School Administrators and Physical Educators: A Scoping Review of Perceptions and Partnerships From 2000 to 2020

Abstract

Physical education (PE) is an academic subject that delivers students a standards-based program designed to foster the knowledge and skills needed to be physically active for a lifetime. Although there is a dearth of research that has examined school administrators’ perceptions and interactions with PE, it has been reported that school administrators often are a barrier that disrupts effective PE programming. This study aimed to conduct a scoping review of the literature to capture a comprehensive view of the peer-reviewed research that has focused on physical educators’ collaboration with and perceptions of school administrators, and literature related to school administrators’ collaboration and perceptions of physical educators. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews extension for Scoping Reviews Checklist guided this investigation. Seven databases were searched, and 29 articles met the full inclusion criteria. This scoping review provides a comprehensive overview of the evidence and research trends; nonetheless, the heterogeneity of the studies and limited literature on this topic make it difficult to form any substantial conclusions. The need for additional research is especially true for research examining PE teachers’ perceptions and interactions with school administrators, as only three of the identified studies in this review focused on this topic. The recognition of these gaps in the literature may be important to the fields of educational leadership and PE, as it may lead to more concerted efforts to examine how these fields interact and how they can collaborate more effectively.