Teachers’ sensemaking in implementation of Meaningful Physical Education

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background While PE has arguably changed little since the 1960s, there is a rich history of the development of innovations in PE pedagogy. A key challenge lies in the sustained and broad use of these innovations. Researchers have sought to understand how teachers implement these innovations in their classrooms and the factors that lead to their sustained use. The concept of sensemaking offers an avenue for considering the processes by which teachers make sense of innovations in relation to a broad variety of personal and situational factors, which influence teachers’ conceptualizations and implementation of innovations. Much of the research to date on teachers’ sensemaking has centered on the use of innovations which have been mandated through policy and reforms. However, in this research, we take a different approach by beginning with a group of teachers who have voluntarily adopted the Meaningful PE innovation and integrated it into their regular teaching practice for a sustained period of time. The purpose of this research is to understand how these teachers have made sense of Meaningful PE in their local contexts. Methods Six teachers from five countries (Cambodia, Canada, China, Vietnam and USA) participated as collaborators in the study. Data collection methods included (a) individual semi-structured interviews with teachers, (b) teacher-generated artifacts (e.g. blogs and social media posts), and (c) analysis of teachers’ local curriculum documents. An inductive thematic analysis of the data was conducted. Findings Three themes illustrate how each teacher's sensemaking processes influenced their implementation of Meaningful PE, including making sense of Meaningful PE through (a) the attributes of the innovation, (b) teachers’ personal characteristics and beliefs, and (c) local curriculum. Teachers in this study made sense of Meaningful PE through the ways it clearly connected to their beliefs about PE teaching while also helping to resolve ambiguities and uncertainties in their practice. Implementation of Meaningful PE helped teachers bridge the gap between their espoused vision and enacted practice, while supporting more authentic interpretations and implementation of curricular goals and outcomes. Conclusions This research holds important implications for supporting PE teachers’ sustained professional learning about and implementation of innovative practices in PE. Specifically, the reciprocity between teachers’ interpretations of the innovation and their local curriculum points to (a) the importance of situating innovations within teachers’ local contexts and alongside local policy mandates when presenting them to teachers and (b) the potential for implementation of innovative approaches that deal with the how and why of teachers’ practice to help teachers understand and (re)interpret the what (i.e. mandated content and assessment) of their PE teaching in new ways.