ABSTRACT
This chapter explains exactly what is a physical education teacher, which is not an easy task, even for someone who has been in the profession for 30 years. The task is made even more difficult as physical education teachers increasingly work in a landscape of consortia, free schools, academies and denationalised curricula, where the outsourcing of the subject to corporate coaching and sport industries or health providers is fast becoming the norm. David Brown defines the professional journey of becoming a teacher has political origins, which in many ways is equivalent to gaining a driving licence in that a series of lessons leads to a test and a licence is issued. According to Ken Green, many physical education teachers believe that sport, and especially team sport, has a worthy place in the secondary school curriculum as a valued cultural practice. Physical education teachers have worked hard to shed the sports label that has long been associated with the profession.
