IN THE BEGINNING…FIELD-BASED TEACHER EDUCATION COURSE IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION: IMPACT ON PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS AND TEACHER EDUCATORS

Drs Tim Hopper and Rick Bell,

School of Physical Education, University of Victoria

Email: Thopper@uvic.ca or fbell@uvic.ca

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how field based teacher education influenced student teacher learning to teach and the pedagogy of two teacher educators. Traditionally, teacher education courses have relied on a 'technocratic' approach to develop teaching knowledge. This approach assumes the teacher educator can impart knowledge about teaching and what is, and that the preservice teacher will be able to understand this knowledge and implement it when confronted with teaching opportunities. We propose that this ‘technocatic’ approach within the university context does not meaningfully teach the various knowledge forms linked to the world of children in schools or to the preservice teachers' own development as teachers.

Theoretically, this paper draws on Rovegno (1992) ecological approach and Carr (1989) three types of teacher knowledge, personal, contextual and professional. The paper will report the preliminary findings of a two-year study of teacher preparation in a physical education methods class where a significant portion of the course was delivered in a school with children.

The findings will highlight what was common about how student teachers learned in a field-based teacher education course and how a field-based teacher education course influenced the pedagogy of two teacher educators.

Introductions

In physical education Siedentop and Locke (1997) have advocated that we need school- based teacher educators who supply good clinical physical education settings for physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. In teacher education there are few reported studies that examine the effect on "learning to teach" through a teacher education course conducted within a school (Cooper, 1996; Duquette, 1997; Rovegno, 1992; Samaras & Shelly, 1998). In this study the importance of teaching a university elementary physical education methods class within a school context is based on the concept of situated learning (Vygotsky, 1978). In this way, contextual and inter-actional episodes and cues within a school context breathe life into the theory of learning to teach.

In order to understand teacher knowledge we have found it useful to focus on what Carr (1989) has referred to as three layers of knowledge: the personal, the contextual and the professional. Personal knowledge refers to the values and beliefs an individual develops for teaching children based on parenting, informal teaching and being taught; contextual knowledge refers to how the individual experiences the teaching milieu of a particular situation; and professional knowledge represents the competencies and content of a particular discipline.

In the process of educating teachers Carr (1989) and Schön (1987) suggest that the teaching profession has relied upon a scientific notion of professional knowledge in a manner that has been termed a technical or technocratic rationality. Essentially, technical rationality creates an 'objectivist' theory that sees knowledge in autocratic and impersonal terms. The assumption is made that by imparting or transmitting knowledge in this form students will implement it into practice through a process of problem solving. However, in teaching, the "ends" are always contentious. They tend to be unruly and often conflicting. The problems of the classroom do not present themselves as givens, but as somewhat "messy, indeterminate and problematic situations that include mixed messages and conflicting values" (Carr, 1989, p.9). Since this is the case, this form of knowledge can have only limited use.

To understand "contextual knowledge," teachers use "personal knowledge" and connect this to "professional knowledge" to develop alternative pedagogical practices. To assist the development of this knowledge, we suggest that teacher knowledge evolves with personal, contextual and professional elements. However, in some teacher preparation courses student teachers may be asked to show levels of understanding in assignments that are graded for the presence and use of professional concepts. Based on our experience in physical education a student's personal knowledge is acknowledged or valued in a limited way and rarely are students able to link various knowledge forms to the world of children in schools or to their own development as teachers. As Rovegno (1992) has noted for pre-service teachers on field-based courses, understanding new techniques and content is one issue, using them in practice is another. What we think is needed is a space to allow a student’s personal voice to be heard and for professional knowledge to be layered with new insights on school based PE contexts as connections are made to pre-service teachers’ personal understandings.

Focusing on a field-based teacher preparation courses this paper will examine how elementary generalist teachers learn how to teach physical education. The paper will address two questions:

What is common in student teachers' learning in field-based teacher education courses?
How does a field-based teacher education course influence the pedagogy of two teacher educators?

Data sources and Method of analysis

The initial study had thirty-six participants (5 males and 31 females) in two different sections of an elementary physical education methods class. As part of the evaluation scheme for the course pre-service teachers were responsible for completing one e-mail entry every three weeks -- sixteen entries for the year. The pre-service teachers were organized in small groups of two or three and when their group was responsible for managing the listserv they produced one entry each day for four days. To receive credit, an entry had to connect to the course events or course readings and show thoughtfulness in relation to previous entries of peers. A total of 502 messages were produced on the electronic mail assignment. For another part of the evaluation scheme the pre-service teachers wrote a personal journal entry of 200 words minimum once a week after the second week of the course. At the end of each term student teachers re-read their own journals and wrote a final entry that focused on what they had learned and what they needed to learn in the future. A total of 648 journal entries were generated. Both assignments were graded as pass/fail.

