Read More: Casey, A. (2012). A self-study using action research: changing site expectations and practice stereotypes. Educational Action Research. Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 219–232.

In their introcution to this volume the editors suggest that "Ashley Casey...deals with an ongoing educational concern; that of social justice and the persistence of toxic stereotypes. Casey presents a self-study which works against the normative representations of male physical education teachers, and  speak[s] of the time/space required to effect change that works against deeply embedded practices.

Read More: Casey, A. (2012). A self-study using action research: changing site expectations and practice stereotypes. Educational Action Research. Vol. 20, No. 2, pp. 219–232.

In their introcution to this volume the editors suggest that "Ashley Casey...deals with an ongoing educational concern; that of social justice and the persistence of toxic stereotypes. Casey presents a self-study which works against the normative representations of male physical education teachers, and  speak[s] of the time/space required to effect change that works against deeply embedded practices.

Ash

Physical Literacy by Margaret Whitehead

I have recently been alerted to an article in a Canadian Journal (‘Teacher’ August 2010) proposing the value of the concept of ‘Sport Literacy’. This identifies four distinct aspects, being to do with a) sport as an applied, practised and situated set of skills, b) sport as a body of knowledge with meaning that can be interpreted, understood and used creatively c) sport as a socially and culturally constructed ‘text’ which can be communicated and read in various forms, and d) sport as a learning process.

While I can see broadly where the writer is coming from, Sport Literacy does not sit well beside Physical literacy. Sport Literacy would seem to encompass embodied aspects of movement, elements of propositional knowledge, aspects of cultural understanding and the promotion of learning. Each is valuable in its own right but do not necessarily form a coherent whole. In fact the presentation suggests that they are distinct aspects. Physical literacy is seen to be an essentially intra-related concept, being centred on motivation, confidence and physical competence which on account of our embodied nature resonate with many aspects of our appreciation of the ourselves and the world.

Similarly, the way we connect with our colleagues to share ideas and collaborate on modern pedagogical action shouldn’t be a example of by gone practice either. The days of waiting for a conference where you listen to keynotes, meet a few friends, maybe make a few new ones, go home feeling inspired then overwhelmed and ultimately pessimistic that real change will take place, are over.

The notion that my words are being read by PE professionals across the world via this blog post shows that modern  professional development has moved on from didactic, date stamped set pieces to agile, on call experiences in places that never sleep.

If I were to give tips on leveraging the massive pool of knowledge that the connected world is, I can only really reflect on what my journey has been. My journey will have common points with others, and also divergent paths too. That’s the beauty of individual professional learning - it fits you, not what a conference organiser thinks is good for you.

 Ten tips for developing a virtual presence:

1. Get online
2. Choose your online spaces strategically – once you turn on the tap, the flow of information can be immense. Learn how to use the online tool “properly” to wring out its goodness for you. Twitter has a thriving PE community that uses the tags #pegeeks #pegeek #HPE #PE for example. When PE teachers share their thoughts here, using the tag makes the idea searchable.
3. You shouldn’t just be a consumer – strong communities are built on the willingness of its members to help each other
4. Fill in your personal profile as best you can to give the community as much information about yourself as your comfortable giving. No one wants to follow (or be followed) by a random.
5. Adopt an avatar to represent you across the online world. Personally, I find multiple avatars can be confusing. Everyone knows Jonesy is a pale skinned bald dude with a blue shirt on a green background J
6. Start a Blog – teachers need to blog. Reflection has, is and always will be a powerful professional learning tool.
7. Learn how to collaborate online – if you don’t use something like the Google suite of tools, start to. Collaboration on ideas can start in Twitter and then move to a Google doc where the whole team can shape an idea into reality.
8. Curate and collect information to help you with your work. Check out places like Scoop.it for collections of ideas. Use Google Reader to subscribe to RSS feeds from blogs and websites so you don’t miss out on updates. Create Google Alerts to filter the Web to your own advantage.
9. Play nice online. That’s not to say that robust discussion won’t take place, but remember that humans communicate using cues that may be missing online. This can lead to misunderstandings.

“Just be nice, take genuine interest in the people you meet, and keep in touch with people you like. This will create a group of people who are invested in helping you because they know you and appreciate you”. Guy Kawasaki, alltop.com

1. Build a PLN (Professional Learning Network) both in the real world and online. Mix them together for their mutual benefit.

As people read this, I’m sure there will be more ideas and suggestions.

Which brings me to number 11 (I can never stop at 10!).  A healthy online community is fuelled by feedback and conversation. If the opportunity is offered to comment on a blog post (like this), or a resource that is shared, or a conversation that has started – take it. The author appreciates positive feedback (see point 9) and the benefits flow for everyone.

See you online!

Jonesytheteacher.wordpress.com

A guy is away on business and he goes to the hotel bar for a drink. An attractive fellow guest buys him a drink and they start talking….

…next thing he finds himself waking up in a bath filled with ice. As his eyes focus he sees a note on the mirror in front of him that reads, “ring 999 immediately.” Looking around he sees a phone on the floor and he rings for an ambulance. When he talks to the operator and explains the situation she seems surprisingly calm and asks him to reach behind him and tell her if there is a tube protruding from his lower back. He reaches around and confirms that there is.

“There is a gang of organ thieves operating in the area and I am afraid to say that you have had one of your kidney’s harvested. Stay calm and don’t worry because an ambulance is three minutes away.” 

Now this is a sticky idea. In an hour, a day, or a week (or in my case a year) after hearing it you are likely to remember the three key ideas: a stranger, an ice bath, a stolen kidney. But what makes it stick? The Heath Brothers talk about “six principles of Sticky Ideas”: Simplicity, Unexpectedness, Concreteness, Credibility, Emotions, and Stories. So let’s look at the Kidney Heist story.

Firstly it’s a) Simple and is told as a b) story (you can make anything up based around the key facts: in the story I first heard the guy had to ring 911). It was certainly c) unexpected (I didn’t predict that the guy would turn up in an ice bath minus one of lose his kidneys) which in turn sparked d) an emotion (mild revulsion and horror I suppose in my case), it has e) credibility (after all I’m telling it, it happens in a familiar setting and the ambulance operator is involved). Finally it has concreteness (a guy bought drugged drink wakes up in an ice bath without a kidney). Now while the entire story is a fabrication it has longevity. Also, will you be accepting a drink from a handsome/beautiful stranger? I bet you would think twice now!

I will leave you to discover the rest of the book…which you can buy from here (and other good bookshops both in the high street and on the internet). 

(Blog 5 in my 30-day blogging challenge)

However, what is done in the name of physical education has changed considerably. The military drill of the late 19^th century has been replaced in turn by gymnastics and then games. Yet the focus on games hasn’t notably changed for 50 years or more. So perhaps we are closer the 19^th century that the 21^st century? If so where did all the good teachers go? Well they are still here. When I talk to my students about their school physical education experiences they wax lyrical about the wonderful jobs that their teachers did and how they inspired them to be involved in sport for the foreseeable future. Yet the voices we don’t hear are perhaps the ones we need t hear. What about those who don’t follow a career in sport or aspire to be physical education teachers or coaches? We need to hear from them. So what does/did physical education mean to them? A quick search on twitter for “physical education” will bring up a lot of advocacy (from teachers) and lot of advertising (of books and jobs) and a lot of unhappy people (it makes sober reading).

This means, for me, that we need to take back the gyms and the play fields for the kids and ensure, above all, that we help create in them a love of moving. This means giving them a choice and ripping up the ‘rulebook’ when it comes to physical education. We need to recapture the term and make it mean something special to everyone (or a close to everyone as we can manage).

Let me know your thoughts.

(Blog 4 in my 30-day blogging challenge)

In the summer I went to the association for Physical Education’s (afPE) national conference and many of the faces were familiar ones from higher education. Otherwise the delegates were from industry or local education authorities but very few appeared to be teachers. I was there to lead a session on “games-making” but only had three delegates interested in the work I was doing and had prepared – it just didn’t fit into their agendas. Now that is my fault (I guess I didn’t judge the audience - as what excited me didn’t excite them) but I am still left perplexed. Ben Jones (@benpaddlejones) and I recently had a paper published in a peer-reviewed journal in Australia but I wonder how many teachers have read it. What’s its impact factor? Less than one teacher in 100,000? Or is that being too optimistic? 

So my question is what forum exists that teachers (Physical Education preferably from my perspective) can talk through? Twitter does seem popular but 140 characters and the continual time stream make the sense of conversation difficult to follow. Facebook? Is this the right medium given that it was original set up as a ‘friends reunited’ platform? Can PEPRN be a place even for a handful of international conversations?

Therefore my two calls to action for this blog are as follows: 

1)   Please comment on this blog or one of the others blogs or discussions on PEPRN and help me to understand where I might have the conversations that I crave.

2)   Tweet me, DM me (@DrAshCasey) or email me (Ashley.Casey@beds.ac.uk) the address of your blog and I pledge to start to comment on your blog posts as we need to create a community that support one another.

(Blog 3 in my 30-day blogging challenge)

1. Do it for your audience and not for yourself: whenever you are writing or presenting an idea think about your audience. They are the people who will potentially 'do' something with your idea so try and prepare it so it is easy for them to digest and then reuse.
2. Think about the 'err what?!' moment as much as the 'ah I see moment' : when writing or presenting I am trying to look for a knowledge gap and then I'm looking to fill it. This means finding the moment of confusion or ignorance and then providing an answer. By creating the '?????' moment first then '!!!!!' moment gains more significance and, hopeful, longevity.
3.  Reader's block: This one has come back time and time again to help me. When I am writing or preparing a lecture and I can think of nothing to say then I have come to realise that I don't have writer's block but instead have reader's block. This is the moment when I acknowledge that I simply don't know enough and need to put down the pen or set aside the computer and pick up a book and try to fill my own knowledge gap.
4. Sinatra moment: This is the moment where you sell your own credibility. It is the "if I can make it there (i.e. your example) I can make it anywhere (i.e. the place you are trying to get to)" moment. I try and tell my students to use examples when they apply for things (jobs places on PGCE courses etc) as it shows what it is you have done in a similar situation and gives an outsider a real sense of what you could achieve...so remember the "New York, New York" song and show your audience what you can offer "here and there.
5. "Keep it simple: Simplicity is a key idea in life. Try and pair everything back to the "it" of your argument. It is like the super car where everything (including the stereo, the heated seats, and the air con) is stripped back to eck the last bit of performance out of the car. Think about your message and strip it back...this will make it perform better and as in the case of the car make it faster than its competitors. 
6. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" Is the slogan of the complacent, the arrogant and the scared. It's an excuse for inaction, a call to non-arms" - Colin Powell: To me this is a major problem with tradition and traditional practice in Physical Education. We think that it works and therefore we lack the drive or motivation to make it better. We need to think about what it is we really want to do as teachers and then fix what is clearly broken rather than burying our heads in the sands of inaction. 
7. Don't waste a crisis!: This is a time when signifiant changes can be made and when the drive and motivation to change has enough momentum to carry through such change. We need to see how we can take advantage of a crisis and be the real winners rather than those who wait for a chance. We need to be change leaders rather than change followers (which leads me to my next point)
8. If you see the bandwagon you're too late: Following a bandwagon probably means that you are too late to do anything but sit on it. You can't lead it and its ideas are already too firmly entrenched to fit your situation. If you want meaningful change then you need to take your own opportunities rather than just follows other peoples. 
9. What's your 3%?: Working at 110% has become a popular expression for working really hard but we all work hard so how can we do that little bit extra? The difference in water content between a watermelon (94%) and a cloud (97%) is an extra 3% but what a difference! So how can you find an extra 3% and be that difference?
10. Nick Vujicic: If you haven't seen or heard from this guy then you are missing a truly inspirational public speaker - check him out at:  http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

(Blog 2 in my 30-day blogging challenge)

 While these years of what Nick Gibb (the school minister) called “chronic under-performance” are deeply worrying I am drawn back to some recent and ongoing research about children’s fundamental movement skills (FMS) and the subsequently knock on effect that poor FMS have on their basic literacy and numeracy skills. Professor Jackie Goodway from Ohio State University visited the University recently to talk through some of the work she had been engaged in in the USA and it was frightening to see the connections that were being made between FMS and other fundamental skills such as reading and writing. With this in mind I wonder how many schools – and not by choice but by a complete lack of funding and development in this area – are failing in terms of FMS development?

The findings of Jackie’s research were stark. A sedentary life for many of the poorest families was not a choice but a necessity given the dangers inherent in their neighbourhoods and the need to put food rather than physical activity in front of their children.  A lack of physical activity was summed up by one mother who said “I don’t have two cents to spit on! I can’t afford no damn ballet tutu program for Shequia! We can barely afford to eat!” If we are looking for advocacy in our schools  to halt those who are failing then we need to start treating FMS more seriously. We need specialist physical education teachers in every pre-school and every primary school to ensure that the “activity deserts” found by Jackie and her team (in places where gangs rules the streets and drug users prowl the playgrounds discarding their detritus where the kids would normally play) do not become prevalent in the UK.

While Physical Education in secondary schools remains important we need to put resources into foundation and early childhood education as it is increasing difficult to ‘turn around’ a child’s physical activity habits as they get older. It is clear from Jackie’s work that FMS serve as a ‘base camp’ (to use a climbing metaphor) from which to access the different mountains of motor development. This means tennis as well as writing – as the finite movement skills required in writing are formed at the same time that other movement skills are developed. 

We need to take FMS more seriously and ensure that the numbers of ‘failing schools’ don’t keep rising while all the time slipping under the self-same radar that highlights falling standards in maths and English. 

[Blog 1 in my 30 day blogging challenge]

I guess when planning any unit I like to think about the learning outcomes. What do I want the students to get out of it? When working with Cooperative Learning I guess I’m thinking about both the social or the affective domain as one of the key learning domains alongside the academic or cognitive learning I also aspire to. How can the rest of the unit I plan have an impact on my student learning both in terms of physical education and socially when they are asked to work with and for each other?

The act of using Cooperative Learning (by ensuring that the non-negotiable elements of individual accountability, positive interdependence, group process, Promotive face-to-face interaction and group goal are central to learning) goes a long way to ensuring that the students are leaning in the affective domain. However, learning outcomes in schools relate to bodies of knowledge or concepts and we need to think how those will be addressed. If we take examination Physical Education and look at a subject like physiology and a topic like the heart then we start to focus on a learning outcome. “By the end of this unit, week, lesson the students will understand the workings of the heart in line with the exam boards specifications.” But how do we achieve it?

Traditionally, as teachers, we would provide all the information for the students in the lesson. Cooperative Learning is no different. The difference is in the delivery. I can talk at them and tell them the answers and the facts or I can work with them to facilitate their learning. For example, “describe and explain the workings of the heart and its four chambers.” Now, imagine I used a jigsaw classroom and split the class into groups of four. Each member of these individual home groups would now be allocated to one of four expert groups “left atria, right atria, left ventricle and right ventricle.” Now the task would be for the expert groups to find out about their quarter of the heart, explain its job, what it received from the body and where it subsequently sends this. Each group would work hard to understand their bit of the heart in detail. The teacher could have pre-prepared resources or suggested Internet links, or references that the expert groups could use to learn about their chamber. After a set period of time (minutes, hours, days) the experts would then return to their original ‘home’ group with a specific knowledge about their chamber of the heart. They would have to put the four chambers together to make the complete heart and then perhaps each could answer a mock exam question at the end of the unit to explain the workings of the heart. The success of the team could be judged, for example, on the mean score achieved by the home group for the question. 

So let’s think about group processing. This was identified in our forthcoming book as the key process in cooperative learning in physical education so what will that look like?

After each lesson or section of the lesson I want the home or expert groups to consider three questions:

So what? What now? Then what?

These are taken from adventure education but they serve as a great focal point for student learning. The “so what?” relates to the significance of the lesson (i.e. was there any and if there was something can they put there figure on it?) The “what now?” tries to position this learning in the moment and then envision how it might be carried forwards in the immediate future i.e. what do we now know about the left ventricle? The “then what?” ask them to try and see the next learning that they need to develop their ideas and their practice beyond the current lesson i.e. what do we still need to know. It is a great way of helping them to plan the learning that they need rather than relying on us, as their teachers, to tell them what they need to know.

The whole idea of group process as the key to understanding through Cooperative Learning is a new one. It makes planning a unit of work a little more difficult inasmuch as we don’t get the chance to spell everything out in full and have to be adaptable and base each lesson on the prior learning of the students. I guess that this is why planning the outcomes first is the most important thing. You will have noticed that I have yet mentioned the content of the lesson. Why? Because I believe that we have things back to front. We let the cart push the horse in physical education and make our initial decisions based on content. Activity is the key and then learning is positioned around it rather than learning being the focus.

So the outcomes of this lesson are knowledge of the heart but also leadership, cooperation and responsibility. I hope you will agree that these are all robust learning outcomes. In order for them to be achieved the class is going to have to achieve a group goal (highest average score in the end of unit test) to which they all contribute both through their accountability for their individual actions (i.e. knowing about their chamber and helping the other to understand this) and their group efforts (how well they were all able to answer the question). They will have to depend on each other and will need to develop the skills to interact.

Therefore, as a teacher, I need to think of ways to keep them accountable to their peers. This means that their actions and efforts need to be assessed some how (the exam). I could use formative assessment, summative assessment, registers, tick lists, tasks that only one person can perform but however I do it I need to ensure that no one gets a free ride. Kids don’t like it when they have to carry someone else and while they are happy to support their hard working peers they don’t want others getting credit for their actions. As they work together they will constantly be working in Promotive face-to-face situations that require a willingness to contribute to the classes learning and help one another.

Many people claim that leadership is a direct outcome of physical education and yet there is no evidence to suggest that this is actually the case. If it is an outcome then it is not deliberately planned for but is a lucky consequence of working in teams. Cooperative Learning positions collaborative work and leadership as key learning outcomes and also allows pupils to be active participants in their own learning. Confucius said “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand” I firmly believe that by positioning students as doers and as experts then they do really begin to understand. 

My PhD was a self study of my attempts to change theposition I occupied in the classroom but more recently I come to view thischange, not as one that impacted only on my teaching but as one that altered myvery awareness of what learning means. Previously I had seen myself as theteacher, as the imparter of knowledge and consequently had seen my students asthe receivers of this knowledge. In my exploration of the self-study literatureI found a chapter of a yearbook written in 1957 where the author considered theplace of ‘the researcher himself’ in the research process. In scientificwriting many pieces are ‘authorless’ and the writer consciously and deliberatelywrites themselves and their opinions out of the piece. I wonder now if, as ayoung teacher, I did the same with regards to my learning in (and for) mylessons.

Let me explain. My teaching of Javelin has been a ‘place’that I have returned to again and again in my reflections because itpersonifies the limit of both my knowledge and my practice with regards toteaching this topic. I removed the need for me to learn more about the topic ofmy lesson and instead found a fixed body of ‘knowledge’ that I felt I needed toimpart to the students – regardless of their age and prior experience. Now I amnot alone in this means of teaching, as I have seen and heard many anecdotesabout Javelin and athletics since, but I was alone in my lesson as I was theonly person not required to learn as a consequence of my teaching. I repeatedlywonder if I did not do my students a disservice by focusing on the knowledgethat they needed rather than also positioning me as a learner. I feel that I nowneed to account for me ‘myself’ and should therefore have therefore striven to continuallyrefine and enhance my knowledge and understanding - not only of javelin butalso of pedagogy.

I feel, in preparing to teach and in teaching, that I now tryto be a learner. I believe that I am increasing happy to consider myself whenconsidering the needs of my students. As teachers we need to work hard to repositionourselves not only as skilled and passionate practitioners but also as lifelonglearners who strive to learn – in the words of Mahatma Gandhi – like they’lllive forever.  I want to be a commarather than a full stop (cf. Coldplay) when it comes to my engagement inlifelong learning and feel that this is better way of helping my studentsengage with their learning. However, I am a work very much in progress but I amlearning...

I acknowledge, appreciate and thank all those who have takentime to engage me in a conversation on twitter about this and I hope that they,and others, are willing to engage in a discussion around this idea here…ideasthat I discussed initially on this blog in August. I guess the starting pointshould be me trying to articulate what it is I am aspiring to.

In simple terms I want the learning experiences I engenderin my work to be recalled as a significant to those I am working with. That isnot to say I want balloons and party poppers and rounds of applause at the endof every session. In fact I would be happy if they walked out talking heatedlyto each other as they had a debate of ideas. I don’t want it to be an irrelevance.Instead, I want them to ‘enjoy themselves.’ I acknowledge that I am strugglingfor the words but I am not looking for instant gratification just a sense thatsomething positive has happened as a result of my work.I feel that that is an appropriate andmeaningful goal for an educator to have.

I look back on my master’s degree and my PhD, and on myrugby and cricket playing days with fondness and I acknowledge them as highlysignificant in my life. I enjoyed them and would do them all again. Not everyaspect, in fact there were several that were hard, unpleasant even, butgenerally and over a long term. My limited vocabulary leaves me with the contestedterms ‘enjoyment’ and ‘fun’ but I am looking for a deeper and long term outcomealong the terms of ‘impact’ perhaps even naively as ‘nostalgia’ but definitely morefirm as lifelong learning’. Yet how do I achieve that? I like the idea of enjoymentwhile acknowledging that the term is linked to fun and it sits on the shadowline between what is good about education and bad about schooling. I don’t meanto swear but am struggling to find a more acceptable term. What do I mean?Answers on a postcard please.

The fundamentalconcern was the lack of research-evidence to show the positive impact thatphysical education has in young peoples’ lives and the significance it has inpeoples’ lifelong physical activity habits. This lack of evidence makes itdifficult to advocate the continued or enhanced role of physical education inschools. This concern comes at a time when provision for elementary-agedstudents was either threatened or under-resourced and when the poverty/wealth gapis ever widening. This growing “money divide” further highlights the starkdifferences between the affluent and the impoverished and their experiences ofphysical education. Greater national leadership is required. However, this supportneeds to be properly informed and must take account of increasingly diverse worldwidepopulations (and their cultures and languages). Finally there is a dividebetween the ideas of teachers and coaches when the learning of young athletesis considered. The destination is often similar but there is a lack of synergyin our approaches.  All of these themeshave emerged at a time when sports programmes remain the dominant context forthe teaching of physical education: a situation unlikely to changed unlessphysical education teacher education institutes take great steps to modernizeand reconsider their programmes. 

The predominant message was one of engagement. Everybody has the inherent right and a need for opportunities to play. Some create these for themselves while others are either discouraged (both intentionally or unintentionally) from enjoying these same opportunities due to a physical or a learning disability or because they simply do not know how to create or take advantage of them. For some they are put off by the rigid practices they encounter in their lessons, while others lack the necessary support structures or the innate desire to play. The physically disabled, the learning disabled and the play disabled (those who make little or no connection to the potential joys of movement and play) all need our support. Therefore, as educators, we must model excessive happiness and enjoyment in our work so that the learners in our care become apprentices of master playmakers rather than the recipients of a 'physical' education. To do this we need to engage in new ways of knowing and acting that prepares them from an ever decreasing world where technology has created new opportunities for collaborative play. This requires realistic and sustained teacher professional learning opportunities where teachers can engage in the practice of engagement.

We’re living in a technological revolution. However, it is awave of progress that is moving away from us with each passing day. In theirsong ‘time’ Pink Floyd wrote “we run and we run to catch up with the sun butit’s sinking” – which in my mind is a good analogy for the distance that isbeing created between what we could do with ICT in our teaching and therealities of what little is actually achieved. To address this Ben chose to usevideo analysis to engage low ability and disaffected kids in physical education.It could be argued that video analysis has occurred in physical education formany years using suitcase size video cameras and bulky players but despite theavailability of this technology it hasn’t caught on in the subject’s teaching.Ben’s project was to see what worked ‘best’ for his students and he tried sevendifferent video analysis techniques only to find that simply recording andreplaying footage  on digital cameras andfreezing the frame using pause was the most useful for his students. In thisway immediate feedback was possible which helped students engage with theirlearning while simultaneously wanting to help their peers. 

I wonder if reading as an academic is worthwhile if the audience for most of my learning is me? I have spent enough time saying 'I'll blog next when I have time and when I have something to say" but I don't think that that is the point. I have just co-authored a chapter on 'writing' and we use blogging as an informal way of sharing ideas and structuring thoughts and ideas into a clear and concise message. To do this we have suggested an exact word count (200 words) as this reinforces the need for clarity. So here goes...

I have been reading in three main areas over the last few months: 1) professional development 2) ICT in Physical Education, and 3) the site of the social (i.e. the places -both physically and metaphorically - we work and interact which in turn forms our meta-practices. These themes have been the focus of three main academic papers yet they appear to overlap in so many ways: ways I will now make a first attempt to articulate. 

The bottom line is practices in physical education are somewhat staid. Furthermore the ways in which we seek to continually educate and empower teachers are also staid and predominately use a model of "one size fits all" rather than creating individual learning outcomes for each participant (much like our teaching itself). Additionally we live in a technological revolution where innovation is measured in months not years. So how do we use technology in our teaching when, as a body, we lack the drive to change the status quo, the tools to re-educate ourselves and the time to keep up with every innovation? 

Yet professionally do we have the time not to find ways? 

Solution? We could form our own professional learning communities...

Two hundred works later and I could have stopped but I am not sure that serves my purpose...for those who read a blog on Physical Education and Practitioner Research perhaps they already know this and probably have created networked learning opportunities of their own. As a result they are probably already ahead of the game as my reading of research in this area suggests that these are the best ways that educators can engage in professional learning. For those who might be new to online, unstructured, informal, friendly and meaningful collaboration then you are on the right lines. 

Why?

Because we learn best when rank and file isn't an issue i.e. When all participants have an equal say and can make the contribution that they want. We learn when obedience and compliance are not expected and when we can ask questions and answer questions without fear of rebut or ridicule. When we can share ideas that have been tempered in the 'heat' of the classroom - ours or someone else's it doesn't matter. 

You could argue that these conversations do occur in the 'gaps' between the formalised learning that is supposed to occur on official professional development courses. But these are impromptu meetings that occur by chance. It seems more obvious to me to deliberately and purposefully seek your colleagues. It therefore seems obvious that the best professional development occurs in physical education when we use ICT to create our own sites of the social with colleagues from around the world. 

Once this is done then we have the opportunity to influence how we develop each of these components in the maelstrom of our own institutions and our own classroom.

Your thoughts?

The question

It hung like a bad smell

Their discomfort: palpable

I explored.

They hadn’t got it

Maybe it was just a bit too clever

Or maybe they weren’t cleverenough

Wait on! I’m the teacher. It’s notabout learning it wrong

No!

It’s about my teaching it right.

So it’s my fault?

Well, our fault.

They tried to explain the concepts andideas but they simply couldn’t

I tried to help, to explain, but Iwasn’t far ahead of them.

