Student Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Elementary Physical Education

Previously published in volume 83, Issue 1

Abstract
This study focused on student teachers in a four-year elementary education degree program and their perceptions regarding teaching physical education. Administered as an online anonymous questionnaire prior to a curriculum and pedagogy course, the research question was what are your perceptions of teaching PE in school as an elementary generalist? This included sections on background/experiences, planning for PE, priorities in PE, who should teach PE, and what they were most excited/anxious about when thinking about teaching PE. From the 30 responses, it was found that student teachers generally lacked excitement for teaching PE in schools, even though most came from an active background. In particular, confidence in how well they would be able to teach PE was closely linked with how competent they believed themselves to be in sports and demonstrating skills. However, most believed PE should emphasize teaching fundamental movement skills and personal/social responsibility rather than sport skills and training. Many reported discomfort with planning using a curricular document and creating authentic assessments. As a result of this study, suggestions are made regarding teacher education programs, in particular, how a PE curriculum and pedagogy course could be structured.

Preparing elementary teachers for physical education
Physical Education (PE) is a required area of study for Kindergarten to Grade 10 students in the province of Alberta, and we know quality PE teaching is critical for children to develop foundational skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to carry on a healthy and active lifestyle later in life (Alberta Education, 2009). Recently, excitement about the term physical literacy has created much more momentum surrounding the promotion and advocacy of active lifestyles, the facilitation of multi-sector approaches, and improved information provided to stakeholders, including parents and teachers (International Physical Literacy Association, 2014). However, many elementary teachers still report discomfort with teaching PE because they feel ill-prepared (Lu & DeLisio, 2009).

A brief look at some literature  
In most cases in Alberta, PE at the elementary level is taught by generalists (i.e., someone who has not undertaken extensive training in PE) rather than specialists who have specific and extensive training in both content and pedagogy (Chorney, 2009). A large number of varying subject area courses are required by elementary teacher education preparation programs but a PE course may not even be required for graduation.         

In addition to a potential lack of content and pedagogy exposure in PE, neither teacher candidates nor practicing teachers may be excited about teaching PE because of their prior experiences. As Dewey (1938) explained, our experiences are not only immediately deemed agreeable or disagreeable, but they also emerge and influence our later experiences. What we experienced in our younger years impacts our beliefs today. Dewey (1938) characterized disagreeable, negative experiences as mis-educative, and emphasized the close connection between personal experiences and education. PE may have been a mis-educative experience for many people in their schooling years; therefore, they carry this with them into their teaching practice.

Student teachers also carry with them prior experiences from coaching, sport, and activity involvement and even their background, culture, beliefs, values, etc. Our identities as teachers are “… never determined by a single socializing ideology; we are constituted by multiple, often conflicting discourses” (Richie & Wilson, 2000, p. 71). The multiple discourses and where they intersect can be sites of tension but also can be productive sites of critical reflection and development – these spaces of tension can be a focal point for examination. It is the role of teacher education programs to help students examine and challenge their beliefs about what it means to teach PE (Anspal et al., 2012) and to consider how PE might differ from coaching or extracurricular activities (Lawson, 1983a).

Regardless of whether a teacher is excited to teach PE, society is beginning to recognize the importance of fostering positive attitudes toward physical activity. This study sought to find out how student teachers in an elementary education degree program felt about their preparation in the area of PE.

The focus of the study
This study focused on the perceptions of fourth year student teachers in an elementary Bachelor of Education (B.Ed.) degree program at a small Canadian university. In the program, students are required to take one PE curriculum and pedagogy course in their second-last semester. The main question and sub-questions were:

• What are your expectations of teaching PE in school as an elementary generalist?
  • What are your prior experiences with PE?
  • How prepared do you feel to teach PE?
  • What are your priorities when teaching PE

The purpose of the study was to gain insight into how student teachers feel about teaching PE prior to taking the required PE course, after taking the course, and again following their 12-week practicum (during the final semester). The information provided will help to inform teacher education practices, schools/boards with support for the teaching of PE, as well as student teachers to reflect on their knowledge of and confidence in teaching PE.

