The influence of school context on the implementation of TGfU across a secondary school physical education department

Abstract

Over the past decade Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) has enjoyed a sustained revival of interest from researchers and practitioners across the globe that is strong enough to be described as a ‘movement’ (see, for example, Light 2005). Along with other game-based approaches (GBA) it has come to form one of the more prominent areas of research interest in physical education with a well-attended series of international conferences on TGfU established from 2001, and with the most recent one held in TGfU’s ‘birthplace’ at Loughborough University in the UK in July 2012. Research consistently confirms the effectiveness of this approach to teaching in terms of developing better games players, generating positive affective experiences of learning and promoting a range of positive social, moral and personal learning (see, for example, Butler and Griffin 2010; Holt, Ward and Wallhead 2007; Light 2013 and Chapter 6 by Jarrett and Harvey). Despite these positive developments, the uptake of TGfU and other game-based approaches (GBA) by physical education teachers across the globe remains limited. Even in Singapore, where a variation of TGfU, the games concept approach (GCA), was mandated by the Ministry of Education, a sustained body of research conducted over the past decade suggests that it is yet to make a significant impact upon practice (see Chapter 3 by Fry and McNeill). There has been a number of studies on teacher and pre-service teacherresponses and implementation of game-based approaches conducted across a range of countries that have identified the ways in which deeply embedded beliefs about teaching and learning can conflict with games-based pedagogy (see, for example, Butler 1996; Light 2002; Light and Tan 2006 and Chapter 6 by Jarrett and Harvey). A few have also highlighted how the cultural, social and institutional contexts within which pre-service and early service teachers attempt to implement GBA critically shape their experiences and interpretation of this pedagogy (see, for example, Light and Butler 2005; Light and Tan 2006). While this research identifies some common challenges that might explain implementation challenges, there have been few, if any, longitudinal studies on the implementation of game-based teaching that have inquired intothe ways in which socio-cultural and/or institutional contexts influence the implementation of TGfU and other GBA. This chapter redresses this oversight in the literature by drawing on a two-year study that looked into the implementation of TGfU across a large HPE (health and physical education) department in an Australian, elite, independent secondary school to focus on how the specific context of the school shaped teachers’ experiences of it.