Physical Education Teacher Education Programs Research Articles

Quality Supervision of Preservice Teachers in Field Experiences: Strategies and Practices for PETE Programs

Quality supervision is essential for preservice teachers’ (PSTs) development of teaching effectiveness, because it purposefully structures PSTs’ learning experiences in a systematic and developmentally appropriate manner, provides specific feedback, includes formal and informal assessment of PSTs’ teaching, and facilitates opportunities for PSTs to reflect on and adapt their teaching. However, with the increasing challenges and demands of supervision in school settings, supervisors often find themselves frustrated and less supported. This article aims to address these issues by presenting four valuable strategies and their associated practices that physical education teacher education (PETE) programs and supervisors, particularly university supervisors, can employ while supervising PSTs. These strategies are: (a) establishing a supervision structure, (b) refining the evaluation system, (c) varying supervisory approaches, and (d) integrating educational technology. Associated practices within each strategy and resources are included as well. By actively adopting these practices, PETE programs can elevate their supervision quality, with a positive effect on the teaching effectiveness of their PSTs.

Credit Hour Analysis of Adapted Physical Education Courses in Higher Education

Adapted physical education (APE) is a critical piece to the physical education puzzle. However, this topic is often overlooked from a preparation standpoint in physical education teacher education (PETE). The purpose of this study was to analyze the number of APE credit hours offered in undergraduate PETE programs across the United States. The 2018 Carnegie Classifications were used to help differentiate between types of institutions. Ranging degrees of institutional classification may be a contributing factor to the number and type of credit hours offered. Data analysis indicated that majority of PETE programs in the United States only offer one APE course in the PETE curriculum. Findings from this study are critical to understanding the preparation of preservice physical education teachers (PPETs) in PETE. Findings may also contribute to a conversation on credit hour allocation and whether PPETs are being sufficiently prepared to teach in an inclusive and adapted environment.

A Pedagogical Content Knowledge-Based Course Classification Process for Physical Education Teacher Education Curricula

This study aimed to formulate a course classification process for identifying and classifying courses in the curriculum for physical education teacher education (PETE). The study recruited five experts in physical education (PE), PETE, and pedagogy. The participants were professors at a college in the Northeastern United States. The five participants were interviewed about how to identify a pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) course. A PCK-based classification process was formulated. Additionally, the second part of the study analyzed the curriculum of a PETE program in the Northeastern United States to elucidate the implication of the classification process. The PCK- based classification process can identify if a course is a PCK course and classify its level on the basis of the course syllabus. However, evaluators can collect evidence through additional paths, such as class observation. The process may increase the objectivity and credibility of the evaluation of the PETE curriculum and comparison studies.

Infusing Indigenous Content and Treaty Education into Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE): A Collaborative Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP)

ABSTRACT This research responds to calls for the decolonization and indigenization of education and higher education spaces and institutions within Canada, specifically within the physical education (PE) and physical education teacher education (PETE) sub-disciplines. Recognizing our own responsibility to attend to decolonization and indigenization, we recently engaged in a collaborative self-study of our own teaching practice so that we might be better able to appropriately infuse Indigenous content and Treaty Education into our university’s PETE program. We identified this goal – infusing Indigenous content and Treaty Education – as one that would support us on our reconciliatory journeys as we aim to decolonize and indigenize our PETE spaces in authentic, genuine, and meaningful ways. Our collaborative self-study yielded findings related to our PETE practice, framed herein as six themes. Four of these themes relate to the tensions observed and felt (pushing past performative fears, inviting imposter syndrome, honouring the local Mi’kmaq contexts/peoples, critical friend[ships] as key) and two of the themes relate to our perceived positive outcomes and additional potential happenings (knowing better/doing better, possibilities beyond ‘simply’ infusing Indigenous content and Treaty Education). A discussion of these findings is offered and would be especially insightful to others who are interested in or engaged with self-study, indigenization and decolonization, and/or PE and/or PETE.

