Trainee primary teachers' beliefs and practices about physical education during student teaching

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Background: In exploring the complexity of teaching, scholars have suggested that greater attention needs to be paid to the teachers' thoughts and actions and to how these affect quality teaching. Up to today, very few studies have investigated the relationship between teachers' beliefs and practices even though it has an important role to play in teaching. Whilst general research on primary teachers in physical education has been conducted, no research has yet specifically described trainee primary teachers' beliefs and practices about physical education. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to describe two trainee primary teachers' beliefs and practices in physical education during their student teaching. Participants and setting: Two trainee primary teachers, Marita and Anna, who attended a university in Cyprus, voluntarily participated in the study. Marita and Anna were in the fourth year of their programme during their student teaching course and they had already taken a compulsory methodology course on teaching elementary physical education and the course on early field experiences. Data collection: Data were collected through interviews (formal and informal), field observations, journals and document analyses (unit and lesson plans). Data analysis: Data from all sources were analysed inductively via individual-case and cross-case analysis. Data sources were analysed individually for each participant and then compared across data sources. Through multiple and careful examination of the data, the key links, properties, themes, and patterns in the data were identified in order to locate common categories. Based on this process, the data were organised and sorted into three major thematic clusters: subject matter, social sensitivity, and pedagogy. Within the thematic clusters there were several categories. Trustworthiness: To ensure the soundness of the data collection and analysis, four strategies were employed. First, triangulation was used to ensure that the findings were accurate. Second, data were scrutinised for negative cases that would dispute or undermine the interpretations. Third, two peer-debriefers were used to share developing interpretations and to challenge the researcher to support interpretations with data. Finally, member checks were conducted. Findings: The two trainee teachers believed that the major purpose of physical education is to provide students with opportunities to develop their psychomotor, cognitive and affective skills. Evidence from this study indicated that the participants not only articulated these views but also practised them in teaching. Both participants believed that physical education has the same status as the other subject areas in the school curriculum. The most important message the two trainee teachers wanted to convey to their students was that physical education is more than free play and similar to other subject areas in the curriculum. The two trainee teachers treated students of both genders equally and expected all students to participate in the learning activities. The way the participants in this study organised and delivered instruction and provided practice for students was a combination of teacher-mediated and student-mediated formats. Conclusions: Two major conclusions are drawn from the study. The first is that trainee teachers' beliefs play a significant role in designing and implementing meaningful teaching tasks that may affect student learning. This study suggests that teaching experiences can provide trainee teachers with powerful personal understanding of teaching practices. It is also clear that learning to teach physical education is a process which develops over time and it is affected by the trainee teachers' beliefs. A second conclusion from the study is that teacher education programmes can train trainee primary teachers to implement quality lessons in physical education. It seems that the methods course and teaching experiences forced the two trainee teachers to develop firm beliefs about good teaching practices. Reflective inquiry courses that provide trainees with a theoretical knowledge base about effective teaching in physical education and use reflective strategies that attempt to surface, challenge, and transform trainees' beliefs seem to be promising.