An investigation into the perceived level of personal subject knowledge and competence of a group of pre-service physical education teachers towards the teaching of secondary school gymnastics

Abstract

The future of physical education (PE) depends on the quality of emerging committed professionals and their ability to teach across the different activity areas contained within the National Curriculum for Physical Education (NCPE). It is a role that requires extensive subject knowledge and perceived competence in the ability to use it effectively. Subject knowledge is identified as one of the professional standards to be met by students seeking the award of Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). It is, however, an area frequently highlighted by students as the main source of concern throughout the process of Initial Teacher Training (ITT). This in turn can affect students' perceived confidence and competence to teach certain activities. One of the activity areas constantly highlighted as causing concern among pre-service PE teachers is gymnastics. This is often attributed to the fact that many trainees enter ITT with an impoverished background in this area. The purpose of the study was to examine the perceived level of personal subject knowledge and competence to teach gymnastics among trainees completing the School Based Experience (SBE) sections of a one-year secondary Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) PE course.

Is practical subject matter knowledge still important? Examining the Siedentopian perspective on the role of content knowledge in physical education teacher education

“…Restrictions in content knowledge also made it harder to recognise the conceptual and motor learning problems that the pupils experienced, a phenomenon that has also been recognised by previous and more recent research (Rovegno 1993;McCaughtry and Rovegno 2003;Sloan 2007;Herold and Waring 2011;Ward et al 2015 Despite their improved knowledge profiles across the range of knowledge bases, PSTs continued to report negative impacts of limited content knowledge on PCK. Although these were now less severe in nature, they were nevertheless still of importance to PSTs.…”

“…Despite such concerns it is also acknowledged that a lack of content knowledge can be a potential barrier to effective teaching (Sinelnikov et al 2015) and to the development of PSTs teaching in PETE (Ayvazo et al 2010;Griggs and Wheeler 2005;Waring 2009, 2011;Sloan 2007). The challenge for PETE is to develop PSTs who have a nuanced and balanced understanding of content knowledge as part of the knowledge base for teaching and its place in the context of pupils' learning which is located within a broad and balanced, relevant curricular context.…”

An investigation of pre-service teachers’ learning in physical education teacher education: schools and university in partnership

“…On the other hand, it is also recognised that content knowledge deficits can have multiple and profound negative impacts on PSTs in PE (Gower and Capel, 2004;Herold and Waring, 2011;Siedentop, 2002;Sloan, 2007). Variable content knowledge profiles in PSTs are currently the norm in English PETE, yet their impact on PSTs remains under-researched (Griggs and Wheeler, 2005;Herold and Waring, 2009).…”

Improving physical education student teachers’ knowledge and understanding of applied biomechanical principles through peer collaboration

“…In addition, the theoretical nature of sports-related degrees, especially in the UK, does not prepare student teachers for the applied nature of PE taught in schools. Sloan (2007), Hayes et al (2008) and Capel et al (2009) claim that when student teachers enter a 1-year PGCE course in PE, they bring with them a range of: (a) recent and relevant experiences of teaching, coaching and playing/performing (e.g. teaching assistant, coaching under-11 football, playing hockey at the county level), (b) extra-curricular qualifications (e.g.…”