Influence of a models-based physical education teacher education program on the perspectives and practices of preservice teachers

ABSTRACT

A recent innovation in the United States is for university faculty to deliver models-based physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. The study described in this paper evaluated the effectiveness of one such program. Participants were three cohorts of preservice teachers (PTs). The cohorts were a non-entry cohort (NEC; n = 29), an entry cohort (EC; n = 31) that were due to enter the core PETE program, and a completion cohort (CC; n = 55). Data were collected by interviewing all three cohorts about (a) their perspectives and practices regarding physical education and (b) their acculturation, and professional socialisation. Data were analysed by categorising the PTs within each cohort as having one of four orientations (i.e. hard core coaching, moderate coaching, moderate teaching and hard core teaching) to the physical education profession from which data were then further analysed within each orientation and cohort. Data were reduced to key themes by employing Leximancer text mining software and traditional interpretive techniques. Key findings were that the PETE program appeared to have an influence on PTs, none of the PTs possessed hard core coaching orientations and a relatively large percentage of PTs had moderate teaching orientations at entry into PETE.

KEYWORDS:

• Models-based physical education teacher education
• occupational socialisation
• acculturation
• professional socialisation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Stephen Harvey is an Associate Professor in the Department of Recreation and Sport Pedagogy at Ohio University, USA, and Program Coordinator for the Online Masters in Coaching Education. His research focuses on: (a) advancing teaching/coaching pedagogy through game-centred approaches; (b) emerging technologies and their application to physical education/coaching. Stephen is co-author of Advances in rugby coaching: An holistic approach, and co-editor of Contemporary developments in games teaching and Ethics in youth sport: Policy and pedagogical applications, all published by Routledge.

Matthew Curtner-Smith is Professor of Sport Pedagogy in the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Alabama, USA. He received his Ed.D. in sport pedagogy from the University of Northern Colorado in 1991. Dr Curtner-Smith conducts research on physical education teaching, teachers, teacher education and curriculum. He teaches undergraduate courses for PTs learning to become physical educators. He also teaches classes for and supervises master’s and doctoral students studying sport pedagogy.

Clayton Kuklick is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Graduate School of Professional Psychology at the University of Denver, USA. His research interests centre on coaching development and improving athletic performance. Before undertaking his PhD in Human Performance and Recreation: Administration and Teaching from the University of Southern Mississippi, Kuklick qualified as a physical education teacher before serving as an assistant baseball coach at Shepherd University, Georgia College and State University, the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and Kutztown University.

ORCID

Stephen Harvey http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1854-4108

Notes

1 Note that the NEC and EC were interviewed during their time conducting their pre-PETE coursework, which did not include any introduction to models-based curricula. The EC were interviewed in the last semester of the PETE program after the conclusion of their student teaching experience.

2 We would like to acknowledge the work of the faculty members and graduate students in the PETE program for assisting with interview data collection for this current study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by an Internal College Grant from a Mid-Western University in the United States.