There is an ongoing international trend to reform teacher education (Wang et al., 2010). Although the reforms have similarities, there are also clear differences between different countries and contexts (Darling-Hammond & Lieberman, 2013). In Europe, teacher training reforms can be seen in the light of the Bologna process, which contributed to the standardization of higher education (Borgen & Prøitz, 2023). Bologna process thus included structural convergence and dissolution of the binary higher education system which was the traditional structure in many of the EU countries (Evetts, 2013; Fägerlind & Strömqvist, 2004). The Norwegian university sector has been special, in that there traditionally has been flexibility with regard to opportunities to combine different teacher education cultures. Especially school subjects without a traditional "mother" discipline at the university, such as physical education (PE), have had multiple paths to becoming certified as a teacher.

These traits have been reinforced through system changes that have taken place from 2000 onwards, including the introduction of master’s degrees in all teacher education programs in Norway from 2017. Teacher education in Norway is regulated by national framework plans amended by the government. The teacher education programme plans at the higher education institutions are formally required to build on these national framework regulations.

The framework plan for five-year teacher training in PE and other school subjects categorised as “practical and aesthetic” subjects was established in 2020 and introduced gradually at universities from 2022. PE is among the practical aesthetic school subject (PAS) together with arts and crafts, music, and food and health school subjects. Practicum is an integral part of the study program throughout all five years. Yet, in the fifth year, students will complete a master's thesis and can choose institutional context for their practicum.

The practicum in teacher education is often seen as a context where student teachers can explore the theory-practice relationship under guidance from practice teachers and teacher educators (Ball, 2000; Standal et al., 2014).

Physical education teacher education (PETE) is often practiced based on certain traditions of what it means to be a "good" teacher and keeping students active rather than to further develop their learning, movement skills and reflection (Annerstedt, 2008; Hodge et al., 2003; Standal et al., 2013; Quennerstedt, 2019). Teacher educators are reported to view learning to teach PE as a practical process revolving around the teaching and coaching of sports skills, thus, to a small extent engaged in the students' development as reflexive practitioners in school (Mordal-Moen & Green, 2014). We currently know little about how PE is taught in teacher education and how student teachers develop their professional role in interaction with practicum (Gulliksen & Hjardemaal, 2011).

The study explores how practicum is experienced and enacted as an integrated part of the PETE programme. Building on student teachers’ and teacher educators’ experiences from eight semesters, the study addresses the following research questions:

How do student teachers’ four years with practicum experiences within a five-year PETE program contribute to their professional development as physical education teachers?

To analyse and understand how practicum is integrated in teacher educators’ teaching within PETE, the study draws on social practice theory (Reckwitz, 2002) and, more specifically, the theory of practice architectures (Kemmis et al., 2014; Kemmis, 2022). From this perspective, educational practices are understood as socially organised and historically formed arrangements constituted through sayings, doings, and relatings, and enabled and constrained by cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political conditions. This framework provides an analytical lens for examining practicum not merely as an individual learning activity, but as part of an ecological whole that connects teacher educators’ practices with student teachers’ experiences and professional development.

The study adopts a qualitative and participatory research design, using a workshop-based approach to explore experiences with practicum in the LUPE programme. Workshops are well suited for research that seeks to generate knowledge through dialogue and shared reflection, as they allow participants to negotiate meanings collaboratively and articulate experiences that may otherwise remain implicit (Ørngreen & Levinsen, 2017). The workshops brought together student teachers, teacher educators, and practicum teachers to create a shared space for discussing how practicum is integrated into the five-year PETE master programme. Rather than treating participants as individual data sources, the workshops were designed as a collective inquiry into practicum as a shared educational practice. This approach aligns with the study’s theoretical interest in practices as relational and socially organised phenomena. The workshops were inspired by the future workshop tradition, which invites participants to imagine desirable future situations, analyse current practices, and explore ways of moving from present conditions towards preferred ones (Vidal, 2005). This structure supported both critical reflection and constructive dialogue about practicum in PETE, and made it possible to identify tensions, possibilities, and constraints within the programme. Workshops were conducted in autumn 2022, spring 2023, spring 2025 and spring 2026. The workshops lasted approximately three hours and alternated between small-group work and plenary discussions. Participants engaged in brainstorming, reflection, and dialogue around four themes related to practicum and professional development in physical education teacher education. The workshop focused on different themes regarding how practicum was combined to learning. The workshop format was deliberately inclusive, and all participants’ experiences and perspectives were treated as equally important. Participants included student teachers enrolled in the five-year PETE in 2022 - 2027 and teacher educators involved in the programme. Participants were divided into mixed groups consisting of both student teachers and teacher educators. The researcher facilitated the workshops, participated in group discussions, and led the plenary sessions. During group work, participants wrote keywords, statements, and reflections on sticky notes, which were organised thematically and collected by the researcher. These notes, together with notes from plenary discussions, constituted the primary empirical material. The analysis focused on identifying patterns, variations, and breaks in how practicum was experienced and discussed. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures, particular attention was paid to how language, actions, and relationships were described, and to how these were enabled or constrained by institutional and organisational conditions.

Based on an initial and exploratory reading of the workshop material, the programme appears to offer student teachers meaningful opportunities to develop as physical education teachers. Our preliminary analysis suggests that practicum is experienced in different ways across contexts, and that these differences matter for how student teachers understand teaching, learning, and their emerging professional role. Rather than pointing to one shared practicum experience, the material suggests that student teachers encounter practicum in different ways across contexts. These experiences seem to contribute to engagement, movement joy, and reflection, while also highlighting tensions related to time constraints and the balance between different educational aims. Experiences from school-based contexts, including visits to schools and practicum periods, appear to deepen students’ understanding of the realities of teaching. Here, the material points to growing awareness of classroom management, relationships with pupils, learner diversity, and the challenge of adapting teaching to concrete situations. Students also describe uncertainty, mismatches between expectations and practice, and questions related to roles and responsibilities in school settings. Across practicum contexts, professional development appears to be closely linked to participation in school life and interaction with others. Being part of a professional community is described as both meaningful and demanding, highlighting the importance of relationships, opportunities for reflection, and support. The different contexts also challenge and develop the student’s professional language. It seems that the student move toward an enriched didactical and pedagogical language about their role as teachers and mentors in PE. However, it is depended on the structure of the practicum and the communication between mentors in practice schools, students and teacher educators. Overall, the preliminary findings suggest that student teachers’ professional development during this four-year period is shaped through participation in multiple practices, and that practicum plays an important, but varied, role in this process.

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