Multiculturalism in Secondary School Physical Education Textbooks

Overview & Synopsis

The purpose of the study focused on how textbook authors in secondary school physical education used multicultural education concepts, using Banks' (2006a) dimensions and Sleeter and Grant's (1999) approaches. Data collection methods included examination of textbooks' chapters, indexes, and references in five textbooks. Constant comparison method was used in data analysis. The findings of the study follow: 1) Most textbook authors treated multicultural education as an additive concept in the curriculum section and emphasized issues of gender and disability, 2) all of the textbook authors adopted either Banks' or Sleeter and Grant's multicultural education approaches, (3) Harrison, Blakemore, and Buck addressed issues of gender, disability and ethnicity in content objectives, and 4) Metzler addressed issues of gender and disability with Banks' content integration and equity-based pedagogy concepts. An implication concerns incorporation of multicultural education concepts in curriculum and pedagogy in preparation of preservice teachers in secondary school physical education. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)