This article reports on a study of one recently qualified teacher's employment of the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) model in a UK secondary school. The study sought to examine how the teacher, not formally educated in its use, delivered TGfU and to identify those factors that led to this interpretation of the model. Occupational…

Observation of trends in physical education plays an integral role in motor-development diagnostics and in encouraging physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. This study aims to elucidate the current state of and trends in pupils' assessments of physical education lessons (PELs) in different education systems in the context of…

Research shows that teachers' grading is influenced by non-achievement factors in addition to official criteria, such as knowledge and skills. Some grading criteria are internalised by the teacher, who is sometimes unable to verbalise the criteria used and refers to what is called a "gut feeling". Therefore, transparency, validity…

This paper outlines a method for exploring learning in educational practice. The suggested method combines an explicit learning theory with robust methodological steps in order to explore aspects of learning in school physical education. The design of the study is based on sociocultural learning theory, and the approach adds to previous research…

The Code of Practice of the Department for Education (1994) establishes the role of special educational needs coordinator (SENCO) to help facilitate the inclusion of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. SENCOs, thus, should form an integral part of the culture of all departments, including physical education (PE).…

Physical education (PE) is steeped in history, tradition and ritual. The accepted tradition of excuse notes allowing pupils to self-exempt from lessons is one such ritual associated with the subject in schools. This paper explores the impact of this phenomenon, focusing on participation and engagement levels within PE lessons. Data was collected…

It is implied by governing organizations that Australia is presently experiencing its first national curriculum reform, when as the title suggests it is the second. However, until now Australian states and territories have been responsible for the education curriculum delivered within schools. The present national curriculum reform promises one…

This paper explores the tacit expert knowledge and understanding about games curriculum and pedagogy of three men, Len Almond, David Bunker, and Rod Thorpe, credited as the founders of the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) model. The model emerged from teacher practice in the late 1970s and was little theorized at the time, apart from a…

Innovation in enhancing the reflective abilities of physical education trainee teachers was explored in this study through establishing peer "training buddies" during their school placements. Opportunities for active engagement in peer- and self-reflection were provided to full-time Post-Graduate Secondary Physical Education trainee teachers (n =…

This article explores the current demands that teachers engage in year-on-year continued professional development (CPD) as a means of showing their ongoing competence to teach. In particular it highlights two types of CPD: the talked about notion of the "reflective practitioner" and the actioned reality of CPD as a measure of technical and…

This study focuses on the school-based training experiences of trainee physical education teachers in opposite-sex secondary schools in south-east England which has been presented and discussed elsewhere in the academic community. Through an interpretive paradigm, using critical incident writing as a means of collecting computer-mediated data, one…

This paper uses figurational sociology to explain why Secondary Physical Education teachers' engagement with Health Related Exercise (HRE) is often limited. Historically-rooted concerns surround the teaching of HRE, and these have recently been linked to teachers' limited continuing professional development (CPD) in HRE (HRE-CPD). A two-phase,…

The purpose of this study was to look at the influence of and interrelationships between concerns and socialization on the development of student physical education (PE) teachers' knowledge for teaching and their development as teachers. Six secondary student PE teachers completed a journal on a monthly basis throughout the course of a one-year…

This purpose of this study was to examine student activity, lesson contexts and teacher interactions during secondary school physical education, using a recently validated systematic observation instrument termed the System for Observing the Teaching of Games in Physical Education (SOTG-PE). Thirty, single-gender high school (11-16 years) physical…

This paper examines how teachers select printed curriculum materials in PE in Spanish secondary schools through Bernstein's theory of the pedagogic device. The sample recruited were 310 secondary school PE teachers (210 male and 100 female) belonging to the Valencian community in Spain. The mean age of participants was 37.7 (SD 8.7) and the…