Exploring the Gendered Politics of Physical Education Teacher Identity in Nigerian Schools: A Narrative Inquiry

Physical education teaching in Nigeria is characterised by deeply gendered professional identity dynamics that shape teachers' experiences, career trajectories, and pedagogical choices in ways that existing survey-based research cannot adequately reveal. This dissertation explores the gendered politics of physical education teacher identity in Nigerian schools through narrative inquiry, constituting an original qualitative contribution to the sociology of physical education teacher education and professional identity. Narrative inquiry methods are employed with 30 physical education teachers, purposively sampled for maximum variation across gender, geopolitical zone, school sector, and career stage. Life story interviews, professional journals, and visual narrative methods including participant-produced photograph narratives generate rich data. Analysis draws on gender theory, professional identity frameworks, and postcolonial feminist scholarship to interpret the storied experiences of physical education teacher identity formation, negotiation, and resistance. Findings reveal that male teachers navigate identities centred on sport performance expertise and physical dominance norms, while female teachers manage persistent gendered marginalisation within physical education departments, reduced access to coaching leadership roles, and contradictions between professional physical activity identities and community gendered body norms. Both groups negotiate identities against the backdrop of physical education's low professional status relative to academic subjects. Recommendations for feminist-informed physical education teacher education, mentoring structures for female physical education teachers, and institutional gender equity policies in physical education departments are developed. Keywords: physical education teacher identity, gender, narrative inquiry, Nigeria, professional identity