This paper explored physical education (PE) teachers' perspectives of giving voice to students to understand how the practice is enacted in lessons at a time of curricular reform. A qualitative comparative case study followed three teachers in a triad of Irish secondary schools, eliciting their experiences of giving voice to students using focus…

In addressing the theory-practice divide, this research provides valuable insight into preservice teachers' (PSTs) learning through an experiential learning (EL) framework during teacher education. Utilizing an interpretivist approach, this study aims at providing insight on how PSTs link the manner in which they learned during teacher education…

This longitudinal research explored beginning elementary classroom teachers' beliefs about learning to teach physical education (PE) across time. Understanding how beliefs shape the process of learning to teach PE can inform the design of more impactful physical education teacher education (PETE). We mapped beliefs over six years including the…

Popular physical culture serves as a site, subject and medium for young people's learning (Sandford & Rich, 2006) and impacts their relationship with physical education, physical activity and the construction of their embodied identities. This paper addresses the potential of scrapbooking as a pedagogical and methodological tool to facilitate…

The purpose of this study was to explore enhancers and inhibitors that impacted 4 secondary physical education teachers to make changes in their programs. An interpretivist approach was used to understand the physical educators' change process. Data were collected from document analyses, participant information sheets, interviews, discussion…

The conditions that students, parents, teachers, and administrators experienced are a product of economic, political, and social influences that impact the day-to-day operation of urban schools. One cannot understand the context of urban schools in the United States without considering the economic, political, and social influences that have made…

There are many factors that affect the design of effective professional development (PD) programs. This review of literature focuses on some of the theoretical models used to explain teacher change, the contextual factors that impact teacher behaviors and curricular change, and the role of continuous professional development in changing teaching…

In order to understand teachers' responses to professional development (PD) opportunities at the level of practice, and how such practice is situated within communities of learners, changes that occur as a result of participation and the mediational influences of the community of practice itself must be considered. The primary purpose of this…

Bechtel and O'Sullivan suggest that teacher change within the context of professional development (PD) is influenced by the design and content of PD initiatives. This paper examines the influence of an initiative designed to stimulate reflection and discussion among experienced teachers. It has been argued in the physical education literature and…

This chapter summarizes the 4-year-long PEP professional development (PD) initiative in terms of current perspectives on teacher learning and PD, shares lessons learned about the design and delivery of high-quality PD, and presents some principles to guide the development of future PD efforts. The first section reviews the definition and…

Examined changes in one elementary physical educator's pedagogy and content as a function of experience. Interviews and observations of the educator's teaching in years 2 and 6 indicated similarities in pedagogical organization of lessons but differences in content. Managerial and instructional routines and professional isolation remained the…

This study investigated elementary and secondary physical educators' reflection within the teaching and learning environment and the role of reflection in their professional development. Data from observations, interviews, vignettes, and journals indicated that teaching context and concrete experiences were most often responsible for stimulating…

Examined the ecology of "free gym" as it occurred in both school lunch hour and after school community settings. Data collected on urban high school students revealed a student imposed hierarchy dominated by skilled male African American basketball players. Status was gained through what occurred within the free gym ecology. Few students…

Investigated physical education teachers' educational theories of action and theories-in-use. Data from classroom observations, interviews, and journals indicated that teachers held strong, well-articulated views about student learning and what constituted a physically educated student. Results did not substantiate the notion of a level of…

Critiques Daryl Siedentop's lecture, "In Search of Effective Teaching: What We Have Learned From Teachers," addressing aspects of effective teaching research that appear to be missing from or less evident in Siedentop's work and commenting on Siedentop's overall contributions to the literature on effective teaching in physical education…