ABSTRACT
While the purposes and goals are broad and vary significantly across contexts, generally, physical education (PE) seeks to develop the physical, mental, and emotional health of children by helping them to value and participate in regular physical activity across the lifespan (Chen & Ennis, 2004; Corbin, 2002). In the US, these goals are reflected in the National Standards for Physical Education (Society of Health and Physical Educators America, 2014), and mirrored in most state-level benchmarks. While admirable, they are unlikely to be accomplished without attention to the inservice professionals who teach physical education in K-12 schools. This sentiment is captured by Day et al. (2007) when they noted that “teachers matter. They matter to the education and achievement of their students and, more and more, to their personal and social wellbeing” (p. 1).