For this study data sources were the pre-service teachers’ journals and course-listserv entries. Data were recorded in numerous matrixes, charts and concept maps as a precursor to data displays (Miles & Huberman, 1984) that gave a visual overview of data patterns. Data sources were coded comparing and contrasting topics creating categories of data that reflected tentative themes emerging from the participants' data.

Results/Conclusion

In relation to “What is common in student teachers' learning in field-based teacher education courses?” preliminary results from this research project cluster under three broad themes: (a) situated-mediated learning, (b) contextual cognizant affect, and (c) teacher becoming. These three themes interacted to create a recursive process as shown in Figure 1. The themes outlined below, highlight common patterns in students learning.

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Situated-mediated learning theme

This theme refers to the teaching process of the class that enabled pre-service teachers to reflect upon what they were learning. In past courses content was explained with anecdotal examples from the course instructor. With the field-based component of the class, content became physically situated in the school and mediated by reflection on the school experience. Learning became more meaningful because the instructor was able to relate the content of the course to experiences shared by the class in lessons conducted in the school. As one student teacher Dana said,

Reflecting on these past months I can’t tell you how much I have learned by just being able to observe children at the different grade levels and see how their skills change with each grade. Theory taught in class is a fine but being able to connect what we’ve read to what we see is incredible.

Class instruction became less focused with the need to cover content and more focused on integrating learning in class with experiences in the school.

Student teachers observed, struggled to understand, but then shared insights in class and on the class listserv. This opened up the interpretation of observations and helped student teachers mediate alternatives for each other rather than making judgments that close down learning.

For example,

Judy: I can actually say gymnastics scares me. I remember in school being told you have to do this task if you want to pass was terrible. Here I was an overall good student who might fail PE if I couldn't do a flip.

Charlie: Just remember that at the end of the day all experiences are in some way, shape and form valuable. This horrible gymnastics experience for you at the time definitely wasn't positive. However, because of this experience I bet you won't repeat the same mistake. So there... now you can chalk up this negative experience as a valuable one.

The listserv became a place to share thoughts, concerns and questions. Advice was shared, situated and sort and the instructor was rarely needed to help with the discussion.

As one student teacher commented in her journal, "Initially I focused on the buzz words, ideas that I related to PE in general...by the end of the journal I focused on me as a teacher and what I need to keep in mind, a more personal focus." The re-reading of the journal helped student teachers recognize their own growth and helped them realize their developing knowledge base.

Contextual cognizant affect

This theme referred to events that stimulated thinking. The context of the school offered infinite complexity that sparked the curiosity and attention of the student teachers. Student teachers observed, struggled to understand, but then shared insights in class and on the class listserv. This opened up the interpretation of observations and helped student teachers find alternatives rather than making judgments that typically closes down discussions.

The school allowed students to look for and determine their own learning as a wealth of events was created in a lesson. Student teachers shared the same experience but they did not necessarily see the same thing. In a creative dance lesson, one student teacher would see chaos and a lack of focus, whereas another student teacher saw individual expression and lots of activity. As students regularly visited the school, they developed the ability to recognize what was happening. Observation assignments on topics such as feedback, organization and use space or task progression focused student teachers attention. As the course progressed, student teachers were asked to volunteer to teach. Gradually more of the class got involved in teaching the children. For some the desire to teach was great but the fear of failing was hard to overcome. For example, in a journal entry half way through the second term Alison, who reluctantly taught her peers by following a detailed lesson plan, was amazed to note her own development. After teaching a class of grade one children in front of her peers she wrote,

I feel quite confident in front of the class and in creating lesson plans. The more I have experience in the gym at Elementary School, the greater my comfort level in my spring practicum will be. I have surprised myself this semester. Despite my nervousness and hesitation last semester…The overall change in my life since “facing my fear” and deciding to overcome this perceived weakness has been amazing. Not only do I feel more confident in the teaching forte, but I also have faith in my skills in developing and instructing any lessons that I create.

Alison had learned to plan-to-teach, she had learned to set a task, observe the response from the children then develop her lesson in light of her planning, not follow her lesson plan blindly. Seeing the instructor do this with the children and being able to do it herself brought her to a place where she felt able to teach.

