About
Research
Email: alex.beckey@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
Alex is a lecturer at St Mary’s University and teaches on the foundation and undergraduate Physical Education and Youth Development degree programmes. Before moving to St Mary’s, Alex taught Physical Education for 17 years in a range of primary and secondary schools, both domestically and abroad. In that time, he held the position of Head of Department, Director of Sport and Assistant Director of Teaching and Learning. After obtaining his MSc in PE and Sport Pedagogy at Birmingham University he became the course lead for the BA in PE, Sport and Physical Activity and the route lead for Secondary PGCE PE at Kingston University.
Research
Research profile
Alex's primary research focus is to improve the teaching of pre-service teachers in PE. Key areas of interest include:
• Meaningful Physical Education
• Pedagogies of Teacher Education
• Rights Respecting Physical Education
Publications
• Fletcher T. & Beckey A. (2023). Teaching about planning in pre-service physical education teacher education: A collaborative self-study. European Physical Education Review, 1356336X231156323.
• Price A. Beckey A. & Collins D. (2022). Developing a love for playing games: a clarification of why Digital Video Games Approach is not Gamification. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 1-15.
• Beckey A. (2021). Meaningful PE as a metaphor for teaching PE. In T. Fletcher, D. Ní Chróinín, D. Gleddie & S. Beni (Eds.), Meaningful Physical Education (pp. 52–63). Routledge.
• Fletcher T. Beckey A. Larsson H. & MacPhail A. (2020). The research and development
challenge: Better aligning teachers’ and teacher educators’ needs, priorities and demands. In A. MacPhail, & H. Lawson (Eds.), School physical education and teacher education (pp. 116-127). London, England: Routledge.