An integrated blended learning approach for physical education teacher education programmes: teacher educators’ and pre-service teachers’ experiences

peer-reviewedBackground: A plethora of new terms and digital pedagogies have been making recent headlines in higher education with the promise, or threat, that digital technology will revolutionise the way in which universities operate. Blended learning is part of this digital revolution and institutions of higher education worldwide are increasingly adopting it as a new mode of delivery. The exposure of blended learning as central to mainstream higher education has been heightened exponentially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Purpose: Challenged by the argument around the concept of ‘blended’ being ill defined, and also given the lack of practical ‘blended’ experiences in physical education teacher education (PETE), this paper aims to explore physical education teacher educators’ and pre-service teachers’ (PSTs’) enactment and experiences of an integrated approach to blended learning. Method: Three physical education teacher educators and two classes of physical education PSTs participated. The integrated blended approach was designed through a block structure which allowed intended outcomes, teaching and learning activities and assessment tasks to be aligned and interconnected. Data collection occurred over two academic years for the same three physical education teacher educators and two different cohorts of PSTs. Focus groups interviews were conducted with the three teacher educators and a voluntary sample of PSTs. PSTs’ learning blogs were also analysed. Results: Findings were presented in three categories: Development of strong building blocks; Blended learning ‘releases the teaching and learning from the grips of the lecturer’; and Assessment in a blended (and non-blended) environment. We attempted to go beyond the binary humanist assumption about blended learning by designing an integrated approach with a clear but flexible structure. That is, with an organic alignment and purposeful integration of all its instructional components. Conclusions: When introducing blended learning in a (physical education) teacher education programme, we suggest designing an aligned and integrated approach structured in blocks, where all instructional components are interconnected and informing each other, enhancing prior knowledge. Given the growing role of digital technology for teaching and learning in educational policies and new PETE curricula, we advocate for the publication of more research-based experiences on blended learning in PETE programmes that might be replicated in other PETE programmes. This would encourage colleagues to explore the implications of digital technology and learn from other PETE contexts and also the sustainability of digital technology as an established mode of delivery

Teaching social justice through TPSR: where do I start?

In this paper we offer practical suggestions for integrating social justice content into physical-activity based physical education, namely, through a socially-just TPSR approach. We first address the challenges of using pedagogies for social justice in physical education. This is followed by a brief overview of TPSR (the what) and a re-imagined TPSR approach from a social justice lens. Next, practical examples for developing a socially-just TPSR approach are offered such as ways to a) examine and practice socially just behaviors, b) include transfer and advocacy, and c) use a five-part TPSR lesson plan to integrate social justice issues into physical-activity-based physical education settings. Final thoughts include a) being patient and kind to yourself when implementing unfamiliar approaches and issues, and b) making decisions about the inclusion of social justice issues based on what’s personally meaningful for students as well as context, and c) using a TPSR approach to enact social justice content requires a reconceptualization of the model through a social justice lens

Implementation evaluation of an Irish secondary-level whole school programme: a qualitative inquiry

Whole-of-school programmes (WSPs) are recommended to promote physical activity for adolescents. The Active School Flag (ASF) programme for secondary-level schools is one such WSP. Due to the difficulties of incorporating WSPs into the complex school system, there is a risk of poor implementation. The monitoring of unanticipated influences can help to understand key implementation processes prior to scale-up. The aims of this study were to identify perceived facilitators and barriers to implementing the ASF and recommend evidence-based implementation strategies. Focus groups and interviews (N = 50) were conducted in three schools with stakeholders involved in programme implementation, i.e. school management (n = 5), ASF coordinator (n = 4), student-leaders (aged 15–16 years) (n = 64) and staff committee (n = 25). Transcripts were analysed using codebook thematic analysis and were guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Implementation strategies were identified and were selected systematically to address contextual needs. Three themes surrounding the facilitators and barriers to implementation were generated: intervention design factors (e.g. capacity building and knowledge of implementers; and interest and buy-in for the programme), organizational factors (e.g. optimization of people and the busy school environment) and interpersonal factors (e.g. communication and collaboration). The examination of facilitators and barriers to implementation of the ASF has assisted with the identification of implementation strategies including (not limited to) a shared leadership programme for student leaders and a more flexible timeline for completion. These facilitative implementation strategies may assist in the effective implementation of the ASF

Reconceptualising school placement assessment in initial teacher education: A figurational perspective.

