Preservice teachers’ professional socialisation in physical education: negotiating pedagogic message across university coursework and school practicum

This study examines how preservice physical education teachers conceptualise curriculum, pedagogy, and evaluation during their school practicum, drawing on Occupational Socialisation Theory (OST) and Bernstein's pedagogic message system. The study was conducted within the Swedish Physical Education Teacher Education programme and focused on Teaching Practicum courses 3 and 4, where preservice teachers apply university-based learning in school-based contexts. Semi-structured interviews with nine preservice teachers were thematically analysed through an integrated Bernsteinian and OST framework. The findings reveal asymmetrical classification of subject knowledge and uneven framing of pedagogic and evaluative practices as preservice teachers navigate between university-based and school practicum contexts. While sport-oriented preconceptions were broadened through engagement with movement, holistic health, and inclusion, these ideals were renegotiated within established school cultures shaped by accountability and traditional sport logics. Professional socialisation thus emerged as a process of ongoing negotiation rather than a linear transfer of knowledge from university to school. By introducing the concepts of hybrid pedagogic message, the study contributes to understanding how coherence and tension are produced across, curriculum, pedagogy, and evaluation in physical education teacher education.