Deborah Tannehill

Leading by Example: Teacher Educators' Professional Learning Through Communities of Practice

There has been a limited interest in examining physical education teacher educators’ role and practices in embedding professional responsibility and commitment to continued professional learning for both teacher educators and pre-service teachers in a physical education teacher education (PETE) program (MacPhail, 2011) Directed by a landscape of community of practice (CoP) as professional development (Parker, Patton & Tannehill, 2012), this article shares four case studies that demonstrate the extent to which PETE learning can be mapped onto the landscape. In essence, a CoP is sustained over time, involves shared member goals, involves frequent discourse, is active and social, and is characterized by problems being solved by the members. The ideas in this article in tandem with Wengers (1998) CoP process can encourage teacher educators to consider whether opportunities undertaken in a PETE program, and with colleagues external to the PETE program, encourage an authentic CoP.

Mapping the landscape of communities of practice as professional development in Irish physical education

Numerous primary and post-primary communities of practice (CoP) are used as educational change mechanisms to support teachers improving physical education (PE) practice in Irish schools. This studys purpose was to examine perspectives of program facilitators and participants of Irish PE CoP created to address teachers’ interests. Specifically examined were views of successful professional development and characteristics supporting or hindering its success. Participants included 33 teachers and 7 facilitators. Analysis identified three themes: purpose and success, guideposts, and roadblocks. Views of success paralleled CoP defined purposes. Incentives, a positive learning environment, supportive emotional environment, structure of the group, and facilitation with care were guideposts. Roadblocks hindering success included: time, ineffective learning environments, policy, the status of PE, and the context of schools and teaching. Overall, varying CoP structures, leadership, and support recognized multiple aspects of teacher capacity building.

Helping Teachers Help Themselves: Professional Development That Makes a Difference.

For school administrators to facilitate impactful teacher professional development, a shift in thinking that goes beyond the acquisition of new skills and knowledge to helping teachers rethink their practice is required. Based on review of the professional development literature and our own continued observations of professional development, this scholarly article synthesizes findings and presents core features of effective professional development, including what those features might look like in practice. Strategies for teachers, administrators, and schools to begin to engage in meaningful professional development experiences are presented and discussed.

Helping Pre-Service and Beginning Teachers Examine and Reframe Assumptions About Themselves as Teachers and Change Agents: “Who is Going to Listen to You Anyway?”

The focus of this article is how to ensure (beginning) teachers’ needs as practitioners are part of the discursive dialogue in physical education teacher education programs. We consider the relationship between ‘structure’ and ‘agency,’ teachers as ‘change agents’ and refer to ‘workplace learning’ as we examine the extent to which the social structure of the school and the teaching profession, and / or the capacity of the individual to act independently, ultimately determines a teachers behaviour in reaction to teaching expectations. We are interested as physical education teacher education faculty in how we (1) strive to help pre-service teachers examine and reframe assumptions about themselves as teachers and change agents, and (2) examine taken-for-granted school practices and processes. We share ways that physical education teacher education programs could encourage pre-service teachers agency and the relationship between initial teacher education and induction.

Developing Teachers' Health-Related Fitness Knowledge through a Community of Practice: Impact on Student Learning.

The purposes of this study were twofold: to examine the effects of a community of practice (CoP) on (1) physical educators’ and their students’ health-related fitness content knowledge and (2) the physical educators’ health-related fitness pedagogical content knowledge construction process. Twelve experienced physical education teachers (six in treatment, six in control group) and 278 of their students voluntarily participated in this study. Mixed method research with experimental pre–post design was used. Quantitative analysis of health-related fitness tests data used descriptive statistics, repeated measure ANOVAs and simple main effect analysis. Semi-structured post interviews with teachers and CoP facilitator, researcher field notes and audio taped and fully transcribed text of six week CoP represented the qualitative data sources that were analysed through Glaser and Strauss’ (1967) constant comparison approach. Results demonstrated that treatment group teachers and their students improved health-related fitness content knowledge from pre to post test (p < 0.05). Findings indicated that teacher participation in a CoP changed their teaching practices and teaching culture by focusing on their students’ needs, increased their engagement in physical education and triggered continued learning toward personal professional needs. In conclusion, this study indicates that a CoP based on teachers’ specific needs increased their students’ learning and changed teachers’ teaching culture positively.