A couple of steps maybe

Truth be told I found it a challengetoo but could re-consider it in light of my prior experiences

We moved the ideas forwards, but itwasn’t easy as they had their own misunderstandings to overcome.

To repair

Then she spoke about her fundamentalconcerns. But...No. Wait a second. She was sorry for thinkingdifferently. For not agreeing

When was it decided that she couldn’t have an opinion?

Who was it decided that I was rightand she wrong?

Was I really the infallible expert?

No! You should challenge things Isaid. Find fault. Question everything

You should accept nothing at facevalue.

Try before you buy. Look at thingsthrough your lenses

OK.

She responded...fundamentallyit...hadn’t...couldn’t...No. Not couldn’t... didn’t work for her

She saw some obvious flaws.

This doesn’t work.

Not for her.

Not in physical education.

But why? I tried to explain but theflaw was there and it wasn’t to be shifted.

Should I shift it? No. I should let herfind meaning for herself

But the fault lies not with her.

The theory? The practice? Praxis?

Well, I’m the teacher. I must striveto find the solution

The fault is mine!

My pedagogy? My knowledge?

Who does understand and can explain?

Me? She? They

Want to be practitioners

So?

Find a teacher solution

Put it into teacher talk

Take smaller steps

Explain

At the crux of the paper was O’Flynn’s investigation of twovery different schools and how they take up and negotiate the meaning of healthand physical education that their students adopt. She argued that schools have apredisposition towards the type of students that they educate. In other wordsthey have ‘classed subjectivities’ that implicitly effect the shape of the ‘somebodies’that the school invites its pupils to become. Looking deeper O’Flynn draws onthe notion of self as being constructed through the interplay of people and thepower/knowledge relations in which they are involved. In terms of schooling shesuggested that schools are able to constrain and enable certain discourses thattheir students can subsequently ‘take up, reject, resist and negotiate’ astheir idea of ‘self’ develops. As a result of the school’s predisposition towardscertain discourses, and its rejection of others, “students are conceptualisedas being ‘invited’ by their schooling to take up particular subject-positionsand ways of thinking, being, and governing themselves and others” (O’Flynn,2010, p. 432).

In her exploration of the wider literature O’Flynn suggeststhat schools have become sites of (re)production, where classed and genderedsubjectivities are maintained and enhanced. In the two schools – one a privategirls’ school and the other a co-educational government-run school in the same Australiancity – different perceptions existed around the nature of the students, and inmany ways the ‘somebodies’ they are allowed to become were predefined. Middle-classexpectations that students would be ‘high achieving’ and ‘motivated’ werecompared to working class expectations that students would fail in both theirlives and their studies seemed to be embedded in the subjectivities of thetwo schools.

The language of the two schools in describing their pupilswas markedly different. The ‘exemplary students’ and ‘future leaders of thecommunity’ of the private school were expected to achieve ‘high academicsuccess” and be ‘independent’ ‘leaders’ ‘team players’ and ‘adaptive individuals.’In comparison the ‘vocational learning’ in the co-educational school wasachieved through ‘basic skills’ and ‘student welfare’ in an environment that ‘promotednumeracy and literacy’ for all with the provision of ‘remedial assistance’ andwith a focus on ‘well-disciplined students.’ The discourse, O’Flynn argues, ofsuccess and failure are located in the individual schools and in many ways thewords used remind me of a self-fulfilling prophecy. The construction of the ‘somebodies’of each schools meant that they were almost (pre)ordained to construct theirfutures as being either privileged and following the traditional trajectoriesof educational and professional success or deviant and disadvantaged and endingup in low-skilled employment or unemployment.

The ‘truths’ of each school meant that students wereencouraged to construct themselves as being ‘normal’ when they shared thediscourse of their school. Consequently it is important that we look not onlyat the simplistic discourse of education but at the “similar and different wayspopulist notions (in this case of health and physical activity) are drawn on byschools” (O’Flynn, 2010, 443). Such an examination would explore why dominantdiscourses are classed, gendered, raced and hetronormative and afford a greaterunderstanding of the ways in which schools shape “the ‘somebodies’ young womenand young men are invited to ‘become’” (O’Flynn, 2010, p. 444).

References

O’Flynn, G. (2010). The business of ‘bettering’ students’lives: Physical and health education and the construction of social classsubjectivities. Sport, Education andSociety, 15 (4): 431-445.

 However, and withregards to teaching and specifically the teaching of physical education, theseclose similarities are concerning. For many years I have read about the enduringteacher-led pedagogy that dominants teaching around the world and while I haveaccepted this, a little if me has wondered if  it’s really true. Now while I will not claim thetotal dominance of this approach I can say that the people I have talked toconfirm that this is not a regional issue and nor is it likely to simply ‘goaway’ unless we engage in some consolidated, meaningful and radical reform. Itis no longer enough to allow ‘more of the same’ to dominate the teaching andlearning that occurs under the name of physical education. Instead we mustbravely go where no one has gone before and change physical education before itis irrevocably changed for us.

This was the greeting I received from Garr Reynolds as I arriveda little late to his Presentation Zen seminarin Paris. I quickly fired out some lame retort and a humble apology, settled my80 litre rusksack down and found a seat with some great European colleagues. Whatfollowed was an afternoon of eye-opening simplicity that set me thinking (evenmore) about my presentation skills. Using four hour-long slots with thinking, networkingand coffee drinking time slotted in between Garr helped us to think aboutpresenting as being ‘to an audience’ and ‘not for ourselves.’ What follows hereis a summary blog that attempts to pick out my top ten take-home messages frommy time in Paris and my subsequent reading of Garr’s fourth book ‘the naked presenter.’

1.     Audience: You are presenting to somebody (wellhopefully many somebodies) and not just about something. So work out who theyare, where they come from and what you want them to take home from yourpresentation. By starting at point A (where they are) and planning to take themto point B (the changed them at the end of your presentation) then you have thebasis for your presentation.
2.     Audience: You are presenting to real people sopresent to them. Don’t read from copious notes, don’t simply read your slides(these guys and girls can read faster than you can talk and they will readahead and then make conclusions that you don’t necessarily want them to makeand without the punch line that you have intended) and don’t present to yourslides. Get out in front, place a lap top in front of you so you can see whatis coming next and know your stuff. Present to them, go off script, answer theirquestions and engage with them like you having a conversation not giving alecture.
3.      Audience: You have 9 minutes and 59 seconds,according to Dr John Medina in his book ‘BrainRules’, to talk to your audience in the first instance before you need to changethings up and get them doing something new. Therefore don’t use this time ‘warmingthem up’ as they are most receptive in minute one. Hit them with your message,shock them even and get them engaged from the start. After ten minutes findsomething new – tell them a story, show them some video footage, do a straw poll(i.e. “who has ever...” and count yourself amongst their number). The audience areat their most receptive in the first and last few minutes so hit them with yourbest stuff. If you shocked them at the start then show them how your talk hasoffered a solution in the final message. However, don’t waste your impact by thankingthem and asking for questions, this will happen any way and you want to leavethem with a take-away idea.
4.      Present your message: the phrase ‘death by powerpoint’ didn’t spring outof the ether but has grown up because the full capabilities of powerpoint havebeen exploited to produce ‘all singing and all dancing’ presentations that areall ‘skirt and no knickers.’ In other words they look fancy but achieve verylittle except bamboozling their audience. So think big. One of the take homemessages I took from Garr was not to put up any text on my slides smaller thanpoint 30. If you can’t say what you want to say in point 30 or greater then youare overburdening the two key senses of the audience: their eyes and their ears.The audience see your message from the image and the small amount of text youpresent and then they hear it as you talk. However, overburden them with textand the eyes start to see, rather than hear your voice and the message – your takehome message – is at best jumbled and at worst lost in your deluge ofinformation.
5.      Let them take your message home: Don’t try andtell them everything. Give them the key points and then allow them take homethe ‘paper’ that supports your presentation and contains the ‘hard facts.’ Don’tdo this as powerpoint slides as they won’t contain enough content for your audience(given your aim to go big) so write something. The audience can take this awayand explore your ideas at their own pace and in their own time. They can readaround the subject if they wish and make their own decisions. Your aim is toget them thinking at point B rather than point A.
6.      Take your time to link your text message to yourimage: A picture, as Garr used, of a woman in a tracksuit drinking water from aplastic bottle could have many meanings: a) Hydrate b) recycle being just two. Sochoose your image carefully for the message that you want to give across and makesure it works by trying it out on friends before you hit an audience with it.
7.      Link your image to your text: In reverse ofpoint 6 the slogan “Britons drink 5 million bottles of wine a week” (a made-upstatistic) is poorly represented by a glass of wine on a table by the pool, orwine drunk on a picnic, or three bottles of wine held by a waiter. Youraudience needs to understand the sheer volume of liquid this equates to. So animage of Niagara Falls and the aside “equivalent volume of Niagara Falls over aten minute period” sends a much more powerful, and meaningful, take-homemessage.
8.      Brainstorm: There are different stages inplanning a presentation and while the first are knowing your audience andplanning the route your want to take them on from point A to point B there areothers. The second (or third in this case) is brainstorming. Garr would haveyou turn off the computer and use post-it notes and a pen, or a whiteboard andpen. He quoted John Cleese who said “we don’t know where we get our ideas frombut it certainly isn’t the computer.” So turn off the computer and write outthe ideas that immediately come into your head. Write snippets on post-it notesor the whiteboard and then move on to the next idea. Keep going. You willdiscard much of this but it will allow you to really think through the plannedmessage and the route from A to B.
9.     Sort and storyboard your ideas: The next stageis to take your ideas and group them and then storyboard them. Using a wall,whiteboard or a notebook put the ideas into a sequence that creates the storythat you want to tell. Remember the 10 minute rule, and the need to keep ideasshort and the time you have for your presentation and flesh out the story. Youwill need to link your ideas, pool your ideas (if some are the same) anddiscard some ideas if they don’t aid in the story you are trying to tell.
10.   Prepare and practice: The final message was thatit takes time – a lot more time than simply cutting ideas from a paper andpasting it into a slide – to prepare an effective presentation and rehearse ittakes a lot of time. I read somewhere (not from Garr) that an hour presentationtakes 30 hours to prepare. Time well spent? I would say yes. I feel that theeffectiveness of my presentations has vastly increased and the impact they haveis far more significant but I am still learning and it takes time. I havesupportive colleagues who will listen to me speak and a real desire to makethis work but solid, usable and effective ideas such as Garr’s have been key inmoving forwards and it takes preparation time and practice time.

This may seem like a lot ofeffort but I feel that it is certainly worth it. However, don’t just take myword for it; read Garr Reynolds, read John Medina, check out TED, look onslideshare and talk to people. Presentation doesn’t have to be about bulletpoints just because that is the way everyone else does it. Find your messageand tell it through powerful images, meaningful text and a take home messagethat your audience can read and question in their own time.

Happy Christmas and great newyear,

Ash

The cold weather gripping the country hasmade me very glad of the log burner in my lounge.  Whilst sawing and chopping new supplies ofwood, I was wondering why this is one of my favourite jobs. Perhaps it is thephysicality keeping me warm whilst outside on such a freezing day, or the sheersatisfaction of striking the log to see it split cleanly.  Maybe it is just the pure simplicity of thetask in a modern and often very complicated world.

 Buddhist stories often suggest studentsshould concentrate on doing mundane tasks well. Morgan Freeman playing ‘God’ in the film ‘Bruce Almighty’ requires Bruce to help him with mopping the floor, asdoes Socrates in Millman’s   ‘Way of thePeaceful Warrior’.  These examples may beabout developing humility and self-discipline, undoubtedly valuable qualitiesto practice.  However with the firewood,I think there is something deeper, linking to a connection with fire that ispart of something innate in us as human beings. Gathering firewood and making fire seems to link to an ancient innerpast which we often loose touch with in our modern lives.

Or maybe it isjust great to be sitting by the roaring fire!

[Nalda is a PhD student at the University and this reflective blog really made me think. I thought you would enjoy reading it]

As physical educators’ we are well versed in thedesirability of ‘warming up’ appropriately. On contemplating our researchendeavours it may be apt to consider ‘blogging’ in such light. Pondering overfragments of ideas, will as Ashley demonstrates, allow us to ‘run’ with ourmusings and ‘choreograph’ them into something ‘communicable’. In his seminaltome, ‘the sociological imagination’, C. Wright Mills (1959) explicates asimilar working process and I’ve found him to be a useful research companion.

Going for a ‘blog’

Despite the raison detre of physical education being‘movement’, I believe (our collective work stands as testament) we can standaccused of being ‘static’. To free ourselves from this impasse, we all, in ourown ways, argue the need for critically ‘reflexive’ practitioners. I think theword ‘critical’ is important here. As socialisation research attests, most PEteachers are reflective in so far as they ‘mirror’ the practices of their past.This ‘apprenticeship’ for many is positive and our task is to develop a‘curiosity’ around what ‘positive’ means. Namely, who is privileged and/oroppressed by such practice(s).

Back in the changing rooms

Mr rigid the inflexible is berating me to hurry up and getchanged – oh the irony!

With this in mind I decided to start, under the sameconstraints, to blog about how I blog. These words (or at least similar words)initially came from my pen and were written, unedited, straight on to today’spage of my reflective diary. In other words they were shot from the hip. Thesecond process was to transfer my paper and pen ‘blog’ to the computer. This transferwas critical and considered and led to the first edits and rewritings of mywords. The finals stage was to adjust the text to fit the 200 word target exactlywith no wasted words or overly cut corners.