What the study looked like
The study invited a cohort of fourth year B.Ed. student teachers to complete a short online questionnaire that had been created in collaboration with four other teacher educators from different teacher education programs across the country. Questions included open ended as well as scaled responses (strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree, strongly disagree). The participating student teacher cohort was enrolled in the PE course in one of three sections (total of 80 student teachers). The invitation was provided through a course website and was voluntary. The researcher, who was also the PE course instructor, had no access to the data until the cohort had graduated. Twenty-six participants completed the pre-course questionnaire which included:

• open ended questions about their background information (what level of PE had they completed in school, how active they were as a child, how active they are as an adult, etc.),
• scaled questions regarding how they felt about planning for teaching PE (familiarity with the curriculum guide, daily lesson planning, long term/year planning),
• scaled questions about what they currently believed to be a priority in PE (sport skills, fundamental movement skills, athlete specific training, teaching personal and social responsibility, rewards, etc.),
• a scaled question about who should teach elementary PE (generalists or specialists),
• open ended response to the questions What are you most excited about regarding teaching PE? and What are you most nervous about regarding teaching PE? at the end of the questionnaire.

Unfortunately, only eight, a much smaller number of student teachers, completed the post-course questionnaire; some of whom had not completed the pre-course questionnaire. Similarly, following practicum, the sample number decreased yet again to six, with some completing the questionnaire for the first time. As a result, data from the post-course and post-practicum questionnaires will not be discussed in this paper. Rather than the original goal to do a comparison of potential attitude change over time, we can look at initial thoughts of student teachers and what they expect from a PE curriculum and pedagogy course. All direct quotes from student teachers’ questionnaires are anonymous; in order to increase readability and flow, no participant citations will be provided following quotations.

The student teachers who participated
Information provided in the background portion of the questionnaire indicated that generally, the students came from an active background. The data showed that 65% had taken PE in school beyond the required grade 10 course and just over half had taken at least one other PE-related course during their post-secondary education. About half had played school sports growing up and 87% had been involved in some activity outside of school; the data showed that 93% stated their active lifestyle was supported by their family and 74% reported that they still consider themselves an active adult. Based on what was self-reported, we might anticipate that the student teachers in this study would feel positive toward teaching PE and learning about PE pedagogy as they move into a career. However, this was not necessarily the case.

What the student teachers said
Just over half (58%) of the student teachers reported positive expectations and a feeling of confidence toward teaching PE in schools. These positive expectations could potentially be a result of participants having educative experiences in PE while growing up (Dewey, 1938). On the other hand, one student connected their low confidence to their actual teaching experience, stating “I’ve never actually taught PE in my volunteer or practicum experience, so I am not really sure if I’m ready.” There are many factors to consider when it comes to expectations confidence. Additionally, positive expectations could stem from the false notion that teaching PE is similar to coaching (Lawson, 1983a). One student said, “I have experience coaching which helps with my confidence in teaching PE.” This makes us wonder if student teachers equate teaching PE with having a strong coaching or sport involvement background, which is not necessarily the reality of teaching quality PE.

Planning in PE
Planning for instruction was the second section of the questionnaire. Again, just over half (52%) expressed familiarity with the provincial PE curriculum document, yet 74% reported that they agreed or strongly agreed when asked if they felt confident with daily lesson planning. Some added in the comments section that because they knew how to use curricular documents from other subject area courses, they felt they could transfer that knowledge and create lesson plans for PE. However, planning was one area that students expected to learn more about through the PE curriculum and pedagogy course, stating “I am always willing to keep working [on planning] throughout this fall and the rest of my career” and “Is this not what you are going to teach us?” When it came to long term planning, such as yearly plans, only 30% of students reported confidence while 47% were undecided and 23% reported a lack of confidence. Creating meaningful assessments that link to curricular outcomes was an area of concern for more than half of the participants (55%) and one student teacher summarized his feelings by saying, “Assessment has always been such a broad and overwhelming aspect to me.” We know that planning for assessment and corresponding activities go hand in hand, and so it seems appropriate that students expressed discomfort with both.

Priorities in PE
Participants did not have to choose or rank priorities, but rather could look at each named priority individually and state whether they strongly agreed, agreed, were undecided, disagreed, or strongly disagreed that it should be a priority in PE. For simplicity, strongly agree and agree are reported together, while disagree and strongly disagree are reported together.

