The Covid-19 pandemic created immediate challenges for Physical Educators and Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) programs at universities to move to online pedagogy. In-service teachers (ISTs) and pre-service teachers (PSTs) were forced to rapidly evolve, designing learning in emergency remote conditions, grappling with new digital technology affordances with little to no guidance from boards, learning to engage students from home environments with conflicting priorities and wifi access, and demonstrating inability to use traditional forms of assessment and evaluation. ISTs and PSTs learn in community, sharing dialogue, and the pandemic caused a sense of isolation for teachers, decreasing opportunities for meaningful professional development. Further to this, as ISTs and PSTs are often leaders in supporting student mental health and inclusion of students with special needs, they had few digital resources to meet these student needs effectively, with many students dropping through the cracks due to decreased sense of belonging, decreased physical activity and increased isolation.
PHE Canada is proud to partner with university researchers to support PHE teachers and teacher candidates, through a SSHRC Insight Grant Application. The sample modules are free to use and open access, we are happy to share these and continue the PHETE dialogue happening across the country.
Module 1: Online Pedagogy in PE
Module 2: Equity Diversity Inclusion in PE
Lead Researchers:
Dr. Wendy Barber, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Ontario Tech University
Dr. Bill Walters, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, St. Francis Xavier University
Partner Researchers:
Dr. Serene Kerpan, Associate Professor, Faculty of Kinesiology, Vancouver Island University
Dr. Meghann Lloyd, Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ontario Tech University
Dr. Lorayne Robertson, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Ontario Tech University