Beginning, rise, fall, and comeback: Exploring the journey of a physical education teacher community in South Korea

Abstract

Physical education teacher communities have been studied and implemented as a successful approach to teacher professional development. Despite a wealth of literature, less is known about three aspects: sustained nature of a community over time, power relations among community members, and a comprehensive case study. This study aimed to address these gaps in the literature by investigating the journey of a physical education community of practice (CoP) in South Korea. In this intrinsic case study, seven core members were interviewed using a timeline drawing method to elicit the stories behind the community's history. In addition, field notes from observations and documents from the official community website were used to corroborate the interview data. Inductive and collaborative data analysis organised the community's history into four phases: Beginning, Rise, Fall, and Comeback. Detailed explanations of each phase represent what happened and how the community evolved over time. Discussions suggested, first, that changing power relations facilitate different types of learning in CoPs. Initially, a strong leader drove learning as experiencing and doing, but as power shifted to members, the community changed to learning as belonging and becoming. Second, conflict can be a natural process to revisit the shared vision. Since the shared vision is not static but rather reflects contextual values, community members should revisit and discuss it as conflicts arise. Third, community engagement can be understood as an opportunity to gain recognition. This research underscores the significance of understanding long-term teacher motivation and the collective factors that drive it through community engagement.