https://www.mdu.se/

With environmental awareness in the societies of today, political steering documents highlights that all education should include sustainable development. But it seems to be others competing ideals for teaching physics, or why do the physics teachers teach as they do?

Physics teachers in secondary school in Sweden have generally, been focused on facts and a strong link with scientific theories and concepts.  In general, the curriculum sway the teaching, a standard text book in physics is used, the teaching is organized according to the book and the teacher deals with and demonstrates typical tasks on the whiteboard and group work is common for special issues related to tasks from the textbook or elaborating.                   

The aim with this study is to analyze why physics teachers in upper secondary school choose to teach energy as they do and to reconstruct the polarization of ideal physics teaching practices. Discussing the data emerging from a questionnaire which focuses on indicators of the teachers’ cultural and economical assets, or capital, according to the work of Pierre Bourdieu´s sociology and especially his concept on life styles and habitus provide a tool for analysis. We focus on physics teachers’ positions in the social space, dispositions and standpoints towards the ideal way to teach physics in upper secondary school. In order to reach all the physics teachers who teach Physics A-course we contacted all secondary schools in Sweden (n = 1025), a revised list of respondents consisted of 913 email adresses. Our final sample of respondents is 286, that is a response rate of 29 %.

In our analysis we primarily sought for groups, with a cluster analysis based on the teaching practice, revealed common features for both what and how they teach and three different teacher types emerged. Then we reconstructed the group habitus of the teachers by analyzing dispositions and standpoints and related those to the specific polarization of sacred values, that is struggles about the natural order (doxa) in the social space of science education, which is a part of and has boundaries to dominating fields like the natural sciences and the political fields (curriculum etc.).

The physics teachers are supposed to have a homogeneous group habitus because they all are teachers in secondary school; i.e. they have certificates as physics- and mathematics teachers and due to their position as a physics teacher they have a similar level of income. However, there are differences and we describe these three teacher-groups’ habituses, with the distinctive features are stressed; 1. The Manager of the Traditional - habitus works as a faithful manager of the natural science heritage, characterized by being an outsider, a parvenu due to the lack of higher education experience among the parents. Faithfulness to the natural science core values combined with lack of self-confidence and timidity is shaping a trustee, for example an unconcern for improving developing teaching skills and content in the physics course. The habitus is fuelled by respectfulness for mathematic skills in physics and the physic science in itself and gratefulness towards the education system which made a class journey possible. 2. The Challenger for Technology - habitus works as a “transformer” of the physics subject, characterised by technology optimism and a great self-confidence from a well-known field - natural science, emphasising the usefulness of physics for technology development. A “Futurist” with willingness and courage to develop the physics subject for more interest in technology, with both the economical and the “utility” arguments. Characterized by upper middle class, are highly valuing economical welfare and appears as rather confident with their materialistic and sporty approach. 3.  The Challenger for Citizenship – this habitus works as a democratic and intellectual “transformer” of the physics subject, characterised by engagement in society issues and a great self-confidence from both - natural science and the political field, emphasising the concernment of physics for sustainable development with willingness and courage to develop the physics subject for more interest in environmental, political, ethical issues, with an ambition to teach all students physics for citizenship. The engagement in society and environmental issues are likewise expressed in the habitus, characterized by upper middle class, are highly valuing cultural activities.

By making the habitus of the teachers in the different groups visible, we can explain way teachers teach as they do and thereby make a contribution to both science education research and to teaching training, whereas reflective approach which also includes the individual dispositions and representations are paramount. In our paper we elaborate the grounds and implications of these findings further.