Primary teachers, policy, and physical education

Petrie, Kirsten; lisahunter, Lisa Hunter

doi:10.1177/1356336x11416729

Cited by 48 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…In England, as in other countries around the world, such as New Zealand (Petrie and lisahunter, 2011), primary PE, as a process, occurs "amidst multiple, and not necessarily compatible, sets of expectations, associated with government priorities, initiatives focusing on children's health, sport, and improved national achievement outcomes"; in other words, "constantly shifting policy initiatives" (Petrie and lisahunter, 2011, p.325) that inevitably create the context in which primary PE is delivered. In sociological terms, primary PE bears the hallmarks of a number of social processes: networks of interdependent people within which power ratios (between head teachers, SLs, class teachers and sports coaches among others) fluctuate; the unintended consequences of sometimes mutually contradictory national polices enacted at the local level; and so forth.…”

Section: Setting Developments In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who teaches primary physical education? Change and transformation through the eyes of subject leaders

Jones

Green

2015

Sport, Education and Society

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Primary physical education (PE) lessons tend to be taught by one, or a combination of, three different groups: generalist classroom teachers, specialist primary PE teachers and so-called 'adults other than teachers', who are almost exclusively sports coaches. Drawing upon data gathered from one-to-one interviews with 36 subject leaders (SLs), this study sought answers to two main questions: "Who delivers primary PE nowadays?" and "What are the consequences?" The findings revealed that the most common model for the delivery of PE involved responsibility being shared between the generalist class teacher and either a sports coach or specialist PE teacher. The SLs recognised strengths and weaknesses in all of the three main approaches used. However, while they favoured the use of specialist teachers because of their subject knowledge and expertise, the more prosaic constraints of cost and flexibility meant that the use of coaches had become increasingly popular. Whether or not, the growth of coaches is de-professionalizing the delivery of PE, it certainly appears to be exacerbating any existing tendency to turn primary PE into a pale imitation of the sport-biased curricular of secondary schools. Ironically, the apparent 'threat' to the status of PE in the primary curriculum (as well as the status of PE specialists) posed by the growth of coaches in curricular PE in primary schools may well be exaggerated by the Primary PE and Sport Premium which appears to have added momentum to a change of direction regarding staffing the subject -towards sports coaches and away from generalist classroom teachers and PE specialists. As the shift towards outsourcing PE to commercial sports coaches becomes increasingly commonplace it seems appropriate to talk of transformation, rather than mere change, in the delivery of primary PE.

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Section: Setting Developments In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who teaches primary physical education? Change and transformation through the eyes of subject leaders

Jones

Green

2015

Sport, Education and Society

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“…Finally, in an international context Petrie and Hunter (2011) have argued that it is the '[H]PE profession's responsibility to support primary teachers through coherent PD ' (p. 335). This would seem to point to the importance of subject associations, the DES (including the Inspectorate), PE tutors and third level providers of PE collaborating to support primary teachers as they endeavour to teach PE, a subject…”

Section: Recommendationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting primary teachers to teach physical education: continuing the journey

Murphy

O’Leary

2012

Irish Educational Studies

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Little attention was paid to professional development of primary teachers in Ireland to support them in teaching physical education (PE) until 2004 when specific support was provided to help them implement the revised Primary Physical Education Curriculum. A significant National In-service Physical Education Programme was undertaken involving the preparation of a cohort of tutors who were to facilitate the programme to all primary teachers. This study focuses on the findings from a study of the effectiveness of the programme from the tutors' and teachers' perspectives beginning with the preparation of the tutors for facilitation of the programme. Elements of good practice emerged that can inform future policy with regard to support of primary teachers teaching PE within the constraints of funding. These include (1) the importance of quality preparation of tutors acknowledging the advantage of technology that may provide a new and cost effective way of supporting them, and (2) retaining the practical exploration of content by both tutors and teachers that prompts reflection on the nature and content of programmes of PE.Keywords: primary; physical education; professional development Introduction This paper focuses on the professional development of teachers in a context of curriculum change in Irish primary schools with particular reference to physical education (PE). The paper is in five parts and begins with an overview of some of the literature relevant to teacher professional development. Key elements of the programme of professional development organised for primary teachers implementing the Physical Education Curriculum (Government of Ireland 1999b) as part of the Revised Curriculum for Primary Schools (Government of Ireland 1999a) are then described before the two questions that guided a research study on the impact of the programme are stated. The third part of the paper provides the details of the study methodology and that is followed by a section where the results of the study are presented. Finally, the lessons to be drawn from this study and their implication for future policy in addressing support for teachers to teach PE are considered.*Corresponding author. Email: Frances.Murphy@spd.dcu.ie Models of professional developmentProfessional development of teachers is increasingly known as 'continuing professional development' (CPD) rather than 'in-service training'. This generally implies a larger range of possibilities for professional development. However, the support programme related to the implementation of the primary curriculum in Ireland was referred to as a programme of 'in-service' by the Department of Education and Skills (DES) and by the Primary Curriculum Support Programme (PCSP) who had responsibility for mediating the programme to teachers. Earlier definitions of professional development focused on the acquisition of subject or content knowledge and teaching skills. Craft (1996) and Day (1999) proposed a wider interpretation with Craft arguing that 'all types of professional learning unde...

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“…Scottish Executive, 2004;Kirk, 2004;Hunter, 2006;Locke & Graber, 2008;Quay & Peters, 2008;Tsangaridou, 2012). Much of this interest stems from the growing perception that PPE has the potential to address fears about children's health and wellbeing, sport participation and physical activity levels (Petrie & lisahunter, 2011). While this support is to be welcomed, many concerns remain, particularly in relation to the quality of children's learning experiences in PPE (Harris, Cale & Musson, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary physical education: a complex learning journey for children and teachers

Jess

Keay

Carse

2014

Sport, Education and Society

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Primary physical education (PPE) is increasingly being recognised for the role it can potentially play in setting a foundation for lifelong engagement in physical activity.However, the majority of the literature continues to focus on the negative features of the subject within the primary context. Whilst acknowledging the existence of these barriers, this paper sets out to take a proactive approach by presenting a conceptual framework for PPE that seeks to support a renewed and positive vision for the future. Based on ideas from complexity thinking, the framework represents a move beyond the more positivist and linear approaches that have long been reported to dominate practices in PPE and recognises learners as active agents engaged in a learning process that is collaborative, non-linear and uncertain.While acknowledging the contested nature of the complexity field, the paper explores how key principles, including self-organisation, emergence, similarity, diversity, connectedness, nestedness, ambiguous bounding, recursive elaboration and edge of chaos, offer a lens that views PPE as a complex system. With the children's learning positioned as the focus of PPE in the educational setting, the paper discusses how complexity principles interweave with the ecological components to help us better understand and more creatively engage with the complex nature of PPE developments. Specifically, these components are identified as PPE learning experiences and their associated pedagogy, teachers and their PPE professional learning and key environmental factors that include the physical environment and key stakeholders who influence developments across the different levels of the education system. The paper concludes by suggesting that this complexity-informed PPE framework represents an open invitation for the all those involved in PPE to engage in a collective process of exploration and negotiation to positively influence developments in PPE.

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Primary teachers, policy, and physical education

Cited by 48 publications

References 27 publications

Who teaches primary physical education? Change and transformation through the eyes of subject leaders

Who teaches primary physical education? Change and transformation through the eyes of subject leaders

Supporting primary teachers to teach physical education: continuing the journey

Primary physical education: a complex learning journey for children and teachers

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