What young people say about physical activity: the Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) study

The Childrens Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA) study is a unique multi-centre/discipline study undertaken by three Irish institutions, Dublin City University, University of Limerick and University College Cork. The study sought to assess participation in physical activity, physical education and sport (PAPES) among 10–18 year olds in Ireland. This paper shares what Irish children and young people convey, using their own voices, about their sport and physical activity (PA) experiences and how such experiences may result in their feeling included or excluded in PAPES. Eighteen focus groups (FG) with 124 boys and girls elicited descriptive data from students and were conducted with homogeneous groups of 6–8 boys and girls aged 12–18 years (selected for convenience) identified as male/female, primary/post-primary and generally active/inactive. Five themes (‘being with friends’, ‘variety in activity content’, ‘experiencing fun’, ‘time constraints’ and ‘opportunity to be outside’) ran across the three PAPES opportunities for young people. Overall data revealed that these young people have a positive attitude towards PA which does not diminish as they age despite activity levels decreasing. Other choices of activity participation (e.g. debate, music), or more focused activities took the place of previous choices as young people came to realise what they most enjoyed. If we are to encourage and provide opportunities for young people to choose active lifestyles, it is important that we address what these young people report affects their involvement in PA across a number of contexts. Two such developments within Irish school and community contexts are discussed: Active School Flag initiative and Senior Cycle Physical Education framework.

A career in teaching: decisions of the heart rather than the head

There is a growing body of research and scholarship highlighting the importance of teachers and teaching to childrens learning and life opportunities (Bransford, Darling-Hammond and LePage 2005). More specifically what teachers do in classrooms is a function of many things (e.g., content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge) including their belief about students, the subject, and the teaching process (Calderhead 1996). The focus of this research was to understand why young people in Ireland are attracted to teaching physical education and what factors contribute to their decision to enter a teacher education programme. A cohort of 75 physical education teacher candidates wrote brief narratives summarising key factors that influenced their decision to be teachers of physical education. Most of these students chose teaching as a career because of their interests in sport and physical education, love of working with children, and the a number of significant others telling them they would be good at teaching. Their leadership roles on teams (captaincy) and their personal athletic success also promoted a keen sense of wanting to help others be as successful as they had been. While a number of the teacher candidates wrote about negative experiences in physical education or receiving negative comments about a teaching career from teachers, they wanted to be physical education teachers as they believed they could provide positive experiences for pupils when they became teachers. A number of implications for teacher education programme design and delivery are discussed.

An examination of the relationship between enjoyment, physical education, physical activity and health in Irish adolescents

Enjoyment of physical activity (EPA) is positively correlated with activity, yet little is known of its relationship with enjoyment of physical education (EPE). This studys purpose was to explore EPE and its relationship to EPA. Cross-sectional data (N=4122, average age 14.5±1.7 years, 48% male) were collected as part of the CSPPA study (Childrens Sport Participation and Physical Activity). Adolescents completed a self-report questionnaire on physical activity behaviour and physical education. A sub-sample (n=902) completed a battery of physical health measures. Only 12% met the recommended physical activity guidelines (PAGL) for health. Few (10%) received the recommended minutes of physical education curriculum per week. Girls and older pupils received less physical education than boys and younger peers. Physical education classes were dominated by games, particularly for boys. EPE was positively correlated to EPA, and decreased as minutes of physical education decreased. Adolescents with high EPE and EPA were most likely to meet the PAGL. High EPE was correlated to a better health profile. If the factors that influence EPE are prevalent in physical education, then these youth are more likely to be happier, healthier and active beyond the school gates.

My journey to become a teacher educator

Purpose: Social theory of learning speaks to the social nature of our lives and our attempts to understand both what and how we learn from it. My experiences are built upon and reside with the social context in which they evolved. In this lecture, I will focus on my own experiences and how I interpreted them through social theory of learning that resulted from my collaboration between colleagues, mentoring that I received and shared and the pedagogical communities within which I grew. Main outcomes and results: Within each of these contexts my experiences resulted from the dialogue in which I took part. Johnston-Parsons suggests that dialogue of pedagogies provides a means of coming to know yourself and your teaching. She describes ‘a mirror as one way of describing dialogue-as-learning’ as ‘when dialogue occurred we were sharing ideas at the same time we were, as a group and as individuals, recognizing and changing our minds’ (69). The types of dialogue experienced by this teacher educator have taken place over four decades in several contexts and have resulted in my own interpretations that have shaped my practices and pedagogies. Conclusion: Through my own developing and changing teaching metaphor I will tell the story of my development as a teacher educator and the lessons I have learned that shape my practices and interactions with prospective and practising teachers.

Teacher empowerment through engagement in a learning community in Ireland: working across disadvantaged schools

This ongoing longitudinal study examined the professional development of physical education teachers in an Irish physical education learning community where all teachers worked in inner-city disadvantaged schools. This research is framed within teacher empowerment. Four years of data collection included in-service seminar/workshop evaluations, small group discussions and focus group and individual interviews. Data were analysed to allow us to answer three research questions that focused on support in setting and achieving group goals, shared experiences of planning and teaching students and the informed development of learning communities towards a community of practice model. Results highlight the support these teachers provide one another, the empowerment these teachers developed to address issues posed by their challenging work situations (e.g. limited facilities, low economic conditions, students with challenging behaviour) and the motivation that being a member of a community afforded them to persevere in teaching in difficult settings. This research is ongoing as we explore and examine how the same group of teachers are able to maintain the work of their community, reinvent themselves and move from concluding one phase to begin new projects and impact student learning.