In the last few weeks, as part of my own explorations andresearch into MBP, I have been trawling through the many academic,peer-reviewed journals in which empirical studies of MBPs have been published. SpecificallyI have been reviewing the published literature around MBP that directlyexamines a) teachers use of and b) teaching and learning as a result of MBP.The overwhelming outcome of this extensive review (of 37 papers and counting) isthat MBP works and that it is exciting and vibrant approach to teaching in physicaleducation. The vast majority of the many hundreds of teachers involved in thesestudies agree that MBP was a good alternative approach to teaching in physicaleducation and many preferred it to the tradition multi-activity curriculum thatcurrently operated in their schools.

On a cautionary note the review also suggests that MBP is nota straightforward alternative to traditional teacher-led approaches and that ittakes time to learn to teach in a new way. There are risks involved inpedagogical change but the rewards, it seems from listening to these teachers,are centred on enhanced student learning and are worth the extra effort. Thestrongest changes occurred when teachers worked in collaboration withUniversities and their learning communities. Such unions, one of thecornerstones of the development of the PEPRN site, helped teachers not only toadopt these models but also to modify them so they were effective at anindividual classroom level.

If you would like to be involved in some up and comingcollaborations that we are proposing then please contact me through thewebsite.

Challenges of Game-Centered approaches

Given that the time is right for sport pedagogy, I feel that it is pertinent to highlight that the most fundamental challenge is in supporting teachers and coaches while they develop their understanding and embodiment of game-centered approaches AND constructivist theories of learning (Harvey et al., 2010, Light & Evans, 2010; Light, 2008).  Certainly, planning to prevent a ‘roll out the ball’ teaching approach is critical (Harvey et al., 2010; Howarth, 2005) and more specifically, modifying the training environment (Harvey et al., 2010) in order to ‘get the game right’ (Thorpe & Bunker, 2008) using the ‘goldilocks principle’ (i.e. not too hot, and not too sweet but ...) (Rovegno et al., 2001).  In addition, planning pertinent higher order questions to stimulate critical thinking and dialogue among players is a key pedagogical technique to foster players learning. 

Secondly, the repositioning of teacher/coach (Harvey et al., 2010; Light, 2004) so they can ‘step back’ and facilitate player learning by using the aforementioned strategies of game modifications and questioning.  What is more, this stepping back allows for the reduction of power relations between the players and the teacher/coach so they are positioned as a partner in learning (Light, 2004).

Finally, and importantly, Light (2004) had found that the aesthetics of training and the expectations of the club committee or school management may actually deter teachers and coaches from using these approaches. As one of Light’s study participants mentioned, “I do drills when the committee come round, but I use Game Sense at all other times.”

In sum, all of these factors, pedagogy, the repositioning of the teacher/coach, and the aesthetics of training are all important challenges that teachers and coaches must address when implementing game-centred approaches.

Opportunities of Game-Centered approaches

Given that in most games, especially team games, only a small percentage of time is spent on-the-ball, the biggest opportunity for game-centered approaches is that it can look to develop players skills for working off-the-ball (Harrison et al., 2004, Harvey, 2006, Light, 2004, Turner & Martinek, 1999).  Indeed, my assertion, along with that of the researchers cited above, is that teaching the tactical aspects of games can only occur when players are taught within the game context.  Playing in game-type situations in practice enables players to develop decision-making and aspects of a ‘sense of the game’ through implicit learning that cannot be directly taught to players (Light & Evans, 2010). This emphasis was also one of the major reasons for the initial development of the Teaching Games for Understanding model in the 1980’s which followed on from the approaches in France of Mahlo (1974) and Deleplace (1966, 1979) where they investigated the modelling of practice in team games. From the work of Mahlo and Deleplace, a school of thought emerged that recognized cognitive processes to be necessary for the correct execution of motor skills within game situations (see Gréhaigne, Richard, and Griffin 2005 for a review).

Secondly, and linked to the first opportunity I highlighted, teaching ‘through and in the game’ (Launder, 2001, p. 55) not only enables positive transfer from practice sessions to match situations (Harvey, 2009, Harvey et al., 2010, Light, 2004) but also positive transfer from game within the same category of games (Jones & Farrow 1999, Memmert & Harvey, 2010, Mitchell & Oslin 1999).

The final opportunity of game-centered approaches are their ability for the development of independent players (Light, 2004) and player motivation (Evans & Light, 2008, Light, 2004). It has also been shown that skillful questioning can promote engagement of players (Harvey, 2009, Harvey et al., 2010).

As with the challenges, these three factors are interdependent and all influence the teacher or coaches ability to utilise game-centered approaches to teaching, coaching and learning. Nonetheless I would like to stimulate some discussion on the Practitioner Research Network by concluding with some questions:

 1.      How prevalent is the use of game-centered approaches to teaching and/or coaching?

 2.      How did you learn/not learn about game-centered approaches?

 3.      What do you feel are some of the solutions to the challenges highlighted above?

 4.      What are some of the additional benefits of game-centered approaches to teaching and/or coaching? (e.g. learning in the affective domain, ethical development, etc.)

 5.      What are some of the factors which may influence the incorporation of game-centered approaches into your teaching and/or coaching?

[From Ash: I have added these questions to a new discussion board on Game-Centered approaches to teaching, coaching and learning ]

References

Armour, K. M. (2010). Teachers, coaches and advanced pedagogies for lifelong engagement on physical education and sport. Symposium at the Congress of the International Association of Physical Education in Higher Education, La Coruna, Spain, October 26-29, 2010.

 Deleplace, R. (1969).  Le rugby [Rugby Union].  Paris: Armand Colin Bourrelier.

 Deleplace, R. (1974).  Rugby de movement – Rugby total [Rugby in movement – Total rugby].  Paris: Education Physique et Sport.

 Evans, J, R., & Light, R, L. (2008).  Coach development through Collaborative Action Research: A rugby coach’s implementation of Game Sense pedagogy.  Asian Journal of Exercise & Sport Science, 5(1), 31-37.

 Gréhaigne, J. F., Richard, J. F., & Griffin, L. L. (2005). Teaching and learning team sports and games. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.

 Harrison, J. M., Blakemore, C. L., Richards, R. P., Oliver, J., Wilkinson, C., & Fellingham, G. (2004).  The effects of two instructional models – Tactical and Skill Teaching – on skill development and game play, knowledge, self-efficacy, and student perceptions in volleyball.  The Physical Educator, 61, 186-199.

 Harvey, S., Cushion, C, J., & Massa-Gonzalez, A. (2010). Learning a new method: Teaching Games for Understanding in the coaches’ eyes. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy,15(4), 361-382.

 Harvey, S. (2009). A study of interscholastic soccer players’ perceptions of learning with Game Sense. Asian Journal of Sport & Exercise Science.  6(1), 29-38.

 Harvey, S. (2006). Effects of teaching games for understanding on game performance and understanding in middle school physical education. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR. Retrieved May 10, 2010, from http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/dspace/handle/1957/3010.

 Howarth, K. (2005). Introducing the teaching games for understanding model in teacher education programs. In L. Griffin, L. & J. Butler, I. (Eds.), Teaching Games for Understanding.  Theory, Research and Practice. (pp. 91 - 106). Champaign.  IL: Human Kinetics.

 Jones, C., & Farrow, D. (1999). The transfer of strategic knowledge: A test of the games classification curriculum model. The Bulletin of Physical Education, 25(2), 103–124.

 Launder, A. G. (2001).  Play practice:  The games approach to teaching and coaching sports.  Champaign, IL:  Human Kinetics.

 Light, R. L. & Evans, J, R. (2010).  The impact of Game Sense on Australian rugby coaches’ practice: A question of pedagogy.  Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy. 15(2), 103-115.

 Light, R.  (2008). Complex Learning Theory - Its epistemology and its assumptions about learning:  Implications for physical education.  Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 27, 21 – 37.

 Light, R.  (2004). Coaches’ experiences of games sense: Opportunities and challenges. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 9(2), 115 - 131.

 Mahlo, F. (1974). Acte tactique en jeu [Tactical action in play].  Paris: Vigot.  (Originally published in German in 1969).

 Memmert, D., & Harvey, S. (2010).  Identification of Non-Specific Tactical Tasks in Invasion Games.  Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 15(3), 287-305.

 Mitchell, S. A., & Oslin, J. L. (1999). An investigation of tactical transfer in net games. European Journal for Cognitive Psychology, 4, 162–172.

 Rovegno, I., Nevett, M., Brock, S., & Babiarz, M.  (2001). Teaching and learning basic invasion-game tactics in 4th grade: A descriptive study from situated and constraints theoretical perspectives. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 20(4), 370-388.

 Thorpe R. & Bunker D (2008). Teaching Games for Understanding – Do current developments reflect original intentions? Presentation at the fourth Teaching Games for Understanding Conference, Vancouver, BC, Canada, 14th – 17th May 2008.

Turner, A.P., and Martinek. T.J. (1999). An investigation into teaching games for understanding: Effects on skill, knowledge, and game play. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport 70(3), 286–96.

In a recent exposition Kirk (2010) examinedthe critical, yet unrealised, importance of research in affecting practice andpolicy in physical education. Despite the warning that half all publishedresearch is only read by the author(s) Kirk argued that models-based practice(MBP) (as a derivative of Metzler’s (2005) instructional models) was astrategic approach to physical education that sought to align  curriculum knowledge, teaching strategy andlearning outcomes.

In his book InstructionalModels for Physical Education, Metzler (2005) claimed that content isusually practitioners’ first concern when thinking about teaching. Furthermore,the teaching of physical education mainstays such as games remains relativelyunchanged across the grade levels and experience of students; with the gameitself being broken down into the same components and tasks follow the same orsimilar sequences. This method of instruction matches the exasperated claim bySiedentop (2002) that physical educationalist persistently teach the sameintroductory units of work regardless of the age and past experiences of thestudents. Consequently, content is very much the organising centre for physical education teaching. As analternative Metzler urged teachers to considering instructional models as abetter organising centre. Indeed, the call “there is no one best way to teachphysical education” has been widely propounded yet nonetheless content-basedpedagogies continue to dominate in the gymnasium.

In arguing against the near-identical practices of teachersMetzler posited that physical education, with its broad-ranging and diversecontent, presents complex challenges. This complexity suggests there is a needfor multiple models of practice. He argues (2005, pp. 24-28) that by taking amodels-based approach, a number of benefits ensue. For example, programmeplanning and coherence can be improved, learning domain priorities (cognitive,physical, affective) can be more clearly identified, and an instructional themeidentified for each model. These benefits in turn assist the organization ofteacher and student outcomes from a unit of work and because outcomes areprimary considerations in planning permit the valid assessment and verificationof learning.

In defining separate instructional models  Metzler, highlighted two types 1) those whichalready exist in other fields and which have been adapted for physicaleducation (including Personalised System for Learning and CooperativeLearning), and 2) those developed specifically for physical education,(including Sport Education, Teaching Games for Understanding and Personal andSocial Responsibility). Metzler (2005) held that models such as Sport Educationand Teaching Games For Understanding had been architecturally designed toincorporate robust theory garnered through strong theoretically-informed practice(or praxis in the words of Habermas, 1973) that had been sharpened throughrigorously field-tested research in schools and other appropriateestablishments. Furthermore, he argued that this research knowledge wasaugmented by the combined craft knowledge about ‘what works’ accumulated fromthe innumerable teachers who had contributed to the field testing of thesemodels. The strong support for these models from research; there is in otherwords evidence of what works, something that is, according to Lawson (2009)desperately needed in physical education.

The apparent need for MBP originated from Metzler’s beliefthat the teaching of physical education was rooted in the past. This pastfocused on the attainment of content goals (i.e. gymnastics and sport-basedgoals) through a programmatic approach to teaching that covered a large breadthof activities in ‘pocket-sized’ experiences all delivered through a commonplacedirect and formal instructional approach. Similar arguments have been made bymany in physical education research and this paper lacks the room to adequatelysummaries the abundant research in this area (see Kirk 2010 for a up-to-dateexamination of these concerns). It is suffice to say that the“one-size-fits-all” pedagogy of physical education is based upon the use ofprescribed actions by the teacher to personally control the learningenvironment. Contrary to this subject-wide “way” of teaching (Casey, 2010)Metzler conceived that the field-tested praxis of MBP allowed teachers todevelop a flexible, multiple models approach to their teaching. His notion ofpedagogical change was founded on his belief that the unique blueprintsdeveloped by the architects of each model would allow teachers to buildapproaches to teaching that aligned subject matter and outcomes. FinallyMetzler believed that this degree of ‘preparation’ allowed teachers to safelyadopt the models in their classroom as being suitable ways of acting and thinkingabout teaching.

 References

Casey, A. (2010). Practitioner research in physicaleducation: Teacher transformation through pedagogical and curricular change.Unpublished doctoral thesis, Leeds Metropolitan University. 

Habermas, J. (1973). Theoryand Practice. Boston: Beacon Press.

Kirk, D. (2010). Current status and future trends inresearch on physical education in Europe: Some critical issues for why researchmatters. Keynote address to the 5^th International Congress andXXVI National Conference of the INEFC, University of Barcelona, 4-6 February2010.

Lawson, H.A. (2009). Paradigms, exemplars and social change.Sport, Education and Society, 14,77-100.

Metzler, M.W. (2005). Instructionalmodels for physical education. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathway.

Siedentop, D. (2002). Content knowledge for physicaleducation. Journal of Teaching inPhysical Education, 21, 368-377.