Perspectives on Inclusion in Physical Education From Faculty and Students at Three Physical Education Teacher Education Programs in Chile

Discourse about, and the preparation of teachers regarding, the inclusion of all students has been lacking in Latin America broadly, including Chile. The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of physical education teacher education (PETE) faculty members and undergraduate students on inclusion and social justice in Chile. Grounded in social constructionism, the research design of this qualitative inquiry was descriptive multiple case study. The 16 participants were PETE faculty—that is, two assistant professors and one adjunct faculty member (n = 3) and three heads of programs (n = 3)—as well as undergraduate students (n = 10) across three PETE programs in Chile. The primary data sources were 12 individual semistructured interviews with heads of the program and faculty and three focus group interviews with undergraduate students across programs. The qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis to draw on different themes capturing the perspectives on inclusion and social justice within the Chilean physical education curriculum. Findings were presented through themes and subthemes across PETE programs. Three major discussion themes are presented: (a) disability framed within a deficit model, (b) inclusion as an adapted pedagogical practice, and (c) inclusion as a rights-based model for equality of opportunities. We conclude, analytically, that a lack of critical critique of the deficit model of disability, adapted pedagogical practices alone, and sameness manifests forms of marginalization to students with disabilities in physical education.

Ripples in the Water: Physical Education Teacher Education Program Influence on Graduates’ Perceptions of Expanded Physical Activity Programming

Physical educators are often asked to promote whole-school physical activity programming beyond their scheduled class times. Previous research has supported that training in expanded roles would be beneficial during university-based physical education teacher education (PETE) training. In this qualitative study, 13 graduates from a single PETE program that has integrated expanded physical activity into programming shared information about their current programming as physical education teachers in K–12 schools. Campus visits and one-on-one interviews were included. Some practices and values learned during participants’ PETE training were evident in graduates’ current practices. Aligning with previous studies of professional socialization of physical educators, the resulting themes concluded that (a) strategies and resources gained during PETE training were valued and still used and (b) other ripples of influence, such as administrators and other teachers at their current placement, influenced programming. PETE programming with whole-school physical activity can lead to expanded teaching practices in schools.

Impact of Secondary Organizational Socialization on North American, Asian, and European Early Career Faculty Members’ Delivery of Physical Education Teacher Education

Purpose: To describe the impact of secondary organizational socialization on 10 early career faculty members’ (FMs) delivery of physical education teacher education (PETE). Method: The FMs worked in universities situated on three different continents. Data were collected with four qualitative techniques (formal interviews, written ideal PETE program, document analysis, and prerecorded film) and analyzed by using analytic induction and constant comparison. Findings: FMs delivered PETE that was a hybrid of the behavioristic, traditional/craft, critical-inquiry, and personalistic orientations to teacher education. The cultures and conditions in which FMs worked were mainly positive and favorable and aided them in delivering PETE. FMs coped with negative cultural elements and unfavorable conditions that constrained them through strategic compliance, strategic redefinition, or finding a new position. Conclusion: Findings were similar across continents and should help with efforts to improve the transition of neophyte FMs into the workplace.

Exploring Movement in Creative Dance: Introducing ‘Dancemblage’ in Physical Education Teacher Education

Materialities play a crucial role in both the educational practice of physical education (PE), and in physical education teacher education (PETE). This article explores how, often unnoticed, materialities, human as well as non-human, play part in movement exploration in creative dance in PETE. The methodological point of departure is a pedagogical unit in creative dance enacted as part of an optional dance course in a Swedish PETE program where movement exploration was studied. In the unit, students and a teacher collaboratively explored movement and movement assignments, including the use of materialities. In order to understand how materialities ‘co-act’ in movement exploration during class, this article provides a post-anthropocentric and Deleuzian approach. The concept dancemblage is introduced both as a way to analyse materiality and as something to work with in pedagogical practice. Moreover, the article suggests that by recognising dancemblages in creative dance teaching, teachers can be given a tool to further learn about learners’ explorations and to become open to divergent understandings about what it means to participate in creative dance.

How can tailored questions foster reflection in preservice teachers? A year-long action research study

This year-long action research (AR) study, conducted in the context of a physical education teacher education (PETE) program in Portugal, explored how critical reflection among preservice teachers (PSTs) developed in response to tailored questioning by an external facilitator (EF). Participants were six PSTs and the first author, who assumed the dual role of EF and researcher. Four AR cycles, each involving a self-reflection analysis, intervention, and the development of the PSTs’ reflections were completed. During each AR cycle, the EF examined the PSTs’ teaching-learning practices and views and generated tailored questions to support critical reflection. Data were collected through focus group interviews and written reflective journals. The EF also made participant observations to contextualize each PST's teaching-learning process, resulting in field notes. Using various question types (e.g. leading, probing, and procedural next-step questions) designed to address individual needs, PSTs progressed from a basic reflection level to thinking critically about their teaching-learning practices. The questions were helpful for PSTs in interpreting daily issues faced in teaching-learning and understanding the relevance of self-analysis and attention to learners’ needs in fostering critical reflection. Given these results, we recommend that PETE programs incorporate a component or module explicitly promoting reflection on and analysis of PSTs’ pedagogical practices.