Only 10% believed that PE should be about sports while 96% felt PE should focus on fundamental movement skill (FMS) development (i.e., sending, receiving, locomotor, balancing, stability). 93% believed that the teaching of personal and social responsibility should be a priority of PE and only 10% thought class time should be used for the development of athletes for school sports teams. Encouragingly, all (100%) student teachers believed that PE should develop the whole, healthy child and that taking away PE should not be used as a punishment for students who are not finished their homework (97%).

Who should teach PE?
Interestingly, 45% of student teachers reported to be undecided on the issue of whether a PE specialist should teach PE in schools or if a generalist teacher could do a quality job. It appeared that while they agreed PE is a speciality area, they also recognized obstacles to having a specialist in a school. One student stated, “This is a hard question as lots of schools don’t have the funding to hire a specific PE teacher so generalists should know how to teach PE as well” and another said, “PE would be ideally taught by a specialist but because of budget cuts they are quickly diminishing in the elementary world and it is extremely important for general classroom teachers to have the adequate skills to teach PE to their class.” The student teachers acknowledged special training in PE is ideal, but that the reality in schools often is different.

Most anxious or nervous about...
Five themes emerged when student teachers were asked what they were most nervous or anxious about regarding teaching PE in the open-ended question section.

Comments about relevant and meaningful assessment emerged, such as, “...I am not comfortable with yet” or “connecting assessment to the lessons in an effective way” and “how to appropriately assess students in PE ... I truly do not think that testing is the only thing that should be used to assess students’ understanding.”

Another theme that emerged was a lack of confidence in themselves and their knowledge of PE as a subject area. Comments included, “I was never any good at gym so I just need to build my confidence in this area” or “I am not very physically fit at all and I am fearful this will negatively affect my ability to provide PE instruction” and “I am concerned with being qualified enough to teach PE and make it meaningful to them,” along with “I am anxious about my lack of PE skills because they are not important to me.” This particular theme reflects what they believe PE to be about, which seems to be skill and demonstrating skill in order to be effective. This aligns with the very first question section regarding their excitement about teaching PE.

A third theme that emerged was safety concerns relating to rules and preventing injuries. One student said, “Safety of students is something that makes me nervous as their teacher. I want to learn the skills and techniques to manage a large group of students to ensure a safe, successful class.”

Planning, preparation and using the curricular document emerged as another theme of concern, in particular, long term planning. Some expressed their desire to “not waste time in the loud, large space” or “I’m most nervous about creating activities for younger students that will not be entertaining and engaging... being able to get student who don’t enjoy PE involved.” In addition, one student teacher said they were most nervous about “...creating a long range plan. I am confident in creating individual plans but making an entire unit or even a year is scary to think about. What would I even teach first?”

Inclusion of all students was a fifth theme of concern that emerged in the open ended question section. One student teacher said, “I want to learn more about differentiating instruction for students with disabilities ... so those children can participate and don’t feel left out and can participate just like the other students.” Others agreed stating, “I just want to make sure I am including everyone but challenging everyone no matter their ability” and “I am nervous about finding children who are not able to engage in activities because they are severely overweight or unhealthy ... how I would approach their families to promote a more active lifestyle.”

Most excited about...
Overwhelmingly, a common theme when asked what they were most excited about regarding teaching PE, was to instill an excitement for physical activity and healthy living. Student teachers reported “helping students develop skills in a fun way” and “make it an enjoyable class for all of my students” was very important to encouraging positive attitudes toward being active. One student teacher said, “Giving children positive experiences in physical activity so that it becomes something they enjoy inside and outside of school instead of something they avoid” was really exciting to them. A few cited “creating new and innovative approaches to PE” and “bring about new ideas and combine them with classic games to keep students excited” while one reported, “learning ways to incorporate other subjects with PE” as exciting to them.

Implications for our practices
A suggestion for teacher preparation programs and PE curriculum and pedagogy courses is to challenge what students believe about PE. It is important for faculty within teacher education programs to be aware of developing identities of student teachers and influencing factors. “The challenge for teacher education is to help students recognize their career expectations, and challenge their prior beliefs about teaching and learning, often rooted in their own school experiences” (Anspal et al., 2012). What student teachers do and the decisions they make are framed by their understanding and positioning of themselves.