If we take the same notion of the id2 of professional development then, I believe, we can start to see to the root problem of the genre and perhaps we can start to reconstruct what professional development means and does for teachers. A quick Google search ‘define: professional development’ highlights the current idea of professional development (my parenthesis to show the id2)–

• Professional development refers to skills and knowledge attained for both personal development and career advancement. ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_development
• as part of the structured training and depending on the route to membership, the candidate must do a minimum of between 48 and 96 hours of professional development, eg formal training courses, distance learning programmes, informal structured reading and secondments. www.joinricsineurope.eu/en/articles/view/apc-terminology-explained-15
• is the application of planned learning activities designed to maintain and enhance one's competence in health education following a previously attained level of professional preparation (adapted from "Report of the 2000 Joint Committee on Health Education and Promotion Terminology"). www.nchec.org/ce/definitions/
• Increase of knowledge or skill through study, travel, research, workshops or courses, sabbaticals, internships, apprenticeships, residencies or work with a mentor or master. See mentor or master. www.canadacouncil.ca/help/lj127228791697343750.hhtm
• Opportunities for professional education faculty to develop new knowledge and skills through inservice education, conference attendance, sabbatical leave, summer leave, intra- and inter-institutional visitations, fellowships, work in P-12 schools, etc. www.sfasu.edu/education/about/accreditations/ncate/about/glossary.asp
• The process of increasing the professional capabilities of staff by providing (or providing access to) training, and educational opportunities. This can include on-the-job training and educational opportunities. This can include , outside training, or observation of the work of others. ... erc.msh.org/mainpage.cfm

These statements can be viewed as the social construction of the idea of professional development. However, despite the attractiveness of some of these statements, when these ideas are explored in reality, in other words when the idea of the idea of professional development is laid bare, then the following terms emerge to define professional development: Skills, knowledge, career advancement, structure training, formal training courses, planned learning activities, maintain and enhance one’s competence, professional preparation, knowledge, skill, study, workshops or courses, new knowledge and skills, inservice education, the process of increasing professional capabilities of staff by providing (or providing access to) training, on the-the-job training, outside training.

Professional development in education could therefore be seen as training teachers with set knowledge and skill. Furthermore, I would argue that professional development has three desired outcomes and measures: the competence to teach, ensuring child safety, and defining a teacher’s suitability for promotion (in physical education you might add extra-curricular competence). Currently professional development is not perceived favourably in schools and by teachers but, as Donald Schön stated, it has become the yardstick again which competency is measured. Vicky Goodyear (a recently practicing teacher and a new PhD student) summarised:

Whilst I was a physical education teacher I felt the CPD I was offered was not relevant to me nor was it  based around my professional development needs. Compulsory INSET sessions ran on different dates throughout the year and topics (plenaries, starters, questioning, lesson planning, AFL) were repeated year after year. Certainly this structure did not ‘inspire and sustain teachers’ curiosity’, it had the opposite effect with teachers beginning to refuse to attend certain sessions. Moreover, I felt this was the only form of CPD teachers were aware of.

This summaries the id2 of professional development and sadly this manifestation of professional development is all too easily recognisable to teachers and teacher educators. The response of teachers in refusing to attend certain sessions is telling and if we don’t find a way of providing professional development that inspires and sustains teachers curiosity then how can we hope to employ teachers who do the same for children? Vicky, in her curiosity, went to look elsewhere for meaningful development:

In my second year of teaching I engaged with practitioner research and made a pedagogical change to my teaching. I reflected lesson by lesson on my practice and listened to the thoughts and opinions of my students to understand how my teaching and learning environment could be improved. This I felt was the best form of CPD I engaged with. I began to understand in more detail my learners’ needs and wants. Moreover, I learnt things about myself and how I behave as a teacher that I was not aware of. Extending on from this I agree with Kathy Armour that CPD should be a lesson-lesson process and support Ashley’s thoughts that action research is a tool for this.

Similarly curious Joey Feith (a young Canadian physical education teacher) frequently takes the opportunity to create a more engaging experience for himself:

Being such a young teacher, I often try to think of ways to help other young teachers get into the habit of attending and participating in CPD events and using CPD resources. I think the social media boom has created forums for discussion and collaboration in ways that never existed before. I watch what other Physical Educators are saying on Twitter or writing on their Blogs. I "like" the Facebook pages of professional organizations in hopes of getting updates/ideas from them or finding opportunities for sharing. I watch the YouTube videos and leave comments or questions if they inspire me to do so. The thing with social media, as opposed to traditional media, is that instead of simply broadcasting information to its audience, it allows for an open, collective discussion in which new ideas are formed by its community. I know that, from my own experience, that type of discussion has been a much more engaging experience for me and has prompted me to want to continue having that type of discussion outside of the set days that traditional CPD events offer.

Importantly, I think that Joey’s concluding statement gives us great insight into a possible future for professional development in physical education and mainstream education:

I think that once we realize that instead of just focusing on broadcasting ideas and resources to teachers ("telling" them) and move towards engaging teachers ("asking"/"inviting" them), we'll find that many new teachers might start seeing the real value of CPD and start taking their own professional development in their own hands.

If we return to the google definitions above and extract a different set of terms then we also begin to develop the idea of professional development rather than its id2: Personal development, informal structured reading and secondments, travel, research, sabbaticals, internships, apprenticeships, residences or work with a mentor or master, conference attendance, sabbatical leave, summer leave, intra- and inter-institutional visitations, fellowships, work in schools, educational opportunities, observation of the work of others. This gives a notion of professional development as social and personal where knowledge and skills are there to be discovered. It is unfortunate that professional development is currently defined by its ID2 rather than the ideas above which would make it more about learning than box ticking. John Dewey argued that "the object and reward of learning is continued capacity for growth and that students develop skills and habits of mind that will enhance their creativity and problem-solving abilities with respect to the issues they are likely to meet."

I certainly won’t be the first or the last person to suggest that we follow one of Dewey’s idea. However, say we did and say we stated that learning is a continued capacity for growth then we would begin to transform and rebrand continued professional development as CPG or continued professional growth. In this way I believe (and in slightly misquoting Catriona) we support meaningful CPD which has teachers' professional learning at its heart and which really can help build teacher capacity (Catriona Oates, A CPD expert from Scotland).

When professional development becomes about growth and when we help teachers to develop habits of the mind that will enhance their creativity and problem-solving abilities then we start to foreground a new idea of CPG and have the chance to make right the sins of our fathers. On a final note I would like to offer up Catriona Oates’ example from Scotland as a example of great practice in professional growth communities that others might consider following and developing:

In Scotland, the national CPD team is committed to building teacher capacity and working towards system-wide change through innovative CPD. Just to give you a taste of the work going on, which chimes with your question above on teacher ownership of CPD, here are a few links which may be of interest. Learning Rounds http://ltsblogs.org.uk/cpdteam/tag/learning-rounds/ is a very empowering form of teacher-owned , learning focussed(virtually free)CPD which can effect system -wide change within schools - keep watching the blog for more news , information and testimonies. In Scotland we are very fortunate to have a national intranet for schools, teachers, learners and parents ( and more) called Glow. As it is a closed secure system you can't get in to see without guest access. The national CPD team is making very innovative use of Glow through building on-line communities of practice, encouraging teachers to share, discuss challenge and exchange with each other in on line professional conversations. These CoPs are also supported by regular CPDmeets: video conferences which take place within Glow by practitioners , leaders , managers, guests - anyone who has something interesting or useful to share. They are recorded and made available online for folks who couldn’t attend live. All of this is free CPD which can be planned, recorded and reflected upon in the online PRD tool CPDReflect: http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/cpdreflect/ and it can hopefully provide evidence for discussion around the Professional Review and Development process. We have a national directory called CPDfind http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/cpdfind/index.asp where all these free opportunities are listed, along with many others (including paying ones) which can be entered by approved providers.

In a couple of weeks AIESEP (Association Internationale des Ecoles Supérieures d'Education Physique - International Association for Physical Education in Higher Education) will meet in Spain for its annual conference. One of the conference sessions will explore professional development through an interactive approach (i.e. AIESEP’s website) and will be chaired by Mary O’Sullivan with the help to two panel members: Tom Templin and Ruiz Ruan. What follows is an extract from Mary’s recent email:

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“The session is an attempt to use the internet (using AIESEP Website) to stimulate discussion with folks before the conference posing questions, opinions/commentary on the topic in the next several weeks.  I with the panel should summarise these points into some coherent fashion and put it back out of the AIESEP website and invite further commentary.

Let me start by suggesting that there is a new model of professional development required.  Governments in most countries have neither the priority for nor the money to invest in CPD in ways we might wish…and thus we need to develop a more coherent and sustainable model of CPD with teachers at the centre of this enterprise….

Teachers have both a right and a responsibility to engage in professional development…..”

Mary went on to offer a brief summary of AIESEP beliefs on and around CPD:

• PE teachers have a right and responsibility to be engaged in effective CPD throughout their careers;
• A key rationale for CPD is enhancing teacher and pupil learning
• CPD is, fundamentally, about inspiring and sustaining teachers’ professional curiosity.
• Meaningful CPD relies on shared commitment and collaboration between education stakeholders
• Appropriate CPD can reduce teacher burn-out and attrition.

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The reason for this blog is to ask teachers how they feel about these beliefs about and around CPD. While I would be delighted to hear from physical education teachers I would equally wish to hear from other colleagues in primary, secondary and higher education. Any comments are welcomed and would ask you to pass the link to the blog on and encourage your colleagues and PLN to respond to the question:

How do we create a notion of professional development suited to our modern teaching profession?

Here area selection  of the comments from those involved in a recent discussion:

What forum might be most appropriate for engaging teachers in shared conversations about policy and practices of CPD? – Connie Collier

 What are the repercussions/consequences to physical education and ultimately children if this does not happen? - Melissa Parker

Who facilitates or who gets to facilitate CPD?  Is it solely a position (professor, government hired person) or a disposition (do these people have certain dispositions/beliefs about CPD and if so what are they)? - Melissa Parker

What professional development practices are powerful and sustainable enough to address the issues the confronted by teachers and also impact student learning? – Phillip Ward

Are teachers who engage in meaningful CPD in the minority? – Phillip Ward

Professional learning is no longer centrally about attending courses occasionally throughout a career - although traditional courses can, of course, be useful. Instead, professional learning starts with the day-to-day and continuous diagnosis of children's learning needs, and the professional learning required to meet those needs. In other words, CPD becomes driven from the pedagogical encounter at the centre of teaching/coaching; a day-by-day, lesson-by-lesson process. – Kathy Armour

I think it is crucial  that we recognise the varied school contexts in which physical education is taught. As part of our considerations we need to ensure that those classroom teachers responsible for teaching PE are provided with professional learning opportunities. I feel this is a complex issue to deal with as the learning needs of this group a unique given they are likely to have experienced less PE curriculum/pedagogy learning in their ITE programme, and once they are in schools they are responsible for remaining current across multiple curriculum areas, and also broader PD initiatives. - Kirsten Petrie 

When Ashley presented his work at BERA this autumn I found his notion of action research as a form of professional development both challenging and worth investigating. If we accept Ashley’s premise that action research might be a viable alternative for the more traditional CPD, then I believe we need to determine how to assist pre-service and practicing teachers to experience and value action research in ways that will encourage and assist them in becoming lifelong learners of their own professional development To achieve this we need to develop pedagogy of teacher education that is inclusive of this pursuit and systematically addresses it. – Deborah Tannehill

There likely is a need to place greater emphasis on educating prospective teachers what CPD is, why it is important, what forms it might take. If they don't know what it really is they won't know what to look for. I know that attending one's annual state conference is but a small example, but how important it is to get future teachers going on that front to the point that it becomes habit to take time to attend, participate, and present at that level. - Hans van der Mars

Advocacy: What do we really know about how we might get school administrators to pay more/better attention to what's going on on gym? Yes, in the US they are pressured to direct all resources to Reading and Math because of federal legislation. But there is a substantial body of evidence now on the link between PA/PE and academic achievement that should help us in the fight for weekly curricular time. But how do we get that message out? Someone has to go and connect with these folks.  . - Hans van der Mars

Policy: Perhaps in European countries more headway has been made in terms of influencing policy at the government levels, because of the greater involvement/influence that national governments have in those countries). In the US, PE as a field, is only now slowly recognizing the importance of the role of policy development/change. Slowly there are now mandates being passed for recess, number of minutes of PA and number of minutes of PE in various states. It likely is no different for bringing about increased opportunities for subject matter-specific CPD. . - Hans van der Mars

Teaching has suffered from similar ‘quackery’ and yet these innovations have never, it seems, been more than flashes in the pan. At least that is how you might be led to believe it.  In physical education some innovative approaches have been consider ‘new’ for twenty or thirty years and yet the chatter about them doesn’t die down and those who have seen them work sing loudly (well at least as loud as academic paper, presentations and books allow) about their abilities to finally develop students’ and their learning rather than replicate the ‘cures’ of our forefathers. In this series of blogs I will explore a number of innovative practices in turn: Sport Education; Cooperative Learning; and Teaching Games for Understanding (as a starting point). But before I do that I would direct you to one book that might help you understand a little more about these pedagogies.

In 2000 and 2005 Michael Metzler published the first two editions of his book “Instructional Models for Physical Education” published by Holcomb Hathaway. In these books Mike brings seven pedagogical models to our attention and devotes a chapter to explaining and exampling each of these approaches. This book has become a bit of a seminal text for academic writers referring to instructional models in physical education.

Some debate has also occurred around Mike’s choice of title with some leading academics suggesting that the term ‘instruction’ maintains the status quo by putting the emphasis on the teacher to teach rather than seeing the teacher as a facilitator of learning (which is the objective of a number of these approaches). They offer models-based practice (MBP) and pedagogical models as alternatives. With this in mind, and in the firm personally belief that MBP is a more student-centred term, I will from now on (i.e. in my future blogs) refer to these innovations as MBP’s.

