Redesigning Physical Education Teacher Education

Purpose

The primary objective of this research is to create a coherent and integrated teacher education program that fosters the development of students’ identity, beliefs, and practices. This goal is achieved through a research and development project linked to the creation of a new five-year teacher education program at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences (NIH). This research delves into the evolving experiences, practices, and identities of three key groups: pre-service teachers/student teachers; teacher educators; cooperating teachers.  

Project Description

Background 

Hordvik and colleagues¹ urge departments or large groups of teacher educators to examine the development of coherent and innovative approaches to teacher education. This can be done by exploring their indivual and collective pedagogies and identities in teacher education, as well as the related learning and development of pre-service teachers. Such research could provide valuable insights and deepen the understanding of how teacher educators can strive to create coherence within teacher education programs, a defining attribute of impactful teacher education programs². 

In 2021, Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE) in Norway transitioned from a three-year bachelor's program to a five-year master's program. This context stimulated research and development projects that concentrated on the advancement of these programs. In response to this, a team of teacher educators from NIH initiated a practitioner research project. The project's focus was primarily on the development and implementation of the new program. The project encompassed multiple developmental activities such as: Creating a shared vision, facilitating collaborative meetings, and involving students at the program level. Additionally, the project included research activities that generated knowledge about these development activities and the experiences of pre-service teachers with the program, as well as their ongoing learning process. 

See references from text

¹ Hordvik, Haugen, et al., 2021; Hordvik, Fletcher, et al., 2021
² Darling-Hammond 2006; Klette and Hammerness 2016

Methods 

Participants and setting: This research includes the first two cohorts of pre-service teachers enrolled in the new five-year PETE master's program, along with the teacher educators affiliated with the program. 

Data generation: Multiple qualitative methods are employed throughout this study, generating data from pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and cooperating teachers: 

Pre-service teachers 

• Focus group interviews: Interviews are conducted with one group in both cohorts in their first, second, fourth, and fifth years, totaling 8 interviews. The group comprises several pre-service teachers, and there is no specific aim to have the same pre-service teachers in all interviews. 
• Individual interviews: Five pre-service teachers from each of the two cohorts are individually interviewed. The same pre-service teachers are followed throughout the five years and interviewed four times, resulting in a total of 40 interviews. 
• Artifacts: This includes pre-service teachers’ visions, which they articulate at the beginning of their first year, the start of their fourth year, and towards the end of their education. 

Teacher educators 

• Meetings among teacher educators: Audio recordings of meetings among the teacher educators affiliated with the program are taken throughout the research period. These also include pre-service teachers who are engaged as class representatives. 
• Focus group conversations: Audio of focused and structured discussions is recorded once a year throughout the research.  
• Project group meetings: Audio of project group meetings is recorded annually throughout the study. 

Cooperating teachers 

• Focus group interviews:  These interviews are conducted twice during the project duration with two to three groups of cooperating teachers who are affiliated with the PETE program.

Results

The results of this research will be disseminated in high ranked national and international physical education journals. Additionally, the project results will be shared at both national and international conferences throughout the project duration.