In the context of the COVID-19 restrictions and the pivot to online teaching and learning, teacher educators were forced to consider new spaces for School Placement and the assessment of these new sites of practice. This paper explores the process of the redesigning of the assessment of school placement components from the perspective of ten teacher educators across five teacher education programmes in one university. Hybridity theory, ‘third space’, and figurational sociology allowed us to understand who and what influenced the redesigning of assessment practices. The three themes relating to assessment included: (i) A network of interdependent relationships influencing teacher educators’ reimagining of assessment processes; (ii) The influence of external interdependent relationships and context(s); and (iii) The role(s) of assessor for the teacher educator. We explicitly argue for the need to continue to advocate and advance these practices to ‘build Initial Teacher Education back better’

Examination physical education: policy, pedagogies and possibilities

Examination physical education: policy, pedagogies and possibilitie

Teacher agency and learner agency in teaching and learning a new school subject, Leaving Certificate Computer Science, in Ireland: Considerations for teacher education

A new school subject, Leaving Certificate Computer Science, was introduced in September 2018 into Irish schools in a period of curriculum reform and change. Drawing on concepts of teacher agency and learner agency, and viewed through a figurational sociology lens, this paper explored the realities of teaching LCCS and the role teacher agency and learner agency played in such enactment. Through a case study design, four teachers were interviewed in a focus group semi-structured manner. To delve deeper into the pedagogical approaches used in LCCS, a further one teacher and their nine students were interviewed. The findings highlight an influential relationship (positive and negative, encouraging and discouraging) between teachers’ agentic decisions in their process of achieving teacher agency and the students process of achieving learner agency. The paper offers a figurational viewpoint of the relationship between teacher agency and learner agency through a constructed Figure. We explicitly argue that the responsibility should not be placed on the teacher and student in achieving agency (as a product) but it is a combination of the teacher and the students and the other interdependent relationships within their figurations, alongside contextual factors, and educational social processes, which determine the fluctuation of the process of achieving teacher and learner agency. The paper provides considerations for computer science teacher education.peer-reviewed2024-07-3

Interpreting, translating, and embedding school curriculum in physical education teacher education: the need for collective action within and across the teacher education continuum

Olson, J. K. [1977. “Teacher Education and Curriculum Change: Reexamining the Relationship.” Curriculum Inquiry 7 (1): 61–66]. https://doi.org/10.1080/03626784.1977.11076205. argued how in the wave of curriculum development, the role of teachers, and therefore initial teacher education (ITE), had been neglected and as such, they provided a vision for a revised form of ITE. We contend that almost 50 years on, the ITE community is yet to fulfil this vision for ITE. We explore this argument through the recent wave of physical education curriculum policy development, particularly the introduction of Leaving Certificate Physical Education (LCPE), and the processes of interpretation, translation, and embedding curriculum into ITE. We were guided by the research question: How are physical education teacher educators embedding curriculum into their Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programmes to best prepare pre-service teachers (PSTs) to teach such curriculum? Seventeen physical education teacher educators across three ITE institutes were interviewed on the processes of embedding LCPE into their respective programmes. Findings discuss the necessity for PETE programme reconfiguration, the (mis)alignment between PETE and current realities of PSTs, schools, and society, and highlight the need for advocacy and sharing across PETE. This paper advocates for teacher educators to be positioned as policy actors, pedagogical possibilities in PETE, and the need for different stakeholders to work (and learn) together.</p

‘Weak’ physical education teacher education practice: co-constructing features of meaningful physical education with pre-service teachers

While the meaningful physical education approach serves as a unifying and focused framework for both physical education teachers and teacher educators, it is focused on teaching physical education and not how teacher educators can teach pre-service teachers (PSTs) how to teach using meaningful physical education. Consequently, Learning about Meaningful Physical Education (LAMPE) has emerged as a comprehensive pedagogical approach designed to support teacher educators in their decision making to educate PSTs about meaningful physical education. However more work is needed to exemplify PETE practices when enacting the LAMPE pedagogical principles and explain their effectiveness in preparing PSTs to learn about meaningful physical education. This research aims to address the knowledge gap in answering: What are the realities of enacting principle four of the LAMPE principles (i.e. Teacher educators should frame learning activities using features of meaningful participation) in PETE? Rather than providing the already agreed critical features of meaningful physical education (i.e. social interaction, challenge, motor competence, fun, and personally relevant learning), and reproducing what is already known, Dylan engaged in a self-study of teacher education practices (S-STEP) methodology to inductively co-construct a shared language with his PSTs. Data was collected through different sources: (i) Four community of learners meetings; (ii) 11 reflective journal entries; (iii) Critical friends interrogation on such reflections; and (iv) the teaching artefacts. Through data analysis, three categories were constructed: (1) Inductive disruption encouraging co-construction of meaningful physical education features; (2) Tensions in developing a shared language through identification, exploration, experience, and reflection; (3) An uncomfortable space of ‘knowing’ and ‘not knowing’. The inductive analysis led us to make connections to Biesta, G.’s [2014. The Beautiful Risk of Education. Paradigm Publishers] notion of ‘weak education’. Informed by this, this research advocates for ‘weak practice’, the development of a pedagogy of teacher education, and a principle zero