In the next Blog I will write about Sport Education and the most prolific of the MBP’s in physical education. 

The second study explored why Swedish children continue to be involved in sports clubs as they enter and progress through their teenage years. The author felt that by exploring the reasons for involvement, rather than the reasons for non-involvement allowed her to understand three facets of involvement. In drawing on the work of Antonovsky the author felt that this suggested that children need to find the activity: Comprehensible i.e. they understand the benefits of participation, Manageable i.e. they could fit it into their daily lives and Meaningful i.e. it had a degree of importance/motivating in their daily or weekly lives. In comprehending and managing these facets the student needed to maintain a balance in terms of regular involvement, travel, family support, friendship and relationship with clubs and coaches. Meaningful was uncovered in terms of lifestyle. Life without sport was not desirable and they identify with sport and exercise and enjoy the mutual experiences and mutual goals shared with friends, family and coaches.

The third group explored Swiss youth, migration and the myth of integrative sports. In exploring immigration and the diverse opinions held about immigrants the presentation explored the use of sport as an integrative medium. However, the social sciences suggest that sport is not effective (or at least as effect) as society believes it is. The interviewees (52 children and adolescence) felt that sport isn't a means of integration because people play their traditional sports, or use it "let off steam" rather than integrating as a member of society (eg speaking the language).

The fourth paper, in which I was cajoled into playing a cameo role, explored physical educations future; most specifically a future that saw the extinction of Phys Ed. This paper built upon the book and was written in response to a review of the same book. The paper presented an idea of life in 20 years where physical education was extinct and children learnt about healthy lifestyles from a ten-minute ‘pocket’ work out with their computer/game station. This is just one of the futures envisioned in the future but it was a telling reminder of the fragility of physical education as it now stands.

The next SIG session explored the role that school plays as a key setting for promoting health among children and adolescents. The first paper explored the role of playtime (or break/recess) in enhancing children’s physical activity. Using objective measures (such as motion sensors and heart rate monitors), self-reported measures, qualitative measures and biological outcomes the paper examined the ways in which children were involved in physical activity when using a Nike play zone playground.  The first finding was that boys were more active than girls but included in this was the perception by pupils that the boys desire to play football (soccer) dominated the playground and marginalised the play of the girls and other pupils. However, it also showed that the children who benefitted from a new playground increase their activity levels but those who didn't (i.e. in a comparison group) levelled out or declined in their activity levels. The conclusion was that playtime is a valuable place/location to raise the PA levels if students and should be protected for the benefit of children.

The second paper investigated the role that Phys Ed and Phys Ed teachers can be sensibly involved in addressing childhood obesity. The implications for health are well reported (and as the presenter suggested may be over reported and over emphasised) and I won't report those here. However, it is important that we don't concentrate on overweight and obese children by adopting an uncritical attitude towards those children. Measuring the obvious and wasting resources, examining lunch boxes, fat clubs etc. rather than helping the child. Instead, the presenter offered the following guidance: School priorities, staff training, interventions, engagement with parents/carers to help a child and their family as an individual unit to value healthy living. Further practical recommendations included a critical approach to diet, weight, Physical Activity, kit/clothing, groupings, tasks, etc. By taking the focus away from obesity and promoting inclusive, physical activity promoting, activities there is more of a chance of successful intervention.

The final paper explored the development of a pedagogical model for health-based physical activity. Examining previous research the presenters argued that mixed health goals of sport-based, multiple activity Phys Ed programmes are not successful in developing health. Furthermore, MVPA is not an effective focus for health development as this is based on current lifestyle choices. The conclusion was that a pedagogical model should be developed to align teaching, learning and content. The major theme of the model will be valuing a physically active life with students as independent learners. Such a model would occur with new measures of successful Phys Ed programmes, the types of curriculums planned and changes in spaces and equipment used in Phys Ed.

There was a discussion around these three papers which I will deposit in the resources section. If you have read this far then thank you for taking the time to read. I am happy to try and answer any questions  you might have and welcome your responses.

As I was presenting today on aspects of my professional development through practitioner research I thought I would take the chance to listen to the practitioner research special interest group. I have spoken to practitioners on Twitter about professional development and the need (or demand) for teachers to 'do' PD. I am an advocate of practitioner research (as you will see from my presentation later) and hoped that this strand of the conference might appeal to teachers and not just my Phys Ed colleagues.

The first paper asked whether teacher education placements should be about creating managerial or pedagogical partnerships between schools and universities. Consideration was given the one-way relationship between universities and schools (i.e. universities need schools for qualified teaching status (QTS) students but school don't need universities) and how this relationship of need created by the requirements of the QTS process for student teachers to gain experience at the point of implementation i.e. classrooms. The study explored the developing relationships, from the perspective of the school teachers, as they worked with students at beginning their profession. The assumptions that these experienced teachers made about their teaching were 'challenged' and they felt that they began to rethink their own pedagogies as they tried to help the student teachers under their care. The teachers began to consider themselves as "sharers" in a process of engagement in pedagogy - both as a student teacher mentor and an experienced teacher - and saw the university-based tutor become a colleague and a critical friend rather than being seen as a dislocated expert. This relationship helped university 'ivory tower' occupants to be seen not as modelers of practice but as exponents of pedagogy who come to be seen as peers were a shared object - teacher knowledge - as a mutual language.

The second paper explored the medium term impact of action research on teachers adoption of an action research methodology. Exploring the new action researchers engagement with action research - all of these individuals were experienced teachers - the investigator felt that his relationship with these teachers played a strong role in their use of action research yet the teachers were more interested in their hobbies rather than their action research roles. Unfortunately it was not a great presentation and I found it difficult to identify my own learning as a result. What I learnt as ideas were not enough and the quality of the presentation and the pedagogical aspirations of the researcher  need to coincide. [It is important to position ourselves as learner so that we can understand the frailty of the learning process and what we need to do to make it better.]

The third paper took the audiences thoughts towards the 'values' teachers hold as people and when they are involved in action research rather than just the epistemological and pedagogical development of teachers. The enthusiasm was evident and they freely used terms like impact of empathetic residence and empathetic validity. They suggested that as teachers we develop creative compliance in schools and institutions where we find our own ways of dealing with personal needs and values which balancing the need to comply with the demands of the workplace. However, while referring to their paper this ‘object’ never became apparent as a body of knowledge and fixed ideas were never used. I left feeling that the substance was lacking and it became a celebration of the presenters’ ideologies rather than a sharing of ideas. It was almost, albeit soft and sympathetic, a hard sell of their ideas and a marketing opportunity for their online action research network. I felt that I gained little from their talk and while the hint of learning was there it was never, even, remotely a chance to share experiences and develop as a teacher. Again, there was a clear gulf between the aspirations around learning by me, as a learner, and the desire by the presenters to work in their own sphere of expertise and in their own style. As educators we need to consider the learner more than we consider our desire to teach.

The final paper was presented by a senior leadership team from a secondary school (a head teacher and his deputies). This was fantastic to see and, as a teacher, it invigorated me after the previous two papers. This was a longitudinal study exploring the second year of a learning revolution (my words). A whole school approach to change their emphasis on teaching and learning that, unfortunately, had lost its momentum from the honeymoon period in year 1 and become quagmired in a technical use of prescribed lesson plans in year 2, rather than developing reflective practitioners. Alas research suggest that innovation in teaching means work-plus-work and teachers in this study, when faced with increased work load, adopted a ‘safe mode’ rather than really pushing the boundaries forwards. Furthermore, teachers became protective of their subject areas and queried the benefit of these learning tools in the delivery of their unique bodies of knowledge.  However, this was a brave and difficult undertaking and tells us more about such top-down approaches and the need to develop sustained and sustainable pedagogical and curricular change.

I will now move on to the afternoon session which I chaired. However, I have posted my presentation online in slideshare and will instead explore my colleagues' presentations. Lori explored the old department for children, schools and families (DCSF) gender agenda and how she approached the underachievement of boys and girls in participation and achievement  (P&A) in Phys Ed. She acknowledged that in this agenda practitioners and practitioner involvement were critical to improvement in P&A and could help with gender reform through the examples that these individuals could provide for students. By creating mock dialogues between academics and practitioners Lori tried to help teachers to explore a 3rd space between the theory found in universities and the practice found in schools. Lori found through these conversations that older secondary schoo, students 'threw away' the subject because of gender differences and the ways in which physical education was packaged. Furthermore, she felt that practitioner research allowed dialogue in this 3rd space but ponder the importance that teachers placed on gender agenda. Practitioner research allowed teachers and academic partners to problematise the gender agenda but without questioning the academic's voice as being authoritative. This positioned academics as knowers and the teachers as receivers of bodies of knowledge. Lori acknowledged this as a mistake and proposed both parties as knowers and learners rather than givers and receivers of knowledge in this 3rd space.

Saul explored his reflections on becoming a dancer in a male dominated 'jock' culture. As footballer at the start of his Phys Ed student teacher in the early 1990s he explored his discovery of dance and the enjoyment he gained from dancing and then the gender/sexuality (heterosexism/homophobia) stigmas  that became attached to being and becoming a dance educator. He questioned the persistent rhetoric which now need to change so that Phys Ed is appropriate for the 21st century. Using video (which I can't show here) Saul interpreted the dance as stories that highlighted the reinforcement of dance as something that 'other men' do. I cannot do justice to this presentation and will ask Saul to write a blog himself on this enlightening ideas - indeed it is easy to get lost in the power of gendered dance story that I see in Saul's work and hope that he can go some way of explaining his ideas and thoughts.

Bringing the three papers together Deborah spoke to each if the authors in turn. I have spoken to her and over the next few days I will place her paper (in full) on the PEPRN website.

The first day of the conference is always a little slow as people arrive from around the country and across the world. The lull before the storm allowed me to engage in some planning of my own (which I won't bore you with) and to engage in some pedagogical discussions of my own with colleagues from other institutions. This type of professional development (PD) - autonomous in nature and determined by common interests and a desire to further my own knowledge and understanding of my field – seems to be what is lacking from systemic PD. If all (or at least more) PD worked like this then teachers might actually have time to investigate and challenge their pre-conceptions and ideas about and around Phys Ed rather than merely accepting things are as they are.

The first of the parallel sessions started 4.30 and the Phys Ed special interest group (SIG) explored the theme of researching Phys Ed and self-determination theory. As the latter seems to be a buzz word in the research in our subject I was interested to see what it was all about. After listening to three fascinating papers (although I have to admit that the statistical analysis was beyond me) I will now try and summaries the findings.

[However if you go into the resources section on the website you will find David Kirk’s discussion paper on the symposium which is much more extensive than my summary]

The first of the three papers suggested that autonomous motivation is important in predicting habitual physical activity. The second paper found that ‘in-class’ variances between the ways in which individual pupils are treated by their teachers also had an influence on autonomous motivation. The pupils’ perception of their teacher’s perception of individual student need seems to be important in the development of increased student motivation. Some of the students in these studies felt that year-on-year consistency (in terms of the teacher who is responsible for their learning over time) was important. Other students, unsurprisingly, found that being taught by the same teacher year-on-year was de-motivating. I concluded from this that some students develop positive relationships with their teachers (even if that is shown through respect for the teacher and an understanding of their 'ways' rather than just liking them and the way they interacted with these students) while others don’t.

The third paper explored predictors of these teacher behaviours. Age, floor space, numbers of pupils, level of academic qualification, environment (warm or cold)  and perceived pressure (felt by the teacher) all had an impact on teacher behaviour. Older teachers and more qualified teachers were more controlling in their pedagogy. Increases in the number pupils and degrees in the floor space both had an impact on type of pedagogy used and tended to be an indicator of controlling rather than autonomous behaviours. The presenter concluded that older teachers and more academically-minded teachers were more likely to exercise controlling pedagogies with less open questions than those who had chosen teaching over qualifications. Furthermore she suggested that those who had engaged in recent teacher education courses had greater experience of autonomy as opposed to controlling teacher behaviours.

The discussant concluded that self-determination is a teaching revolution but there is currently more questions than there are answers and no proof that autonomy leads to greater physical activity. Yet importantly there is some evidence to suggest that student motivation is not related necessarily to Phys Ed at a class level but at an individual level between student and teacher (in the singular). This suggests that teachers have the potential to have a lifelong impact on individual pupil’s lifelong physical activity. Yet are we teaching to increase student motivation or motor learning or perceptions of confidence...or improve school team performance?

I thought that it might be useful to write a daily blog from the British Educational Research Association national conference and thought I would start with the physical education special interest groups "invisible college." The invisible college is a pre-conference gathering where the phys ed research community meet to listen to a scholarly lecture before engaging in a discussion around the lecture in the morning and then participate in relevant discussions in the afternoon. The afternoon session was around grant writing and, while being interest to me, I will make the executive decision that it may not be of interest to you.

However, the morning session (which I tweeted about at the time) was by Professor Peter Hastie and explored the need to put pedagogy back into physical education research. Peter's argument was that research has been focused on measureable health outcomes (often measured by student activity through movement) which have excluded the teacher, the student, the teaching, the learning, the context - in fact everything that relates to what is happening in schools. Outcomes are not the only thing that is important in physical education and we must be concerned with the explicit pedagogical inputs that are occurring in our classrooms. We, as Phys Ed teachers, need to acknowledge that physical education facilitates the activity outcomes that occur in lessons and therefore we need to be concerned with how we present learning in our work - which means we need to care about our teaching and what the students learn. The outcome of increased participation in Phys Ed is not enough and could be considered meaningless if we don't understand what happened in the classroom.