Teacher becoming theme

Teacher becoming refers to opportunities to make connections between events/reflections and on personal past experiences and perceptions. The journal and listserv offered the space for this theme to evolve. As Carrie said,

The journals enabled me to reflect on the past weeks work; what I enjoyed, things I have learned and questions I asked. The listserv in turn was an excellent way to hear what other people were thinking about regarding PE classes and what questions they were asking. The listserv was often reassuring to read as other people were thinking and questioning similar things to me.

Student teachers who had admitted hating PE found a new sense of what it was to teach PE. Helen's journal entry highlights this development,

The class changed my entire perspective on the nature of teaching physical education to children…prior to this class I would have accepted traditional pedagogy unquestioningly, and continued to loathe the entire process of teaching PE to children for fear of warping them for life. Now I feel I can make a difference in terms of their educational experience and physical learning.

The regular, practical, daily experience in a school accompanied by a lesson in the course, and then reflected upon in a journal and on the class listserv, resulted in an expanding, spiraling effect as the student teachers developed a foundational understanding of teaching. Helen in her last entry on the listserv articulated how she had starting becoming a teacher.

Wow! I never thought that out of all my lessons for my practicum that PE would be the best one! It was a spur of the moment lesson, my sponsor teacher called in ill and the sub had no instructions for the PE lesson, so I asked if I could try out some of the things I had learned with you.

We worked on the ball handling and basketball lead-up games that our class began with so long ago in September. I couldn't believe that I could remember the progression…I didn't have much time to prepare, but it was the most smoothly run lesson out of my entire practicum.

I began with Submarine, stopping techniques, then ball handling and partner passes. Wow, the kids just loved it! After so many hours of sitting and listening, it was just what they needed. They were great in class afterwards, too.

Helen’s story, and several other similar stories showed how the listserv and journal afforded an insight into teachers becoming that enabled them to reflect on their past experiences, understand themselves becoming teachers and offered a place where they could celebrate their own growth as teachers.

Reflections from the teacher educators

Finally, “How does a field-based teacher education course influence the pedagogy of two teacher educators?” in summarized in Figure 2.

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INSERT FIGURE 2 ABOUT HERE

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Philosophically the traditional university based course and the field-based course stayed the same, with commitment to a developmentally appropriate physical education that would enable all children to access an active lifestyle.

A major shift in the new course was a movement away from a linear organization of topics where content was covered then progressed onto related or more complex content. The field-based course structured a sequence of experiences that were informed, enriched and supplement by experiences in the school (see web-page http://web.uvic.ca/~thopper/247/educ304.html). In this way, content became dynamic and lived rather than static and only learned for an examination. For example, in the traditional developmental understanding of learning domains in relation to child development was taught by studying descriptors in a text and connecting these to pre-course experiences with children. The field-based course was structured so that on each visit student teachers observed children from different age groups being taught PE by the university instructor. Student teachers started to recognize the difference between the children and then connect why games had to be modified, movement tasks worded carefully or how imagery developed movement quality. As one student teacher commented about the learning domains, “I learned the words but until I saw the children I had no idea what they meant.”

In the university based teacher education course the pedagogy practiced by the teacher educators relied on teaching the student teachers, reflecting on the experience of being taught, then connecting these reflections to concepts such as task progression, refinements and extensions. In the traditional course and the field based course this practice was the same except student teachers had less time be taught PE and additional time observing and actually teaching children in the school. In this way teaching of PE was modeled in the field based course, however lessons taught in the school did not always go as planned. Children with special educational needs such as AD/HD and Tourettes syndrome or ESL student created unexpected challenges. However, these difficulties became pedagogical moments in the course. These difficulties became the connection between theory and practice, making theory seem possible in a form that was not recognizable at the university. As one student teacher commented, “Really useful was watching you teach an unfamiliar class. It felt like that is was me because on the practicum I will be teaching classes that are not really mine. You know, having to get the kids to do stuff they are not familiar with, working through their resistance, and then seeing them really enjoying themselves.” Or as another student teacher commented, “Watching you teach was great because you were ‘walking the talk’, making yourself vulnerable. That made me believe I could do it.”

The assessment in the courses shifted from 100% graded assignments where feedback was given to show how to improve a mark, to a system where 70% of the course was graded but 30% of the course was based on a pass/fail structure. The 30% assignments consisted of a journal shared weekly with the course instructor and engagement on the course listserv as described earlier in this paper. The pass/fail assignments created a space where student teachers could write about what they had learned and question what they were learning. To pass the assignments student teachers had to fulfill a quantity requirement with content that was connected to the course. Initially, several student teachers found this freedom threatening and unfamiliar, they wanted to know what to write, but as they learned to trust the instructor their writing became more personal and focused upon their fears, concerns and joys. Reading over their own entries allowed them to recognize their own growth and help them set goals. As discussed in the “teacher becoming” theme, the journal and the listserv helped students find a teacher voice - share a teacher mindset. For the teacher educators the insights afforded by the journal at a personal level and the listserv at a community level enable lesson planning to become more focused to the needs of the individual and the group.

