Ready to Teach or Just Ready to Move On? - An Investigation Into Levels Of Preparedness in Physical Education Graduates

Author(s):

Elaine McCulloch(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES C 09, Teacher Education

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-21

11:00-12:30

Room:

W3.09

Chair:

Edwin Keiner

Contribution

This paper arose from a study that examined how Physical Eduaction Teacher Education graduates in Scotland view their levels of prepardness as probatinoary teachers and early phase practitiones.

The European Commission (2012) offered that the quality of teaching and learning is of key importance in determining student performance. However, in the current education climate teachers face unprecedented challenges. In Scotland the prominence given to Health and Wellbeing has resulted in increased repsonsibility for Physical Education graduates. Alongside this Fletcher and Casey (2014) highlight the need for Physical Education to undertake a profound transformation. Given the importance that is placed on teacher quality; the evolving curriculm in Scotland and the need for reform in Physical Education: it is imperative that the next generation of physical education teachers are prepared to teach within this context.

Preparation is a concept that is frequently used in education, throughout initial teacher education preparation is emphasised as being one of the key constructs of an effective teacher leading to confidence or ‘teacher efficacy’ in their ability to promote students learning (Hoy, 2000). Bandura (1986, 1997) offered that there were four sources of information used to construct a persons self-efficacy and in the case of teaching there are strong links between preparedness and teacher efficacy with particular reference to their experiences (Protheroe, 2008). In further work Hoy (2000) suggests that some of the most important factors that contribute to the development of teacher efficacy are mastery experiences during their initial teacher education and into their induction year. Given the importance placed on teacher efficacy and the evident links to teacher preparedness it is essential to investigate the levels of preparedness in probationary teachers and early phase teachers.

Method

Research Questions: 1) How do practitioners view their levels of preparedness as a) a probationary teacher and b) an early phase practitioner? 2) What are the factors that contribute to perceived levels of preparedness within physical education graduates of ITE? Method A mixed method approach of qualitative and quantitative methodologies was used. Quantitative and qualitative data was gathered via questionnaires. This then led on to the second stage of data collection; qualitative data was collected in the form of focus groups. The first and second stage of data collection happened in the participants graduating year. The final stage of data collection, which happened at the end of the participants probationary year, was semi-strucutred interviews. The questionnaire consisted of open and closed questions which asked participants to share their views on their levels of preparedness in relation to their ITE course. The questions were framed using knowledge of teacher preparedness but were intentionally kept neutral as advise by Menter et al. (2011) to encourage participants to give as honest a view as possible. The focus group was used to explore the themes and questions emerging from the questionnaires, looking for similarities and differences in experiences of the participants. The interviews allowed participants to reflect back on their experiences during their first year of teaching and consider whether they were as prepared as they had thought. Sample The participants were all Secondary Physical Education Graduates from the Professional Graduate Diploma in Education. The entire graduating class o f fourteen students completed the questionnaire (7 female, 7 male). 11 of those participants then contributed across two focus groups (5 female, 6 male). Finally, four participants undertook reflective interviews. The age range of the participants was 22 - 21 years old. Analysis The questionnaire data was analysed for descriptive statistics, comparative statistics and common themes. Within this study the ability to capture the experiential world of the research participants is of key importance and the selection of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) for the analysis of focus group and interview data was key. This inductive method of analyse allows the researcher to focus on interpretation of meanings (Smith et al, 2009). Within IPA the researcher reflects on their own preconceptions and attempts to suspend them in order to focus on making sense of the research participants meanings (Smith et al, 2009).

Expected Outcomes

Within the survey all participants either agreed or strongly agreed that they were prepared to undertake their probationary year. Variation was observed in levels of preparedness to meet responsibility for HWB. However, PE was also offered as synonymous with HWB by participants and this was equated to feelings of preparedness overall. This could signify a gap in the participants experiences as PE and HWB are not synonymous yet participants placed a great deal of significance on this as one of the main factors that contributed to their feelings of preparedness. From the focus group and interview analysis participants overviewed several views that have important implications - meeting the standards for gradation does not necessarily equate to graduates feeling prepared - ITE courses are one of multiple factors that contribute to perceived preparedness within graduates; other significant factors appear to be time spent in school and tutor support - perceived preparation is context specific and is changed by participant experiences Overall within the study In alignment with the four categories presented by Menter et al (2010) there are clear indications of effective and reflective teaching within the views of the participants. The participants were able to identify factors that contributed to their preparedness indicated that they felt prepared to effectively meet their responsibilities as a young Physical educator. Given the significance attached to time spent in school and tutor support further research is required to explore the impact on practice within Physical Education Teacher Education. The findings of the study indicate that ITE courses have a perceived impact on the level of preparedness within graduates. This research study also contends that the role and position of Initial Teacher Education Institutes, in developing levels of preparedness, is not sufficiently examined within the wider research field.

References

European Commission (2012) Rethinking Education:Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes [Online] Available: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52012DC0669&from=EN [Accessed Jan 5th 2016] Menter, I., Hulme, M., Elliot, D. & Lewin, J.(2010) Literature Review on Teacher Education in the 21st Century [Online] Available: Scottish Government. http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2010/09/24144019/0 [Accessed 2nd May 2014]. Menter, I., Hulme, M., Elliot, D., Lewin, J. & Lowden, K. (2011) A guide to practitioner research. London: Sage Publications Smith, J.A., Flowers, P. & Larkin, M. (2009) Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis; Theory, Method and Research London: Sage Publications Fletcher, T. and Casey, A., 2014. The challenges of models-based practice in physical education teacher education: a collaborative self-study. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 33 (3), pp. 403 - 421.

Author Information

Elaine McCulloch (presenting / submitting)

University of the West of Scotland

School of Education

Ayr

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