Physical education teacher education in Norway: the perceptions of student teachers

Abstract

Dette er siste tekst-versjon av artikkelen, og den kan inneholde små forskjeller fra forlagets pdf-versjon. Forlagets pdf-versjon finner du på www.tandfonline.com: http://dx.doi.org/10. 1080/13573322.2012.719867 This is the final text version of the article, and it may contain minor differences from the journal's pdf version. ABSTRACTA feature of academic literature on physical education teacher education (PETE) is the expectation that it can and should impact upon student teachers' beliefs and prospective practices in some significant ways. This is despite research over the last 20 years or more alluding to the apparent failure of PETE to 'shake or stir' (Evans, Davies and Penney, 1996) what might be termed the (typically conservative and conventional) pre-dispositions of student and early career PE teachers. In this paper, we examine the perceptions of PE student teachers in Norway in order to ascertain just what it is that makes them so resistant to change and, for that matter, such infertile ground for sowing the seeds of reflexivity. The study involved semi-structured interviews with 41 PE student teachers from the three routes through teacher education available at Nord UC. Among the main themes identified in the data were the PE students' perceptions of: the purposes (and ostensible benefits) of school PE and PETE as well as the nature of PETE itself (including subsidiary themes of sporting and teaching skills, other 'competencies', school placements, mentoring and mentors, PETEs' teaching styles and the students teachers' relationships with the PETEs). The paper concludes that, as far as the students at Nord UC were concerned, the significance of PETE revolved around the programme's efficacy in developing the sporting skills and teaching techniques they viewed as central to their preparation for teaching. The minimal impact of the more theoretical aspects of PETE appeared to be partly attributable to the students' perceptions of PE as synonymous with sport in schools and partly to their particularly pragmatic orientations towards PETE. In this vein, the students viewed experience as the most important, most legitimate 'evidence' on which to base their beliefs and practices and were resistant to the 'theory' of teacher education, rationalizing their tendencies to select the evidence that suited them.

Practicum in Physical Education Teacher Education

“…We question whether the uneven power balance between the outsiders (teacher educators) and the established groups (the cooperating teacher) identified in this study is productive to fulfill the aim of an ideal practicum as a joint enterprise carried out in cooperation between teacher educators and cooperating teachers (UFD, 2003a(UFD, , 2003b(UFD, , 2010. Earlier research shows that it is left to student teachers to integrate practical experiences and theoretical knowledge in PETE (Larsson, 2009;Mordal-Moen & Green, 2012Velija et al, 2008). The findings from our study of the power imbalance between cooperating teacher and teacher educators may shed light on why the students are left alone to make the connection between theory and practicum (practice).…”

“…Previous research, however, has portrayed what goes on at the university and in practicum as two separate worlds (Larsson, 2009;Mordal-Moen & Green, 2012). This has been framed in terms of a theory-practice distinction.…”

Adolescents’ perceived cost of attending physical education

“…But if teachers start exploring new teaching methods, this alone will create more reflection on and consciousness of the curriculum and class content. Several researchers suggest a more holistic approach to teaching in PE (Dyson, 2014;Ennis, 2011), and teachers who use a wide range of learning methods tend to motivate students to participate in PE more than teachers who use limited learning methods (Dyson, 2014;Moen & Green, 2012).…”

The Development of Empathic Accuracy in Sports Coaches

“…This can be more easily accomplished by being conscious of the "here and now" and being in the moment. Some coaches during training will be too concerned with organising and directing their athletes to really focus on events and individuals (Mordal-Moen & Green, 2012). You should also spend time after being with your athletes to try and make sense of events.…”