Peter went on to suggest that lifelong physical activity is a poor yardstick against which to measure physical activity. Instead he suggested that a personal belief in the child that they were a mover was more important. If children, or specifically a child, believe(s) that they are a mover and that they stand a greater chance of experiencing enjoyment in their phys Ed experiences. Furthermore he believed that students needed to feel competence in their area of activity and finally he advocated that students would benefit from autonomy and opportunities to really engage in areas of interest. Such opportunity places the emphasis on meaningful, sustained and sustainable physical engagement rather than an experience curriculum that has been described as a mile wide and an inch deep.

While Peter's lecture was aimed at encouraging researchers to put the pedagogy back into research I felt that it supported the arguments and discussions that were occurring in the blogsphere and on Twitter. There is an argument that outcome can be considered coincidental if we have less or little regard for the inputs. As teachers we cannot assume that a constant methodology (or pedagogy) will lead to new outcomes. Einstein, I think, said that madness was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different outcomes. We need to consider our inputs so that we can improve the outcomes that our students’ enjoys.

Looking back on my time as a secondary school teacher I want to confess to a bad (and now old) habit:

At the start of a lesson the phys ed staff would chase the stragglers out of the changing rooms, lock the door, collect the equipment from the pavilion and then walk down to the stone monument by the 1^st XV rugby pitch (by winter and spring) or the athletics track (by summer). It was the same routine every time we were on ‘double games’ and as we walked the last few metres one of us would cry out “Red door and back!” E v e r y  l e s s o n and every time the pupils would start moving towards the door. Now the red door was about 100 metres from the monument and the minute or so it took the students to amble the course gave us time to set up the first drill and deal with the malcontents who were trying to ‘avoid’ participating. Behind us and up the slope the other groups was running around the hockey pitch or the netball courts and so on...this is how the habits of phys ed go.

Now I didn’t think, as a practitioner, that this was unusual, not even when one of my students did it when I came in to observe him on teaching practice. That is to say I didn’t notice it until the school-based tutor jokingly made a comment on the inappropriateness of the warm up when the student teacher know he was being observed: “You can’t do things like that until you’re qualified.” Suddenly the penny dropped. Oops!

Is such a bad habit just another expectation or character trait of the stereotypical physical education teacher? I didn’t shout “red door and back” because I had thought about the consequences of the instruction but because I learnt to copy my head of department. However, once I had assumed this catchphrase it became part of my repertoire. I used it naturally, often unconsciously, and it became the way that lessons started. I vaguely recall similar warm-ups when I was a pupil but nothing so memorable as this enduring catchphrase. This got me wondering...is this the same the world over? Does phys ed have a bad habit that it doesn’t really know about and isn’t that bothered about?

As I frequently do I put out the following question on twitter in an effort to better understand the situation:

I am planning a blog but could do with some help. Can anyone remember how their phys ed lesson used to start? (i.e. three laps of the pitch)

I had “red door...” in my mind as I tweeted this message and was interested (but alas not surprised) to receive this reply from @MissJStanton

@DrAshCasey when I was at school we had to jog round the painted lines of the netball court in a line, with the leader choosing the route.

I could recognise the use of “follow my leader”, in the same way that I can remember ballistic and static stretching, but while the latter has been replaced by dynamic stretching the former has not seen the wide spread adoption of sport specific warm-ups.

Later @JoeyFeith, an phys ed teacher from Canada, wrote:

@DrAshCasey I remember attendance, followed by a long intro, and then drills #physed

This shows up a popular manifestation of phys ed that we must eradicate but which still persists but the pedagogical implications of this approach need discussing at another time. Anyway, before the weekly ukedchat on twitter I took advantage of the crowds and asked the question again only to receive the following disheartening replies from @JfB57 and @chickensaltash respectively:

@DrAshCasey Skipping round the room swinging arms, running on spot, star jumps! Agh! #ukedchat

@DrAshCasey We always had to run round the field 4 times - if PE teacher was hung over it was 20 times then lesson finished! #ukedchat

This is poor practice and it is worrying that it is vividly remembered by the recipients and that it comes as no surprise to me. In looking for clarification I ask the question again just as I sat down to write this blog. My retweeted question received a few more indictments on the traditional beginnings of phys ed lessons. @shhartley (x1) and @adzmc (x2) replied respectively as follows:

@DrAshCasey I remember laps of the oval and star jumps.

@DrAshCasey I actually like to start with an easy warm up game. When I was a student it was always a run to the gate and back.

@DrAshCasey I know a teacher (experienced and very well known) who stretches instead of warming up. Even 1st period of morning in winter.

Finally, just as I was finishing off the blog I was fully knocked for six when @B_Wagoner wrote:

@DrAshCasey My middle school PE teacher always started with, "Boys on the court. Girls on the bench." Seriously.

The habits we have are not always good and sometimes they are detrimental to ourselves and others. I would not like to liken smoking to poor beginnings in phys ed lessons but both are highly damaging. The ways in which we prepare students for phys ed will, as these twitter conversations suggest, be remembered for life. If we make lessons an enjoyable and positive experience then we begin to encourage students towards a lifelong habit of physical activity but that simple though just doesn’t seem to be the case - even nowadays. I have blogged before about the backstream chatter around physical education on twitter and it really isn’t very good. Still, on a positive we can decide not complain about the complaints students are making and do something about it.  In the words of the poet Rita Dove “There are times in life when, instead of complaining, you do something about your complaints.”

As phys ed teachers we are the masters of own destinies and, to some extent, the destinies of our students. We need to kick our bad habits and ensure that the red door doesn’t become the abiding memory of phys ed of our students.

Comments From The Previous Blog...

On 10 August 2010 02:33  Adam said...
This is a great post, well done to all who contributed. This post really moved from a student not bringing equipment issue to a why do these students not want to participate in Phys Ed issue.

In the state system I am in, QLD, Australia, there is no real requirement for changing in Phys Ed, they can wear there sports uniform all day (which really is quite unhygienic and gets very smelly mid summer, but forget this issue, as we have no showers or change rooms at school anyway). But we do still have issues with nonparticipants, who either refuse or have an 'injury/illness'.

As students change and society changes, PE has to change as well. I have been teaching for only 10 years, and the main aim of physical activity in that time is skill development in a variety of physical activities (I teach high school).

I am not sure if students enjoy that or are receptive to that anymore. They do not see it as fun, those who enjoy that type of activity usually play competitive sport on the weekends anyway.

But all I am doing is really asking questions. And the main question is, is what do we need to be doing with physical activity in the 2010 PE classroom. Skills?? Fitness?? Minor games???

On 10 August 2010 03:48 Ben Jones said...
Ash
IMHO this is very similar to the issues I raised in my blog post last week: http://benpaddlejones.edublogs.org/2010/08/04/why-assessing-differientiation-in-the-curriculum-with-technology-is-difficult/ the issue is, is "brings PE uniform to class every lesson" in the syllabus? If it’s not then why are we assessing it?

But let's take a step back what is the overarching philosophy/intent of any health, personal development or physical education syllabus? From my readings in is all about healthy individuals and health communities (ideas of healthy vary between syllabi). How does assessing some based on bring the correct uniform relate to healthy individuals & communities. If we then extract that concept of a lifelong health how does punishing a student achieve a lifelong healthy individual?

Or are we just applying a rule because those before us applied it, or maybe because without it we can differentiate?

Ben :-)

On 10 August 2010 04:32 Dr Ash Casey said...
Hi Adam,

Thanks for the reply. Would be great to connect with you about this but I can't work out who you are. If you are on twitter drop me a DM and we can talk.

More generally though you are right. Phys ed has been about developing skills in major team games. The question of what we do now is more difficult and, I think, much less prescriptive. We need to develop a love an enjoyment for phys ed and to do this we need to acknowledge (in Ben's words from our skype chat this morning) acknowledge that there are sports lovers, physical activity and health lovers and those who enjoy both or (currently) neither. We have to offer kids the chance to learn about themselves and their passions and we need to help them develop those either in schools or clubs. Once we have generations of kids who enjoy being active in different forms then we start to address what is coherently wrong with Phys ed at present.

cheers

Ash

On 10 August 2010 04:36 Dr Ash Casey said...
Hi Ben,

As I said this morning we need to ensure that we don't fall into the trap of assuming that the way we were taught is THE WAY of teaching. As you say we need to extract the essence of what makes phys ed phys ed and try to put this across in the learning that we try and engender in our teaching. We need to support the school in creating an environment conducive to learning but we also need to challenge our schools and universities to think differently about what that environment looks and feels like.

Cheers

Ash

On 10 August 2010 05:32 jonesytheteacher said...
I've got some explaining to do!
When I fired back my question in response to your question, 140 characters didn't do justice to the point I had in mind, that being, that as teachers we often find ourselves caught between two imperatives.
Firstly, the overt and rigid system of assessment and reporting that our employers expect us to deliver to our stakeholders (I hate using economic terms to describe education, learning & humans. Unfortunately, the commodification of what we do (as educators) often ends up with any discussion being couched in these terms, so I will as well to make my point!).
The second, and much more meaningful imperative is that of delivering the "pure" message of our learning area (lifelong physical activity, healthy relationships, learning through games - whatever flavour you want to call it) in a way that was honest, valid and equitable.
In my experience there is a tension that exists between these imperatives - and the second often suffers at the hands of the first. Too often what we “do” is immeasurable, and to try and do so analytically reduces it to triviality. This then inevitably leads to discussion on the legitimacy that is attributed to a subject via assessment and achievement of overt outcomes (ie. If you test and get marks, then somehow that subject is more important than one that doesn’t assess and mark in the traditional way).
My tweet about the maths student and their books was a coalescence of these thoughts into a sub 140 character response.
My job as a Faculty leader, ever since I became a Head Teacher, has been to convince my "experienced' staff, who largely believed that the old way was the best way, that the second imperative I mentioned needed to become our focus. We can still meet the assessment and reporting expectations of our employer and the parents, but at the same time honour a real life commitment to the students that our work will have the greatest long term effect on.
We are by no means a model school where enlightened staff wave goodbye to students that have reached their maximum potential. But we are exploring ways that make what we do relevant (for all parties)and engaging , and thus ultimately instilling in our students the ideal of lifelong health and physical activity.

On 10 August 2010 06:08 dblain08 said...
This is something that always needs to be addressed. The basics must be in-place before we can try to integrate the extra add-ons (tech) that many of us, especially me, sometimes get carried away with.

Build from the basics-starting with getting pupils to enjoy PhyEd, making them feel that physical activity is worthwhile and something they should commit to, through sport of as part of a healthy lifestyle.

My belief is that the technology can help with this and as such becomes part of the basics.

On 10 August 2010 08:35 Dr Ash Casey said...
Hi Jonesy,

I think that innovation is always batting against tradition - except that tradition gets first pick in the draft and already has the governing body and umpires on its side. We have personal belief about what sort of teaching will engender the best learning and social expectation about what teaching in physical education is. The difficultly for anyone trying something new is that it is difficult, time consuming and there is no evidence that it will achieve the stakeholder's benchmarks any more successfully that the current model - so why bother! We need to change practice but we also need to change expectation about what it means to do physical education.

A tough journey but even these begin with single steps...

cheers

Ash

On 10 August 2010 08:39 Dr Ash Casey said...
Hi Dylan,

Making technology part of the basics will be great. I agree we need to make it an expectation rather than a innovation. As long as quality, lifelong learning is at the heart of our efforts then we should be on to a winner.

As some once said we should not be paid by the hour but for the quality we add to the hour.

cheers

Ash

So...imagine my motivation to create a high impact, simple and usable website that actually gets used. Likewise...imagine my trepidation as I now come to unveil the storyboard via my blog.

The idea of this website is that it is simple to look at. It is easy to navigate. It is a place where people want to spend some time. That’s it really. So can I ask for some comments based on three factors:

1) Looks good

2) Looks easy to navigate around

3) Might be somewhere I am interested in visiting more than once.

The images are currently just flats. The links don’t work and are really just images. So as they say ‘the first taste is with the eye’ – what is the first visual impression like?

Homepage
http://www.phlite.co.uk/peprn/index.html

Research Network
http://www.phlite.co.uk/peprn/network.html

Blog
http://www.phlite.co.uk/peprn/blog.html

Comments From The Previous Blog...

On 31 July 2010 04:09 Jay said...
i like the look of it. From the static pages it seems as though it will be quite easy to find what you want. Will your network of teachers be contributing resources? It would be a good way of helping break down a 'silo' mentality.

On 31 July 2010 05:21 Dr Ash Casey said...
Hi Jay,

Yes, the teachers will be able to engage in free PD with the university and then return to their schools and create new schemes of work and plan for new units which the uni staff will help them create and then help them instigate. These will then form part of practitioner research projects to help them understand the effects and power of new ideas on pupil learning.

We just hope it works.

On 5 August 2010 04:00 dblain08 said...
Website looks great-there is definitely a gap for sharing and discussing ideas within PE. For PE resources many staff I speak to use TES website but I think it would be great to have a PE specific site. In terms of navigation-looks straightforward and is something I would use regularly. I find it exciting that you are looking to bridge the gap between research from universities and what is going on at schools 'the chalkface'. This is something that is needed. Look forward to seeing how this develops and am keen to be involved if needed.

On 14 August 2010 16:11 Mark said...
Website looks good, although some additional "PE" images might aid the visual appeal of the site. There is definite potential for a site such as this and is a great way of linking theory with practice!