The problematisation of ethnic and cultural diversity in physical education teacher education (PETE): an analysis of PETE course syllabi from Norway, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada

ABSTRACT An increasing number of studies have focused on policies in physical education and physical education teacher education (PETE). Policies are important because they prescribe behaviours or a course of action, and they legitimise some knowledge and perspectives while discrediting others. In the field of physical education (PE), a white, male-centric, middle-class, heteronormative and able-bodied understanding of bodies and sports has been the frame of reference for a long time, which can lead to the marginalisation, exclusion and alienation of pupils, students and faculty. In this paper, I investigate how ethnic and cultural diversity are represented in three PETE programmes in Norway, Aotearoa/New Zealand and Canada, respectively. Carol Bacchi’s ‘What’s the Problem Represented to Be?’ (WPR) approach for analysing policy was used to analyse course syllabi from the three selected PETE programmes. The findings suggest that ethnic and cultural diversity are represented in different ways, however, the course syllabi from all three countries were underpinned by liberal and critical approaches to multicultural education. This study has several implications. Teacher educators are reminded to pay attention to how the problematisation of ethnic and cultural diversity in course syllabi can allow or constrain different ways to think about these issues, and that policies can create certain types of ‘problems’ and ‘subjects’, which can lead to real-life consequences. Furthermore, they are reminded that these problematisations can be resisted and challenged.

Developing embodied competence while becoming a PE teacher: PETE students’ embodied experiences and reflections after micro-teaching

ABSTRACT Background: Becoming a PE teacher is a multifaceted process that involves many complexities and contextual specificities. Entering their physical education teacher education (PETE) programme, student teachers are in a vulnerable position as they are uncertain of their professional subjectivities. During their PETE programme, students are introduced to different understandings and practises regarding the body. However, the importance of the body in the development of leadership and relational competence has not yet played a prominent role in PETE or its research. Purpose: Drawing on the concept of embodied professional competence developed by Winther [(2012). Det Professionspersonlige – om kroppen som klangbund i professionel kommunikation. Værløse: Billesø & Baltzer], this paper aims to provide insight into the importance of unpacking embodiment with PETE students to develop their understanding of how their body influences their leadership [embodied professional competence]. More specifically, the question guiding this article is: How can a focus on bodily experiences contribute to developing PETE students’ embodied professional competence? Our overall goal has been to create a more embodied approach to working with PETE students to develop their (embodied) understanding of their professional development and (practice of) embodied pedagogies in physical education. Methods: This is a combined teaching and research project focusing on PETE students’ professional competence. All PETE students participated in two teaching series involving them in micro-teaching and reflections upon their bodily experiences and communication while teaching. Hence, the data consists of the PETE students’ subsequent written reflections. Findings: Analysis of the material revealed that reflecting upon their bodily experiences with micro-teaching requires the PETE students to be involved in a process of developing their embodied professional competence. Through the teaching series, they were given the opportunity to explore and learn how to teach. In a safe community, the PETE students could be vulnerable and make mistakes while developing their embodied professional competence. Conclusions: We argue for the importance of integrating PETE students’ bodily experiences into the PETE programme. The study highlights that learning how to reflect upon bodily experiences and share them in a safe community provides an excellent starting point for further development of the PETE students’ professional teaching identities.

Social–Emotional Learning Through Adventure Education in PETE: Strategies for PETE Faculty

The affective domain can be difficult to teach and define and is underactualized in Physical Education (PE) and Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE). Through the lens of Occupational Socialization Theory (OST), affective domain issues are understood as more significant problems within the PE enterprise, starting with PETE faculty members’ training and acculturation into PE of decades-old approaches and conceptions of the subject. Literature indicates that Pre-Service Teachers (PSTs) need more experience participating and teaching affective-based curriculum models and pedagogical content like Adventure Education (AE) during PETE. When PETE and thus secondary PE programs are ruled by the hegemonic norm of multi-sport-based activities, they can miss the mark on cultural competency and teaching and assessing the affective domain. By giving PETE PSTs affective-based experiences as participants and facilitators, PSTs may have more holistic perspectives (learning and teaching through all three domains of learning) and may become more culturally competent teachers. This paper provides four strategies to implement AE within PETE programs and requirements of sequencing. As PETE evolves and improves content and delivery mechanisms to meet learners’ needs (PSTs and students in K-12 PE), the propensity for change in the enterprise of PE increases as positive benefits of affective-based teaching ripple through generations of new students acculturated into the field every day.

