Implications for European Physical Education Teacher Education during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-institutional SWOT analysis

ABSTRACT

The present study, using a sample of Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) representatives from five Higher Education European institutions (England, Finland, Greece, Ireland, and Portugal) sought to investigate the proposed measures of change required for programme delivery during the academic year of 2020–21. Each team completed a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) examination through inductive cross-analysis, using a deductive structure, following the dimensions of: PETE Programme; PETE Staff; PETE Students. The findings presented at a case level show how each PETE programme is seeking to manage an important tension between the experiential nature of Physical Education (PE) as a subject, in light of the institutional and external constraints towards online and blended approaches. Having identified the thematic variables for PETE at an overall programme, staff and student level, the SWOT analysis heightened PETE pedagogue understanding of the subject beyond ‘physical’ contact spaces, for meaningful third-level teacher education delivery.

KEYWORDS:

• SWOT analysis
• higher education
• blended learning
• online teaching
• pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

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Notes on contributors

Wesley O’Brien

Wesley O’Brien is the Director of the B.Ed Sports Studies and Physical Education (BEDSSPE) Programme, in the School of Education, at University College Cork (UCC). Manolis Adamakis, Niamh O’ Brien and João Costa are all Lecturers in Education on the BEDSSPE Programme, in the School of Education, at UCC. Marcos Onofre works at the University of Lisbon in the Human Kinetics Faculty Department of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities. João Martins works at the University of Lisbon Human Kinetics Faculty Department of Education, Social Sciences and Humanities. Aspasia Dania is a Lecturer in Sport Pedagogy and Physical Education Teaching, in the School of Physical Education and Sport Science, at the University of Athens. Kyriaki Makopoulou is programme lead for the B.Sc in Sport, Physical Education and Coaching Science, in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, at the University of Birmingham. Frank Herold is a Lecturer in Physical Education and Sports Science, in the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, at the University of Birmingham. Kwok Ng holds a joint Post Doctoral research position at the School of Educational Sciences and Psychology, University of Eastern Finland, and the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick.