Senior Lecturer in Physical Education and Sports Coaching

Michelle graduated from De Montfort University, Bedford with BA Physical Education (Hons) with QTS. She worked within mainstream schools delivering physical education core, GCSE, A level and BTEC courses as well as Sociology and Curriculum Lead for Health and Social Care.

Other roles in school allowed her to develop a Gifted and Talented Programme, Student Leadership Programme and Extended Project Qualification supervision in 6^th form. Michelle also worked as a School Sports Coordinator within two different sports partnerships to successfully co-ordinate school sport across the secondary and a family of primary and special schools to facilitate the effective implementation of the development plan.

Additionally, Michelle worked as a community sports coach for gymnastics. This role allowed her to liaise between a local elite gymnastics club and the school to develop a Gifted and Talented programme for elite gymnasts to combine study and training through effective mentoring and support. Additionally, she ran multiple gymnastics clubs across the partnership and provided whole school Continuing Professional Development.

Michelle lectured for 9 years at University of Bedfordshire across Physical Education Teacher Education and Sport and Physical Education Courses. As a pedagogy specialist, she held the role of Teaching and Learning Lead for the School of Sports Science and Physical Activity, responsible for the implementation of the Teaching Excellence Framework. Alongside her full-time lecturing position, she successfully completed her PhD titled ‘Occupational Socialisation and the Subjective Warrant of Physical Education Teachers’. This focuses upon teacher beliefs and how they impact on practise.

After leaving the University of Bedfordshire in 2018, she returned to teaching in mainstream schools before securing her role as Subject Lead for Sport Pedagogy within the Department of Psychology and Pedagogic Science at St. Mary’s University, Twickenham. During her time away from the University of Bedfordshire, Michelle worked within the SWIFT (Sport, Wellbeing, Inclusion and Faith) Research Centre at St. Mary’s as theme lead for Social Justice in Sport, Physical Education and Youth Development, and joint lead for Professional Practice in Sport, Physical Education and Youth Development.

She re-joined the University of Bedfordshire as Senior Lecturer in Physical Education and Sports Coaching in December 2021. Michelle is now Course Co-ordinator for BA Sport and Physical Education and is focusing on further developing her research.

Michelle has been involved with various collaborative projects including an international social justice in physical education teacher education, excellence in teaching and learning in Higher Education, cooperative learning through gymnastics-based activities and developing sustainable physical literacy-informed practitioners. Michelle’s up-and-coming projects are focused upon trauma-informed teaching in physical education, and the development of coach education in gymnastics.

Research interests

• Occupational Socialisation in teaching and coaching
• Using Needs Supportive Behaviours in teaching
• Teacher beliefs and impact on practice
• Social Justice within Physical Education
• Excellence in teaching within Higher Education
• Promoting athlete wellbeing in gymnastics through the exploration of socialised coach behaviours.
• Teacher and coach beliefs, how they impact practice and how they influence career choice and development
• Culture change within physical education and sporting environments
• Promoting Social Justice within Physical Education

Qualifications

• PhD titled ‘Occupational Socialisation and the Subjective Warrant of Physical Education Teachers – University of Bedfordshire
• BA Physical Education (Hons) with QTS – De Montfort University, Bedford

Publications

PhD

• Flemons, M. (2018) ‘Occupational Socialisation and the Subjective Warrant of Physical Education Teachers’. University of Bedfordshire. Completed subject to final corrections.

Journal Articles

• Walton-Fisette, J., Philpot, R., Phillips, S., Flory, S., Hill, J., Sutherland, S. & Flemons, M. (2018) ‘Implicit and explicit pedagogical practices related to sociocultural issues and social justice in physical education teacher education programmes’ Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, Pages: 1-13 | DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2018.1470612
• Ovens, A., Flory, S., Sutherland, S., Philpot, R., Walton-Fisette, J., Hill, J., Phillips, S. & Flemons, M. (2018) ‘How PETE comes to matter in the performance of social justice education’, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, Pages: 1-13 | DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2018.1470614
• Hill, J., Philpot, R., Walton-Fisette, J., Sutherland, S., Flemons, M., Ovens, A., Phillips, S. & Flory, S. (2018) ‘Conceptualising social justice and sociocultural issues within physical education: international perspectives,’ Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, Pages: 1-15 | DOI: 10.1080/17408989.2018.1470613
• Flemons, M., Diffey, F. and Cuniliffe, D. (2018) ‘The role of PETE in developing and sustaining physical literacy informed practitioners’, Journal for Teaching Physical Education.
• Flemons, M and Croft, L (in process) ‘A model for the future: A move towards defining and developing excellence in teaching and learning in Higher Education’

Book Chapters

• Everley, S. and Flemons, M. (2015) ‘Teacher Values’ in Capel, S. and Whitehead, M. (eds) Learning to Teach Physical Education in the Secondary School. London, UK: Routledge
• Flemons, M. (2019) ‘Social Justice issues: Strategies and lesson plans in physical education; Critical Sport pedagogy in pre-PETE courses’ in Walton Fisette, J., Sutherland, S., and Hill, J. (eds) Teaching about social justice issues in physical education, Information age publishing, Charlotte, USA.
• Flemons, M (in process) Recycling and Resistance to Change in PE: The informal recruitment of PE teachers in schools

Conferences

• Over the past 9 years I have attended and presented at numerous international conferences; notably British Education Research Association (BERA), International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP), International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport (ICSEMIS) Pre -Olympic Conference, Physical Literacy Conference, Institute of Sport and Physical Activity Research (ISPAR) Conference and MA/MSc Summer School at University of Tsukuba, Japan.
• ISPAR Conference (University of Bedfordshire, Bedford) (2017): ‘Occupational Socialisation and the Subjective warrant of Physical Education teachers; Does the Subjective Warrant still have currency in 21^st Century Physical Education? Flemons, M., ODonovan, T., Hill, J.
• International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP) University of Edinburgh (2018): Contributed and supported the delivery of the Social Justice in Physical Education Workshop.
• ISPAR Conference (University of Bedfordshire, Bedford) (2020) : Trauma Informed Practice in Teaching: Developing Physical Education Teaching Practices post COVID – 19.
• International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education (AIESEP) University of Alberta, Canada (2021): Recycling and Resistance to Change in PE: The informal recruitment of PE teachers in schools. Flemons, M.; Hill,J.; ODonovan, T.; Chater, A.
• ISPAR Conference (University of Bedfordshire, Bedford) (2021) : Keynote: Socialised practice and its influence on our approaches towards the holistic development of young people through sport and physical education.

Invited Blog Articles

• 2 Blogs with the following titles for www.theHPEwebsite.com
• The Subjective Warrant for 21st Century Teaching
• What Changes to the Subjective Warrant (thoughts, feelings and beliefs) do Teachers Identify Over Time?
• Flemons, M. and Evans, N. (2021) More than a PE Teacher: Relational Pedagogies in Physical Education to Promote Trauma Responsive Teaching. WISE Education.

Invited Podcasts

• PEPRN - PEPRN
• Shift Movement - "That's The Way We've Always Done It" - 7 Dangerous Words in Gymnastics - (shiftmovementscience.com)

Research Grants and Consultancy

• ISPAR internal seed funding: Social Justice research project with Dr. Joanne Hill (co-investigator)

Contact Details

E: michelle.flemons@beds.ac.uk