There has been a growing advocacy for a critical approach to physical education teacher education(PETE) in the era of globalization and ubiquitous society. Drawing on critical pedagogy, the purpose of this paper was to explore the meanings and methods for developing critical professionalism in PETE through identifying the definitions and features of critical professionalism. The notion of critical professionalism includes four crucial components: critical reflection, social sensitivity, critical thinking, and practicability. This paper suggests an inquiry-oriented physical education teacher education to develop per-service teachers’ critical professionalism in terms of providing a range of teaching methods centered on microteaching, discussion-based lessons, critical reading and writing, and using media materials. Building on findings, it was concluded that there is a need of programs for the development of policy literacy understanding complex social and cultural contexts of school physical education. Furthermore, PETE should focus on the processes of critical reflection on the teaching and learning act itself within wider social contexts, by using an inquiry-oriented approach to PETE, which will contribute to fostering teachers’ critical capacities needed to guard the educational aims of physical education against political interference.