Finally, the ‘what is learned” component connects back to the recursive themes and sense of teacher knowledge as an interaction of personal, professional and contextual forms. In the traditional teacher education course knowledge for teaching PE was decontextualized from the school, it was contextualized in the university with peer teaching experiences. Student teachers learned the content to teach and had a good experience as a student in a PE environment. In the field-based course, knowledge for teaching was taught at the university and taught in the school. Knowledge for teaching became conceptual, personally defined and developed within a professional community. As one student teacher commented,

Watching in the school enabled you to see so many different things. I found myself looking for how the boys and girls differed, how the less able student responded, seeing the effect a demonstration from a child had. I was able to decide what I needed. Sometimes you guided us with the observation assignments, but increasingly I was able to decide myself what I wanted to see.

This watching and learning led to a term being invented by some of the student teachers called a “think-watch.” A “think-watch” meant that you did not watch passively as you watch a TV, but you select and focus, you follow a child you try to think like a teacher. This active watching invited student teachers to get a feel for being the teacher without actually teaching.

Educational importance

Siedentop and Locke (1997) challenged physical education teacher educators to contextualize the preparation of physical education teachers. Recognizing the challenges associated with establishing a professional relationship with a sponsor school, we believe the delivery of teacher education courses within the context of the school is fundamentally important. If teacher educators intend to influence the development of the domains of knowledge then pre-service teachers must be immersed in the culture of the school where these domains come together.

The results reported here are from the first two years of teaching a field-based teacher education course. At times the listserv and journal, though acknowledge as great learning tools by several student teachers, often created for some student teachers an overwhelming workload. As the student teachers reported, other courses in the teacher education program tended to have minimal work then intense work around exam and assignment times. The PE course had intense, ongoing work all year long because the listserv and journal were ongoing. This year we have streamlined the requirements for these two assignments but seem to have maintained the assignments influence. Unlike last year, no student teachers have complained about workload and many student teachers have acknowledged the positive insight on personal learning the two assignments create.

The restructuring of this methods course allowed for a more conversational mode of expression that did not demand the "right" answer that may have dominated conversations in previous years. The journal and listserv assignments encouraged a community of learners to share and make sense of their experiences. The type of learning made possible by these assignments, stimulated by experiences in the school, offered a platform for meaningful learning as student teachers were encouraged to integrate "personal," "contextual" and "professional" knowledge for teaching.

References

Carr, W. (1989). Introduction: Understanding quality in teaching. In W. Carr (Ed.), Quality in teaching: Arguments for reflective profession (pp. 1-18). London, New York and Philadelphia: The Falmer Press.

Cooper, S. B. (1996). Case studies of teacher education students in a field-based and a university-based elementary mathematics methods course. Journal of Teacher Education, 47(2), 139-146.

Duquette, C. (1997). Conflicting perceptions of participants in field-based teacher education programs. McGill Journal of Education, 32(3), 263-272.

Miles, M., & Huberman, AM. (1984). Qualitative data analysis: A sourcebook of new methods. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage publications.

Rovegno, I. (1992). Learning to teach in a field-based methods course: The development of pedagogical content knowledge. Teaching and Teacher Education, 8, 69-82.

Samaras, A., & Shelly, G. (1998). Scaffolds in th field: Vygotskian interpretation in a teacher education program. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(7), 715-733.

Schön, D. (1987). Educating the reflective practitioner: Toward a new design for teaching and learning in the professions. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Siedentop, D., & Locke, L. (1997). Making a difference for physical education. What professors and practitioners must build together. JOPERD, 68(4), 25-33.

Figure 1 Recursive inter-relationship of the major research themes

WHAT WAS	COMPONENTS	WHAT IS
Developmentally appropriate physical education. Active lifestyle.	Philosophy	Developmentally appropriate physical education. Active lifestyle.
Static	Topics/Content	Dynamic
Modeled Student enabling experience of PE	Pedagogy	Modeled, observed, contextually experienced.
100% graded	Assessment	70% graded 30% pass/fail
Decontextualized “Book” knowledge. Good student experience of PE.	What is learned	Contextualized knowledge. Conceptual knowledge personally defined within a professional community.

Figure 2 Critical components for a changing pedagogy in teacher education