Abstract:

This study is the first from the Middle East to focus on initial teacher training in physical education for women. The four-year degree programme at Sultan Qaboos University is unique in Oman. Starting with an intake of three students in 1991, it now trains thirty-five women teachers of physical education each year. The programme faces many challenges related to its situation in an Arabic, Islamic country.

Informed by evaluation theory and an Islamic feminist position a multi-method research approach was used to investigate the effectiveness of the training programme from the perspectives of the four stakeholder groups. Questionnaires with total populations of specialist respondents: final year students (27), physical education teachers (250), inspectors (20) and women lecturers (4) were used. Interviews were held with students (5), teachers (25), inspectors (5) and lecturers (4). Twenty-seven field study observation visits were made to schools in three of Oman’s seven regions, representing the diverse geography of desert, mountains and city / coast. Nine schools were visited in each region, three schools at each of three age-groups: cycle one (primary), cycle two (secondary), and senior general education (upper secondary).

Findings indicated many successful aspects of the programme, facilities and resources at the University, and additional benefits such as empowerment of women. Effectiveness of training to cope with the many challenges of physical education in the schools of Oman, especially beyond the more modernised city / coastal areas, needed to be improved. In reality teachers often met poor facilities, hostile terrain and climate, low subject status and diverse cultural barriers. A collaborative approach linking specialists at Sultan Qaboos University more closely with Ministries of Education, Sport, and Social Affairs and Labour, is recommended. This would improve the position of life-enhancing physical activity opportunities for girls and women in schools and communities across Oman.

Keywords:

Initial teacher training, Physical education, Women.