What keeps them off the playing field: a textual analysis of Chinese female pre-service kindergarten teachers’ adolescent sports life history

While studies have explored the physical literacy of Chinese kindergarten teachers and its impact on young children’s health, to date, none has provided a comprehensive analysis of Chinese kindergarten teachers’ self-perceptions in relation to sport. This study explored the environmental stressors associated with participating in sport during the teenage years of 148 Chinese female pre-service kindergarten teachers majoring in early childhood education at a Chinese university through the analysis of their individual sports life history texts. The researchers found that there were multiple simultaneous pressures regarding girls’ sport participation in China. First, there is the pain of student sports participation caused by the pull of multiple forces, and the inconsistency between government, school, family, and student demands for sports, which makes both sports and students a passive presence. Second, there is gender discrimination against women in the sports arena, which adds another burden for girls. Third, physical education teachers seem to have been unable to solve the physical and mental discomforts caused by perceptions of girls’ limited ability, accidental injuries, anxiety and shyness in the sports process. The study revealed the profound impact of body culture and gender culture in Confucianism on adolescent girls’ sports during puberty. The findings contribute to understanding and improving the pre-service physical education practices of female kindergarten teachers and female physical education practices during adolescence, as well as, in the long run, improving the quality of kindergarten children’s physical activity in a context where females are the dominant occupational group.