The phenomenon of uncertainty as an opportunity, challenge and characteristic in the field of physical education: a systematic review

ABSTRACTBecause schools as educational institutions have the task of empowering today’s students (as future citizens) to lead their lives responsibly, current social changes (such as digitalisation) suggest that uncertainty may be a particularly important dimension of educational activities. In this manuscript, a systematic review of 43 references dealing with the topic of uncertainty in the field of physical education (PE) is presented. As a result, one can identify three dimensions of the phenomenon of uncertainty: (1) uncertainty as an opportunity to foster processes of deep learning (Bildung) among students in the PE classroom, (2) uncertainty as a challenge for PE teachers and preservice teachers and (3) uncertainty as a characteristic of movement, games and sports. The paper discusses the consequences of these findings for teaching and teacher education in PE. In distinguishing these three dimensions of the phenomenon of uncertainty in the field of one subject (here PE), the article suggests a structure for analysing uncertainty in other subjects, as well as with respect to wider fields of research such as research on professionalism or school development.KEYWORDS: Uncertaintycontingencyambiguityphysical educationteacher educationteaching Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. Many thanks to Judith Keinath (University of Hamburg) for the translation.2. In the German language, education is understood as teachers’ action with the aim of influencing students in terms of their educational goals. In contrast, bildung is understood as an individual process of a person dealing with the world. This process cannot be ‘made’ by teachers: they can only provide opportunities for self-bildung (Koller, Citation2011). The theoretical aspect of bildung are being deepened in 4.1.3. German Conference of Ministers of Education.4. The term physical education is understood as a collective term for sports instruction in an educational context, be it at school or in children’s and youth sports. In this context, we comprehend sport in a broader sense, including all different kinds of movement and games.5. In the following, this collaboration is indicated using the short reference ‘Cooperation within FFSU’. For more information, see https://www.ew.uni-hamburg.de/forschung/fakultaere-forschungsschwerpunkte/ungewissheit.html6. The procedure to identify the dimensions was created in cooperation with FFSU, intensively including the perspective of PE.7. Seiberth published works on a similar topic in both the German and English languages.Additional informationNotes on contributorsOle StabickOle Stabick has been a PhD student at the University of Hamburg since 2020. Ole’s research foci include uncertainty as a dimension of pedagogical action, (cognitive) activation in physical education and inclusion in sports.Ingrid BährIngrid Bähr has been a Professor for Educational Science (focussing on physical education) at the University of Hamburg since 2010. Ingrid’s research foci are the processes and results of learning and teaching in open physical education classrooms; uncertainty as a dimension of pedagogical action; social learning in physical education and sports; gender aspects of physical education and sports; and physical education in early childhood.