First of all, it may be worthwhile to look inward at their stories of PE while they were in school and discuss how their experiences growing up have shaped their teaching identities (Funk, 2014). A potential in-class activity in a PE curriculum and pedagogy course is to write a short one-page narrative about a memorable (educative or mis-educative) experience they had in PE with particular attention paid to the senses; this forces them to consider details beyond the plot or events, and notice what else was going on during that experience. They can then share their narratives in pairs or small groups, reflecting on how their experiences growing up have shaped what they believe teaching PE should look and feel like today.

An extension to sharing an experience is to formulate what they believe their vision for teaching PE (teaching philosophy) to be early in the semester. Throughout the course, provide opportunities for revision, documenting the changes along the way. The end result could be a series of edited documents (a photo collage of each revised document) showcased alongside with their end of semester vision for teaching PE.

Further to the above suggestion, it is important to expose student teachers to diverse ways that PE can be delivered and experienced to challenge their notions of PE. This can be done by identifying teachers in the field who currently teach quality PE at nearby schools and observe their teaching in action. Student teachers should be given the opportunity to talk to the teacher(s) after the observation and ask questions about what they saw. A debrief session should be facilitated in class to allow for reflection time.

If possible, every PE curriculum and pedagogy course should involve some aspect of authentic teaching in the gymnasium and/or outdoors. Student teachers should be expected to create a lesson plan or sequence of lessons, depending on the length of the opportunity. They should be allowed to teach in pairs, especially if they feel uncomfortable with PE to begin with. This will allow for a positive experience teaching PE and, hopefully, encourage further exploration (Funk, 2014). As part of the teaching experience, student teachers should be expected to reflect on their lesson, asking themselves what went well, what would they change, and how they would assess the students’ learning if they were teaching that class.

Overall summary
In particular, one aspect of student teacher responses in this study that stood out was how they reported feeling more confident teaching PE if they had some coaching or sport participation background. Relating to this, a comment that appeared a number of times was that quality PE somehow needed to involve skillful demonstrations and being good at many sports and activities (in order to demonstrate and earn the respect of students). This finding made the researcher question what it is student teachers believe quality PE is. On one hand, the student teachers reported a priority should be emphasis on the development of FMS and not sport-specific activities or training. However, on the other hand, they commented about a lack of confidence in their own performance abilities.

Additionally, this study reveals the importance of a PE curriculum and pedagogy course during teacher preparation programs if student teachers will be expected to teach PE in schools. Not all programs require a PE course for graduation. The sentiment reflected in student teacher responses is one of experience; the more experience and exposure they have to quality PE, the more confident and comfortable they will be teaching PE in school.

Student teachers expect to learn more about PE curricular documents, planning (long and short term), and how to assess student achievement. Without direction on how to link assessment, activities, and planning, and without demonstrated emphasis on FMS, teaching for personal and social responsibility, PE can become a space of perpetuating mis-educative experiences that focus solely on sport/athlete development. Alternatively, if teacher education programs can work together with practicing teachers, our student teachers can be experience quality PE teaching and potentially reform what they remember and believe about PE, increase their confidence to teach PE, and feel more positive overall about who they can be as a PE teacher.

References

Alberta Educaction, Curriculum Branch. (2009). Framework for kindergarten to grade 12 wellness education. Retrieved from: http://education.alberta.ca/teachers/program/pe.aspx

Anspal, T., Eisenschmidt, E., & Lofstrom, E. (2012). Finding myself as a teacher:

Exploring the shaping of teacher identities through student teachers’ narratives. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 18(2), 197-216.

Chorney, D. (2009). Today’s physical education teachers: An inquiry into exceptional practice. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 55(2), 171-184.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books.

Funk, S. D. (2014). Living a curriculum of tensions: Experiences of learning to teach physical education (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewan.

International Physical Literacy Association (2014). Canada’s physical literacy consensus statement. Retrieved from:      http://www.physicalliteracy.ca/sites/default/files/ConsensusHandout-EN-WEB_1.pdf

Lawson, H. A. (Spring, 1983a). Toward a model of teacher socialization in physical education: The subjective warrant, recruitment, and teacher education.  Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 2(3), 3-16.

Lu, C. & DeLisio, A. (2009). Specifics for generalists: Teaching elementary physical education. International Electronic Journal of Teaching Elementary Education, 1(3), 170-187.

Richie, J. S. & Wilson, D. E. (2000). Teacher narrative as critical inquiry: Rewriting the script.     New York, N.Y.: Teachers College Press.