Social Inequality in the Education of Physical Education Teachers

A Concept to Sensitize Future PE Teachers at Bielefeld University

Abstract

Social inequality continues to shape German society and its effects are clearly visible in the education system and especially in physical education. As a result, (PE) teachers have to face the challenge of professionally addressing and, at best, compensating for the effects of social inequality in physical education. The seminar “Dealing with Heterogeneity: Physical Education in the Context of Social Inequality” has therefore set itself the goal to enable physical education students to identify mechanisms of social inequality in physical education, to deal sensitively with individual pupils and thus to prevent the reproduction of social inequality in physical education. Three of the sessions, which were designed on the basis of the concept of ‘reflexive inclusion’ by Budde and Hummrich (2013), are presented in detail in this article and evaluated with regard to the achievement of their objectives.