Preservice Physical Education Teacher Preparation for Health-Related Fitness Testing: A Faculty Perspective

Purpose: This study aimed to examine how physical education teacher education (PETE) programs prepare preservice physical education teachers (PPETs) for implementing health-related fitness testing (HRFT) in K–12 schools from a faculty perspective. Methods: The study applied a phenomenological approach. Seven PETE faculty participated in this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, online surveys, and course documents. Constant content analysis was performed to generate themes. Results: The study discovered four themes: (a) required courses are the primary means for preparing PPETs to use HRFT, (b) cooperating teachers can negatively influence the faculty’s role in HRFT preparation, (c) PPETs explored the use of HRFT in PETE programs through peer teaching and testing activities, and (d) there was a lack of field-based experiences in local schools for HRFT preparation. Conclusion: PETE programs provided some courses to prepare PPETs for the HRFT implementation with the lack of time and field experience.

Facilitating culturally responsive teaching in PETE alumni: a mixed methods analysis

ABSTRACT This study examines the culturally responsive teaching self-efficacy (CRTSE) of graduates from an undergraduate Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) program focused on social justice issues. We examined experiences that facilitated CRT and the areas alumni felt most efficacious. Graduates (n = 43) of a PETE program completed the CRTSE Scale via Qualtrics, and 13 with urban teaching experience completed 45–60 min interviews. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, comparative data analysis, and reflexive thematic analysis [Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. Sage]. Two major themes were identified from the data: (1) positive clinical experiences within urban schools, and (2) the ability to build relationships within their school communities through respect and trust. Future considerations for clinical experiences, as well as opportunities for teacher candidates to confront their own biases are discussed. As schools become increasingly diverse, PETE programs need to consistently review and revise curricula and experiences to meet culturally diverse students’ needs.

GoReact: Video Annotation Software to Foster Feedback in Physical Education Instruction

University supervisors responsible for the programming and congruency between field experiences and the physical education teacher education (PETE) preparation program play a pivotal role in the opportunity for pre-service physical education teacher success. Due to limitations of time, quality mentors, and the residual effects of the pandemic, on-site observations are becoming more difficult to arrange. While there are concerns about the quality of remote observations, GoReact (GR), a video annotation software, can support PETE programs in conducting observations using this virtual tool. The purpose of this article is to describe how PETE programs can utilize video annotation software to provide alternative means for engaging feedback that encourages self-reflection when in-person observations are not feasible. Additional uses for this software in physical education are also suggested.

Challenges in creating value in the pre-service teachers’ journey from learning to implementing student-centred approaches: an ethnographic study along a two-year PETE

ABSTRACT The present study's purpose was to comprehend the internal dynamics of the social learning interactions inside a Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programme where pre-service teachers (PST) were learning and implementing student-centered approaches (SCA). Specifically, this article draws on the Value creation cycles framework to unveil the education development challenges faced by PSTs inside of their PETE Social Learning Space. The context was a two-year PETE programme in Portugal. In year one, the participants were three university teacher educators (TE) and 25 PSTs. In year two, the participants were 3 PSTs (from the original year one class) in their school placement, one university supervisor (US), and one cooperating teacher (CT). This study was an ethnography with a two-year longitudinal design. Data were collected through the ethnographer's participant-observations, meetings of the PSTs with the mentoring team (TEs, US, CT), and the ethnographer's field diary, reflexive log, and audio recordings. Data analysis involved the constant-comparative grounded theory method. The analysis resulted in understanding the challenges faced by PSTs while working in contexts of possible development of social learning spaces. Accordingly, findings explore the development of PSTs throughout the two years of the programme by analysing their involvement in each cycle of value creation: the PSTs’ work group social dynamic; their experiences of peer-teaching SCAs before school placement; PSTs’ intentions about implementing SCAs; the individualisation of PSTs learning process; relationship dynamics with stakeholders (TEs, CTs, and US); and, the lack of practical examples of SCAs implementation in the host school. The analysis of the value creation cycles encourage PETE programmes to invest in understanding the development of social learning spaces, before introducing them in programme policy, by acknowledging the importance of developing a mechanism of analysis and follow-up of its development.

