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

A figurational analysis of health and/or physical education teacher educators’ conceptualisations of policy, and their sociogenesis

Policy engagement is key to promoting quality physical education yet it has been identified as a ‘grand challenge’ for Health and/or Physical Education (H/PE) internationally. All H/PE professionals, including teacher educators, have a collective responsibility to engage with policy but existing research tells us little about how H/PE teacher educators (H/PETEs) understand and engage with policy. It is important to examine H/PETEs conceptualisations of policy for a few reasons, not least because teacher educators play a crucial role in supporting future generations of teachers who themselves will need to engage with policy as a core feature of their professional lives. Drawing on figurational sociology, and the concept of assemblage, this paper offers insights into the nature and development–or sociogenesis–of teacher educators’ conceptualisations of policy. The data shared in this paper was generated through semi-structured interviews with 12 H/PETE from 7 countries. Inductive-deductive analysis–drawing largely on figurational concepts such as interdependence, power, habitus and sociogenesis–revealed that H/PETEs conceptualised policy as: (i) informing intended action and change; (ii) a way to govern practice; (iii) imposition and possibility. In terms of how these conceptualisations came to be, key features of the H/PETE figuration that were identified as influential include: (i) interdependence with human and non-human elements; (ii) balances of power and (iii) social and individual habitus. It is concluded that capitalising on these elements through professional learning, for example, could support H/PETEs in engaging with policy in productive and meaningful ways. Given that engaging with policy is viewed as a collective responsibility of H/PETEs, and many–if not all–of the H/PETEs felt they needed support in this regard, this should be a key focus for the field

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