‘Really on the ball’: exploring the implications of teachers' PE-CPD experience

Abstract

Continuing professional development (CPD) is currently high on the Scottish Education agenda. Recent curriculum reform in Scotland, with the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence, places physical education (PE) at the forefront for its role in directly supporting learners' mental, emotional, social and physical well-being. This emphasis on PE, along with concerns about the health of the nation, has resulted in a nationwide initiative providing non-specialist teachers of primary PE with the opportunity to develop a specialism in the subject through governmentfunded CPD programmes at postgraduate level. Using Knowles' andragogical model as a framework, this paper reports data from a larger research study that evaluated a Scottish PE-CPD initiative. This paper comprises a single case holistic study investigating the impact and implications of a PE-CPD programme through the professional learning journeys, from the outset until completion, of four teachers: a nursery teacher, a class teacher, a cluster cover teacher and a PE specialist who participated in the programme. Data were collected over one academic year using two-stage questionnaire interviews and were analysed thematically with special attention given to the emerging general themes to achieve a holistic understanding of the case. Study findings endorse the positive impact of using the andragogical model of adult learning combined with the literature-supported characteristics of effective PE-CPD programmes. Teachers' perspectives on their CPD experiences, integration of acquired learning into working contexts and teaching post-PE-CPD were then examined to determine the next steps. This led to critical reflection on the implications of the findings for the teachers' ongoing professional development. We then challenged the role that university providers play in supporting teachers' lifelong learning. Instead, we suggest new school-university partnerships and alternative ways to support capacity building and lifelong learning towards a sustainable transformational change in Scotland's primary PE.

Risk-Taking and Professional Development: Physical Education Teachers’ Narratives of Experience

“…James, Joe, Sarah, and Luke all describe how as they grew in confidence so they were able to reflect upon and adapt their practices whilst teaching. Such experiences are consistent with the views of PE academics (Armour, 2014;Atencio, Jess and Dewar, 2012) and research into PE and professional development which advocates learning from reflection (Clarke and Hollingsworth, 2002;Elliot and Campbell, 2015), experiencing different contexts and working collaboratively with others (Chappell, 2014;Patton and Parker 2014). By actively planning and taking risks, participants found they reflected critically upon their practices, actively sought learning experiences and engaged collaboratively with and, learned from others.…”

Professionsidentitet i bevægelse

“…Konkret for bevaegelsesområdet viser Fletcher et al (2013) i deres studie af godt 300 canadiske paedagoger, at professionsidentitet kan påvirkes i en positiv retning ved at lade paedagogerne gennemføre et relativt kortvarigt (12 timer), systematisk efteruddannelsesforløb (Fletcher et al, 2013). I denne sammenhaeng viser det sig, at et øget fokus på implementering, når paedagoger tager videreuddannelse på bevaegelsesområdet, giver et større udbytte (Elliot & Campbell, 2015), og at implementering fremmes, hvis videreuddannelse sker i det miljø, hvori paedagoger arbejder (Howie et al, 2014). Et canadisk studie af paedagogers rolle i relation til børns bevaegelse påviser, at for at øge børns maengde af fysisk aktivitet er det centralt at forbedre kommunikation med foraeldre og ledere i dagtilbud.…”

Primary Physical Education in Scotland

“…While the recent focus on primary physical education has resulted in increased professional development opportunities for primary class teachers (Elliot & Campbell, 2015), developments within initial teacher education (ITE) have unfortunately been less positive.…”