Digital sovereignty of physical education teachers in Germany: A situation analysis (2017-2021) on the gap between educational policies and practical implementation in further physical education teacher trainings

Fides Berkel^1*Daniel Bohm¹Hagen Wulff¹Gabriel Reith²Thomas Wendeborn¹

• ¹Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
• ²Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Saarland, Germany

The increasing digitalization of society, particularly in education, requires both institutions and individuals to develop necessary structures and competencies for a confident participation in the digital world, a concept defined as digital sovereignty. Physical education (PE) teachers' digital literacy is crucial to address the challenges of digitalization and this is to be developed with further PE teacher trainings. Therefore, this study investigates the integration of content on digitalization in further PE teacher trainings across Germany between January 2017 and May 2021. To address the question how digitalization-related content is represented in the further PE teacher trainings, a total dataset of 6,326 further PE teacher trainings was analyzed. The SEPACK.digital (Frederking, 2022a) was used as the theoretical framework in order to underpin PE-related issues from a perspective of content knowledge and to position the digital world as a global media phenomenon. Further qualitative content analysis according to Mayring (2015) categorized the content in three stages into content with or without reference to digitalization, digitalization-related aspects and movement fields. Only little emphasis is placed on the development of digital competencies or the personal-reflective dimension of digitalization. As a result, the study identifies the limited inclusion of digital content in further PE teacher trainings and following insufficient digital competencies among PE teachers. Additionally, the study identifies a significant gap between the objectives of This is a provisional file, not the final typeset article federal educational policies and the actual implementation of digital education in further PE teacher trainings. The findings suggest that further PE teacher trainings are largely inadequate in addressing the transformative potential of digitalization. Further teacher training is crucial for developing digital competencies among PE teachers and aligning their skillset with the demands of students' increasingly digitalized life. Recommendations are consequently made for developing more targeted and comprehensive further PE teacher trainings, emphasizing both the practical and the critical reflection of digital media in PE. The study thereby contributes to the academic discourse by highlighting the necessary link between policy initiatives and subject-specific approaches to digital competencies in PE to develop evidence-based further PE teacher trainings.