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Tensions in teacher community: competing commitments in the teaching of US middle school physical education

In this article, tensions in teacher community arose when the school’s ‘rainy day’ policy was invoked in the middle of a class period, disturbing instruction on the athletic field and subsequently in the gymnasium. The narrative inquiry takes a multiperspectival stance towards competing commitments to educational policy, on one hand, and high quality instruction, on the other hand, through threading in viewpoints of six, diverse teachers comprising the physical education department in a US middle school. The narrative exemplar shows how the teachers and the administrator shifted from absolute fidelity to the school’s ‘rainy day’ policy to a reflective fidelity stance. The international significance of this research study is that it demonstrates why tensions in teacher community occur around commonplace matters in schools, the complexities and emotions that enter into decision-making situations and the ways tensions are addressed in pedagogical contexts, regardless of country of origin and subject matter focus.