The impact of teacher education programs is determined in part by characteristics of the teaching recruits. Nevertheless, research on recruits remains the exception rather than the rule, and most prior studies have neither been informed by nor contributed to occupational socialization theory. The exploratory research reported here is informed by such theory and is designed to contribute to it. Questionnaires were completed by 55 undergraduates upon entry into several undergraduate majors. In addition to conventional data about each recruit’s biography and physical activity background, teacher education recruits were compared with recruits in other majors. Attention was given to several career concepts (e.g., career map, career contingency, internal career) and differences between early and late deciders. One important finding, which differed from previous work, was that some teacher education recruits viewed learning as the primary purpose of school physical education programs. This finding is encouraging, given the “busy, happy, and good” orientation found in previous studies of undergraduate teacher education majors.

This study investigated the effects of selected sequencing factors on childrens’ catching in the developmental task analyses concept proposed separately by Morris (1976, 1980) and Herkowitz (1978). Process scores on Cashin’s Catching Test (1974) were obtained for 15 males and 15 females at ages 6, 8, and 10 years (n = 90). The design included three conditions each for ball size, height of interception, and distance of catch. ANOVA results indicated that no significant differences occurred for process scores as a function of ball size. Significant differences occurred for (a) height of interception with chest catches highest, then waist height, then knee height catches; (b) distance of catch with more effective catches occurring for shorter distances; (c) gender in favor of males for height of interception and distance of catch; and (d) age with superior scores as age increased. These results support the developmental task analysis concept although age had a greater effect on catching process than did any other factor alone.

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How undergraduate teacher education recruits learn to observe and interpret effective teaching is of critical interest in understanding effects of formal preservice programs. In this study, 45 TEPE recruits from each of the 4 undergraduate years observed and interpreted a videotaped soccer skill lesson, described the important parts of the lesson and recommended changes for the lesson. As a function of time in the program, recruits interpreted the observed lesson more congruently with program goals and tended to reflect the targeted teaching skills in the current field experience. Differences were evident in the quality and clarity of the responses as the subjects matriculated the teacher education program in physical education. There were, however, few discernible interpretation differences between year 3 and year 4 subjects. In describing effective instruction, recruits generally focused on teaching behaviors, with somewhat less emphasis on content, and even less focus on student behaviors.

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