selection of stories from Norwegian literature, some of which are written specifically for children, others for adult readers, with the view to asking how Physical Education is constructed there. Who are the main characters and what are the plots in the gymnasium?

• Næss, Fiona J. Dowling & Næss, Fiona J. Dowling (1998). Tales of norwegian physical education teachers: a life history analysis. Norges idrettshogskole. ISSN 9788250203242. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Denne avhandling er et forsøk på å presentere de subjektive, kompleks e og ofte tvetydige verdener som norske kroppsøvingslærere befinner s eg i. Ve anvende den kvalitative livshistorie metoden vinner vi inns ikt i den svært personlige prosessen det er å undervise, og hva det b etyr å satse på en karriere innenfor yrket som kroppsøvingslærer. Av handlingen gir et viktig bidrag til de to aktuelle problemområdene in nenfor kvalitativ forskning: spørsmålet om 'validitet' og dilemmaet v ed presentasjonen av data. This study has aimed to reveal the subjective, complex, and often amb iguous worlds of some Norwegian Physical Education (PE)teachers. Giv en the intensely personal nature of teaching, it has endeavoured to g ain a better understanding of the actors involved, and hence a life h istory approach was adopted in order to illuminate what it means for individuals to have a career in teaching PE. The study has been cond ucted within an interpretive research paradigm, and has explored the current issues of representation and criteria for judgement within he rmeneutical inquiry.

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