An exploration (and creation) of meaningful teacher educator practises

Pedagogical principles for teacher educators have been developed to support pre-service teachers’ learning in teaching meaningful physical education (Ní Chróinín, Fletcher, & O’Sullivan, 2018). We question teacher educators’ capability to engage with such principles if such teacher educators are not aware of what practises are meaningful to them. While pedagogical principles for teacher educators have been developed (Ní Chróinín et al., 2018), there is less focus on what practises are meaningful for teacher educators. To explore this, four teacher educators (from Ireland, England, and Norway) engaged in collaborative self-study (Ovens & Fletcher, 2014). We decided to begin our self-study by engaging in narrative inquiry and exploring what teacher educator practises are meaningful to us. By gaining an understanding of this, we can then look to develop and enhance our practice to teach for meaningful teacher education experiences. We engaged in a storytelling data collection process whereby each of us shared a story of ‘meaningful’ and ‘meaningless’ teacher educator practises. These stories elicited other associated stories and we collected stories over five recorded zoom meetings, critical discussions, and note-taking. Findings highlighted the importance of (individual and collective) reflection in translating meaningless experiences into meaningful teacher educator practises, the complexities of (meaningful) teacher education, and the necessity of space for teacher educators to develop meaningful teacher educator practises. This presentation shares the complexity of becoming a teacher educator and prompts the audience to consider what is meaningful to them and the possibilities within that for an overall enhanced teacher education experience

The enactment of the socially-just teaching personal and social responsibility (SJ-TPSR) approach in physical education teacher education: teacher educators’ and pre-service teachers’ perspectives

Background: Research in teacher education practice explicitly highlights how learning to teach teachers is a complex, messy, sophisticated process, filled with uncertainty and perpetual challenges. While this applies to all aspects of teacher education, we focus here on the process of learning to teach pre-service teachers (PSTs) how to teach about, through, and for social justice (pedagogies) by enacting the Socially-Just Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (SJ-TPSR) approach. Purpose: This research was guided by the following research question: What are the realities of enacting a SJ-TPSR approach in physical education teacher education (PETE)? Method: Utilising a collaborative self-study approach two physical education teacher educators, supported by two critical friends, enacted the SJ-TPSR approach in a 10-week outdoor and adventure activities module with pre-service generalist primary school teachers. Data included: critical friend meetings, pedagogical decision-making documents and interviews with the teacher educators and PSTs. Findings: The findings revolve around three categories: (i) Teaching about teaching and learning about teaching the SJ-TPSR approach; (ii) The importance of learning together; and (iii) A pedagogy of vulnerability needed? The findings demonstrated the need to take a gradual approach to teaching about teaching the SJ-TPSR approach and learning about teaching along with the SJ-TPSR approach. It was a daunting experience but reflection and sharing our thoughts mitigated most of these feelings. The importance of learning together was highlighted by both teacher educators. Co-constructing this new knowledge with the PSTs further supported this process. Finally, when enacting a new pedagogical approach, particularly in the area of social justice, required an additional pedagogical approach that of vulnerability. Discussion: Our collaborative self-study on the enactment of the SJTPSR approach is an explicit example of reframing pedagogy and practice not only from a social change and social justice perspective, but about, through, and for social justice and change. We first reconceptualised the TPSR approach to the SJ-TPSR approach from a social justice perspective, but then examined our practice and developed practices that also support the teaching and learning about, through, and for social justice. The practices developed have implications for the enactment of the SJ-TPSR approach which hold possibilities for other innovative practices (e.g. layering), and also for self-study research, namely ways in which collaborative self-study can be conducted and in which self-study can work from a social change and social justice perspective Conclusion: We trust that sharing our journey thus far will support others interested in enacting the SJ-TPSR approach, and that we, in turn, can learn from others enacting, examining, and articulating their experiences with the approac