Intercultural Competence in Physical Education Teacher Education: Virtual Exchange through Global Link

ABSTRACT To prepare teachers for effectively addressing students’ cultural diversity in K-12, physical education teacher education (PETE) programs need to include intercultural competence training. Global Link is a pedagogical module, which has been designed to promote students’ intercultural competence in a PETE program. In the past 13 years, the module has been used successfully in a graduate course working with PETE programs in Belgium, China, Italy, South Korea, Turkey, and USA. Based on lessons learned from multiple implementation experiences, this article aims to introduce the Global Link module and present a four-step procedure for designing and implementing the module, teaching strategies and suggestions, and an example of a Global Link module. Four steps for organizing Global Link include: finding and establishing partnerships, planning for Global Link, implementing Global Link, and reflecting on Global Link experiences. Collaboration and communication between instructors involved in the Global Link are cornerstones to successfully proceed step by step. Incorporating the Global Link type of virtual exchange in PETE programs is suggested to better prepare preservice teachers for interacting with students from other countries in classes and to expand the scope of instructional content to international.

Fishing Downstream: Does CSPAP Promotion During PETE Transfer to Teaching Practice by K–12 Physical Educators?

ABSTRACTPhysical Education Teacher Education (PETE) training has the potential to influence graduates’ decisions as physical educators. Utilizing themes from Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovations and Lawson’s Occupational Socialization theories, we focused on graduates from a single PETE program which, beginning in 2007, began integrating content, expectations, and experiences relating to an expanded role of the physical educator such as in comprehensive school physical activity programs (CSPAPs). Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine transfer in terms of university training leading to teaching practices in expanded physical activity programming. Method: An electronic questionnaire was sent to 335 graduates from May 2000 through May 2019. Sixty-seven graduates’ questionnaires were investigated looking at perceptions of CSPAP as an innovation, current expanded physical activity (PA) offerings, and memories of PETE. Additionally, 13 participants participated in a school visit and interview which acted as a fidelity check for self-reported levels of expanded PA programming reported in the questionnaire. Results: All 67 graduates included some amount of expanded PA programming. Positive correlations were found with perception of CSPAP as an innovation, for both year of graduation and memory of PETE programming, thus students exposed to CSPAP programming during PETE were implementing components at their schools at higher levels. Conclusion: There is positive potential for professional socialization to influence graduates’ practices. Perceptions of CSPAP as an innovation were positive and support the promotion of triability and starting small when PETE programs encourage expanded PA programming.

An Assessment of Preservice Teachers’ Volleyball Content Knowledge in Physical Education Teacher Education

ABSTRACT This study examined physical education teacher education (PETE) majors’ common content knowledge (CCK), performance, and specialized content knowledge (SCK) of volleyball to see whether there is a difference between non-PETE majors, and how much they improved, while they were in the PETE program. Twenty-two participants from a PETE major volleyball content course and 21 participants from a non-PETE major basic instruction volleyball course for the comparison group. Pre- and post-tests of CCK, performance, and two SCK variables were used for the majors, and one pretest SCK variable (task progression) was used for the comparison group. Data are reported both descriptively and inferentially. The PETE majors showed better scores on the pretest for the SCK variable (task progression). Also, the PETE majors had significantly improved scores from pre- to post-test for all four variables. It needs further research studies for the content course of the PETE program to find the best way to proceed.

Arriving in the body – students’ experiences of yoga based practices (YBP) in physical education teacher education (PETE)

ABSTRACT The interest in yoga, mindfulness or similar yoga-based practices (YBP) has grown exponentially in the western world, also within education, including physical education (PE). Although some studies have been conducted on YBP in PE, yoga has not yet been researched in the framework of physical education teacher education (PETE). Using a regional lifeworld approach, the purpose of this article is to investigate how PETE students experience their participation in a YBP didactics unit when it was included in the PETE programme. What thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations were evoked in the students as they explored YBP and their prospects for teaching it themselves? The project involved 13 students during their fifth year in one of Sweden’s PETE programmes. Questionnaires and diaries were used as information sources. Ten of the 13 students were also interviewed. In the phenomenological analysis, the phenomenon of friction ‘showed itself’ to be an essential part of the perceived experiences. Friction was characterised by a tension between an absence of friction, which describes experiences of participating in YBP smoothly, and the presence of friction, which included experiences of resistance. The students also oscillated between experiences of I-here and now, and Me-my future teaching profession. At least to some extent, the YBP that was practised during the course changed the students’ views of what education in ‘human in motion’ can be by discovering and breaking their habitual attitudes towards PE. Rather than being discussed in terms of ‘benefits’, the YBP practice charged the body, the room and the group with a heightened awareness of the present moment that could also be expressed verbally. It is anticipated that this kind of reflexive knowledge will help the student to make careful didactical considerations in their future teaching practices.