Supporting primary teachers to teach physical education: continuing the journey (original) (raw)
Related papers
Moving primary physical education forward: start at the beginning
Education 3-13, 2016
Moving primary physical education forward: start at the beginning This paper presents selected findings from a questionnaire completed by 509 primary school teachers in Scotland. Drawing on policy enactment theory, the paper focusses on teachers' personal experiences of physical education and perceptions of the importance of physical education in their schools. More than half (56%) reported that physical education was either 'very important' or 'important', while almost 40% perceived it to be of 'limited' or 'very limited importance'. 'Staff', 'time' and 'subject status' were the main themes they drew on to explain their responses. Our findings highlight the diverse nature of the physical education professional cultures in Scottish primary schools. From this, we propose that future initiatives to support change in primary physical education should, as a starting point, acknowledge these diverse professional cultures and move beyond the simplistic one-size-fits-all change projects that have been shown to have limited impact on practice.
Primary teachers’ experience of a physical education professional development programme
Irish Educational Studies, 2012
Professional development (PD) is essential for primary school teachers to meet the demands of the education system. Quality PD is aligned with classroom conditions, school contexts and teachers' daily experiences. The purpose of the study was to explore primary teachers' experiences of a 6-week physical education professional development programme (PE-PDP). A single school case study was employed (N =28 teachers, N =780 pupils) and all teachers and a sample of children participated in focus group interviews. Transcripts were categorised and themed using systematic content analysis. Results revealed that post the PE-PDP, teachers' PE content knowledge had expanded and this encouraged them to use existing classroom paedagogical strategies in the PE context. This developed their confidence in teaching PE and a greater understanding of the PE curriculum and its purpose.
Professional Development in Education, 2014
This paper reports on three cases where university teacher educators have provided an ongoing and interactive support system for teachers learning a particular curriculum and instructional model in physical education in their own schools. Located in diverse contexts (Ireland, Spain and Taiwan), each of these initiatives was grounded in the idea that previous efforts at professional development in settings outside the school led to less than successful implementation of innovative practice once teachers returned to their own settings. The three cases provide a description of the rationale for the professional development initiative, followed by a more extensive description of the professional development itself and its resultant outcomes. The third part of each scenario serves to highlight the challenges faced by the providers and the teachers during the course of the professional development. Three major themes (time, accessibility and modeling) that were common across sites are discussed in terms of the implications for professional development not only in physical education, but across subject areas irrespective of geographical location.
Primary physical education, coaches and continuing professional development
Sport, Education and Society, 2011
Physical education (PE) in primary schools has traditionally been taught by qualified primary teachers. More recently, some teaching of PE in primary schools has been undertaken by coaches (mostly football coaches) (Sports coach UK, 2004, 2007a). These coaches hold national governing body awards, but do not hold teaching qualifications. Thus, coaches may not be adequately prepared to teach PE in curriculum time. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the perceptions of a group of community based football coaches working in primary schools of the impact of a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme on their ability to undertake 'specified work' to cover PE in primary schools. The programme focused on four areas identified as important to enable coaches to cover specified work: short and medium term planning; pedagogy; knowledge of the curriculum; and reflection. Results showed that for the majority of coaches the CPD programme had made them more aware of the importance of these four areas and had helped to develop their knowledge and ability to put this into practice in covering planning, preparation and assessment time. However, further input is still required to develop coaches' knowledge and understanding in all four areas, but especially their curriculum knowledge, as well as their ability to put these into practice consistently. These findings are discussed in relation to the implications of employing coaches to cover the teaching of PE in primary schools and, if employed, what CPD coaches need to develop the necessary knowledge, skill and understanding for covering specified work in schools.
Physical education in primary schools: holding on to the past or heading for a different future?
This paper reports on research undertaken by Pétrie, jones, and McKlm (2007)' during 2006, as part of a Ministry of Education funded evaluation ofthe Impacts of professional learning on currlcular and co-currlcular physical activity. While the evaluative research explored physical activity In the broadest sense, this paper concentrates specifically on the aspect ofthe research that focussed on physical education [PEj as a curriculum subject. The paper provides a snapshot of how PE ¡s understood and practised by generallst teachers In ten primary schools. It then identifies some of the factors that contribute to interpretations and delivery of PE, and Issues that need to be addressed If PE is to move beyond the past and towards an alternative future. This article has been published in the journal: Journal of Physical Education New Zealand. Used with permission.
Curriculum Perspectives
The purpose of this paper was to extend understanding of the studied phenomenon: primary school Physical Education (PE) specialist teachers’ experiences of teaching Health Education and Physical Education within the Learning Area Health and Physical Education (HPE) in their schools. Figurational sociology guided the research, which employed an explanatory sequential mixed methodology consisting of an online survey with 94 participants, followed by semi-structured interviews with 11 purposively sampled participants. Survey data indicated participants perceived their students undertook approximately one hour of HPE each week, except for Kindergarten students, who completed just over 40 minutes. This is less than the notional 80 hours a year recommended for delivering the subjects Health Education (HE) and Physical Education (PE) within the Australian Curriculum. Participants perceived HPE delivery in their primary schools was predominantly PE focused, and therefore, HE was ‘falling be...