The demands of the 'digital age' prompted Richard Riley, the former United States of America's Secretary for Education, to suggest that we are currently preparing students for jobs that don't yet exist, using technologies that haven't been invented in order to solve problems we don't even know are problems yet. The disparity between this message and the current use of technology in physical education is stark. Up to now, using technology in physical education may have actually reinforced the "physical-education-as-sport-techniques" concept by often focusing on the micro analysis of skill learning, giving the impression that this is the only valid application of technology in physical education. However, the use of technology in schools is expanding at an exponential rate and yet its beneficial use in physical education is barely known. A number of innovative practitioners from around the world have started to incorporate interactive web 2.0 applications (e.g. blogs, wikis, iPads and iPods, flip cameras, online documents and surveys) into their teaching of physical education but do these work? In some reasons technology is seen more than an add on:

In New South Wales we have a multi faceted syllabus designed to explore the individual and their interaction with the world holistically - relationships, sound decision making, individual and community health to name a few. Using technology to complement and enhance our work as teachers seems to be an imperative, not a choice. (Jones, 2010)

In other global discourses mandatory physical education classes have been identified as the key opportunity to 'encourage' school-age children to be involved daily in 60 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (Chow, McKenzie, & Louie, 2009; Strong et al., 2005). Indeed such physical activity engagement is seen as an primary goal of physical education (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 2004; Puhse & Gerber, 2005; World Health Organization, 2004) in light of growing obesity and type II diabetes epidemics (Chow, McKenzie, & Louie, 2009). In light of the changing health climate is there is a strong increase in technology in schools who are seeking to use technology tools that promote activity engagement.

Despite considerable funding to allow information and communication technology (ICT) to make "a significant contribution to teaching and learning across all subjects" (Department for Education and Skills, 2003, p. 7) physical education was, until the recent national curriculum revamp in 2007, the only subject without a statutory requirement for its use (Tearle & Golder, 2008). Unfortunately, and despite the explicit need for ICT to be used in physical education at Key Stage 3 (11-14 years old), the extent to which it is recommended is for recording and reviewing performance and tracking personal progress (Tearle & Golder, 2008). It must be acknowledged that ICT hardware and software cost money which in terms limits the ability of schools to purchase and maintain up-to-date equipment. Furthermore some physical education teachers see the use of any technology or innovation as detracting from the core purpose of the subject i.e. to get people moving to learning (Casey, 2010). Finally there is as yet little evidence that shows that a) students engage with technology in its many forms and b) how the use of technology in physical education might impact on their i) dispositions to be physically active and ii) their embodied self-identities. Indeed, does such micro-analysis and assessment technology lead to greater involvement in physical activity and does it enhance – or merely reinforce – the staid pedagogies of physical education?

This PhD will critically explore the impact of technology on teaching and learning in physical education in enhancing student understanding and disposition towards the subject. It will be about exploring and discovering what works, what doesn't and what works best. This "will certainly be a question on many PE teachers' lips as they strive to introduce technology into their classroom in a meaningful and valid way. Is it worth it? Should I do it? Will it help?" (Jones, 2010).

References

Casey, A. (2010). Practitioner research in physical education: Teacher transformation through pedagogical and curricular change. Unpublished PhD thesis, Leeds Metropolitan University.

Chow, B.C., McKenzie, T.L., & Louie, L. (2009). Physical activity and environmental influences during secondary school physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 28, 21-37.

Jones, B. (2010, July 21). [Comment to blogpost: research into use of technology in physical education]. Physical education practitioner research network. Retrieved July 21, 2010, from http://www.peprn.com/2010/07/research-into-use-of-technology-in.html#comments

Kirk, D. (2010). Physical education futures. London: Routledge.

Lawson, H. A. (2009.) Paradigms, exemplars and social change. Sport, Education & Society, 14(1), 97-119.

Metzler, M.W. (2005). Instructional models for physical education. Scottsdale, AZ: Holcomb Hathway.

National Association for Sport and Physical Education (2004). Moving into the future: National standards for physical education (2nd ed). Boston: McGraw Hill.

Puhse, U., & Gerber, M. (Eds.). (2005). International comparison of physical education: Concepts, problems, prospects. Oxford, UK: Meyer & Meyer Sport.

Siedentop, D. (2002). Content knowledge for physical education. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 21(4), 368.

Strong, W.D., Malina, R.M., Blimkie, C.J., Daniels, S., Dishman, R., Gutin, B., et al. (2005). Evidence based physical activity for school-age children. The Journal of Pediatrics, 146, 732–737.

Tearle, P., & Golder, G. (2008). The use of ICT in the teaching and learning of physical education in compulsory education: how do we prepare the workforce of the future? European Journal of Teacher Education, 31 (

World Health Organization (2004). Global strategy on diet, physical activity and health. Geneva: World Health Organization, The Fifty-seventh World Health Assembly.

Comments From The Previous Blog...

On 21 July 2010 03:55 jonesytheteacher said...
An admirable focus for your work, Ashley. It will certainly be a question on many PE teachers lips as they strive to introduce technology into their classroom in an meaningful and valid way. Is it worth it? Should I do it? Will it help?

Up to now, using technology in PE may have actually reinforced the "physical education -as-sport" concept by often focusing on the micro analysis of skill learning, giving the impression that this was it's only valid application in the subject. In a Sport Medicine/Exercise Physiology course, perhaps so. But the world is much more complex than that, and so is the subject known as Physical Education. In New South Wales we have a multi faceted syllabus designed to explore the individual and their interaction with the world holistically - relationships, sound decision making, individual and community health to name a few. Using technology to complement and enhance our work as teachers seems to be an imperative, not a choice. Exploring and discovering what works, what doesn't and what works best will be a very interesting journey. Good Luck!

On 25 July 2010 12:09 Joey Feith said...
I think there is such great potential for technology in Physical Education, but I feel as though so many people are narrow-minded about how it can/should be used. Pedometers, heart rate monitors, and video feedback materials are all fantastic tools, but they're not as groundbreaking as they once were in Physical Education.

Web 2.0 has provided us with tools that, more than ever before, make it easier to have students engaged in their learning inside and outside the school environment. All we need now is to shift our PE students' focus away from their skill-related performance in class to having them learning about and engaging in healthy lifestyle habits before, during, and after school hours.

I'm glad to see that someone who has proven to be capable of stepping outside of his comfort zone to learn and accept new challenges has decided to research how we can move PE from a few hours of sport engagement per week to continuous active learning and living via the application of modern technology tools to PE pedagogy.

Best of luck, Ash!

On 4 August 2010 07:59 Coach100k said...
This should be a valuable study. As educators we often think of technology in the classroom as the use of computers and the hard and software that goes with it.

In physical education it can also include the equipment used to develop strength and conditioning. For example, the website http://www.artofstrength.com (I have no association with them) uses kettle bells and heavy ropes in their strength training programs. That is using technology as they use those instead of dumb bells or machines.

It seems to me that physical education hasn't yet clarified its mission. In most school districts I know of they have separated health and physical education with physical education still focusing on sports and games and health education focusing on everything else.

In physical education classes the technology being used is sports equipment that has been around for ages.

PE teachers have a challenging job with a mission of both getting children to be physically active, teaching fitness, and teaching sports skills.

There is so much for PE and health teachers to cover and technology most definitely could have a tremendous role far beyond the use of computers.

As you develop your work more you may want to share it at http://www.physical-education-institute.com, which seems to be a new site that allows you to create your own page. Just click on their submissions link.

Best of Luck

Before I started my further education soiree I was a piano carrier. I was happy doing the work at the coal face: teaching the lessons that I needed to before going outside to shoulder an extra-curricular workload that was worthy of my position as physical education teacher/sports team coach. I didn't baulk at these demands; in fact I embraced them as the most important aspect of my choosen vocation. I loved the role and was happy to carrying the responsibilities of 1st XV coach and join my peers in other schools in this prestige position among coaches.

It wasn't until I began to look at my role as a teacher of physical education through my master's degree that I began to even acknowledge the role of carrier that I had assumed upon graduating as a physical education teacher. I was happy with my role as a doing, and none thinking (apologies to any piano carriers reading this), teacher who did everything he could to maintain the status quo. However, the more I read and began to understand the more I wanted to play a different role. I didn't just want to be the 'fella' who moved the piano about I wanted to tickle the ivories. The problem was that I didn't know anything but the carrier's role I was taught by my teachers (in other words to teach as they had taught). I needed a new way of thinking if I was going to aspire to be a pedagogical virtuoso (or even just a journeyman). Therefore I had to learn. Indeed I would almost argue that I had to learn a new trade from the ground up and that was where my Master's helped to generate a little momentum and my PhD allowed me to really study – not only a new trade but also the ways in which I started to implement the new tricks and 'ways' of teaching I was undertaking.

So in summary. Further education helped me to see the piano as an instrument to be played in many different ways rather than simply as something to be hauled about in the time honoured way. This was a gift that placed me on a long pathway towards become a better teacher.

Comments From The Previous Blog...

On 20 July 2010 09:01 Dylan said...
Interesting read, and congratulations on the book-look forward to reading it and enhancing my knowledge of cooperative learning in PE. Am interested in your thoughts on extra curricular activities. What would an extra curricular programme look like if you were a head of department now?

Physical education, it seems, is like marmite i.e. you either love it or you hate it. As I have said before the talk about it on twitter is not often positive. The school I am working with had a group of 13-14 year old students who were taking phys ed because they had to and were predominately in the 'hate it' camp (either that or the "I want to be 'busy and happy and then I might be good' category"). In other words they were disaffected. The teachers reported that the pupils in the year above were a similar group and that their attitude to phys ed had crumbled into dissent or an unwillingness even to bring kit. In an effort to avoid the disillusionment of another group of students the phys ed department, after seeing a session on games-making that I had done, wanted to be involved.

This unit has been running for seven weeks now (or twenty-one 45 minute lessons) and the games are now ready to be played. The basic structure of the unit was for the students to design a game, from scratch, that could be played by small groups of their peers. They started the designs of their games on paper and then tried them out on the school's netball/tennis courts. Through cycles of testing, trialling (where other teams played their games and gave feedback) and re-design the students now have a 'new' game. These games will be played, each in turn, in a sport education season next academic year.

I was privileged enough to interview the teachers on Tuesday and I was intrigued by their responses to two questions: 1) How did you perceive the students' responses to the unit? 2) What differences did you find between participation in this unit and their previous games participation?

Both teachers felt that the unit had worked well but that it had been a challenge. This challenge had emerged from a number of significant factors. Firstly their role had changed. They didn't teach in the way they normally did and their voice was no longer dominant. They were taking more of a back seat in terms of classroom management, which in turn allowed them to work more closely with their students. However, this also meant that the relationship between teacher and student changed. It was this change that baffled them at first as they tried to reconsider the language and approach that they should now use in their teaching. Secondly, they felt that they weren't giving enough to these lessons. It was almost as if they felt that they had to work even harder because they were being studies by me (and a colleague) and were also studying their own teaching. They were disappointed that their other teaching responsibilities sometimes got in the way of the work they were doing with these students. This mirrors my PhD findings. Teachers want to succeed and when given the opportunity they want to throw themselves into the enhancement of teaching and, more importantly, student learning. Thirdly, they were delighted by the change in response by some of the most disaffected kids (i.e. those who thrive in the classroom but shy away from the physical nature of phys ed). They were being challenge to think and this appealed to them. Conversely, those in the "I want to just play" group didn't want to think and found that game-design got in the way of playing. Ironically, there was a reversal in the students who were enjoying physical education. However, from the anti-ablest perspective I have argued from earlier, this might not be considered a bad thing (?). Fourthly, the teacher felt that the students' enjoyment and elarning was sustainable and they were looking forward to next year when the games would be played rather than dreading the lessons that the older pupils were experiencing.

New ideas seem to drive enthusiasm. What's more new ideas and practices challenge teachers and students to consider things, in this case physical education, in a different light. The social construction of the subject is changed and with it so is the type and quality of the learning experience.

If you are interested in trying SDG them leave me a message or contact me on twitter at @DrAshCasey and I'll do what I can to help.

Comments From The Previous Blog...

On 16 July 2010 05:49 jonesytheteacher said...
I have experienced the same issues when implementing a SEPEP (Sport Education in Physical Education Program) unit for Year 9&10 students. The staff and students both felt out the depth because it didn't look like a traditional PE unit. The students weren't prepared to accept new roles like administrator, coach or journalist - they just wanted to be players "like always". We have more success with a Games Sense (TGfU) based series of units with our Year 7&8 students, partly because I believe the staff were able continue to be "traditional" teachers, out the front and leading.

I guess my role as Faculty leader is to "unPE" both staff and students who are used to the traditional form of skills based, "ablest" PE that both have been brought up to expect.

On 17 July 2010 02:57 Dr Ash Casey said...
Innovation is a difficult thing to carry out. Trying to get established practitioners to change the practices that they have seen work for years is a real challenge. The conception that teaching means standing at the front and directing learning is a hard social construct to change. It takes time to learn in a new way and time to teach the pupils to learn to be taught in a new way. Some people are too busy to stick with what might work better in the future...especially when the demands of school often ensure that teaching is not the biggest priority for the teacher.

On 17 July 2010 03:53 jonesytheteacher said...
Very true. Breaking down the construct needs to start in pre service for PE teachers, something that I'm not confident is happening. Traditional lesson planning is required by supervisors that haven't seen a classroom, let alone ponder what a 21st Century PE teacher is confronting. Effectively schools "detrain" many newly qualified teachers and then show them what is really going on. Some institutions do a good job; it's also partly down to the individual personality of the graduant as to how they tackle their first years as a teacher. One advantage they have is the flexibility of thinking that youth brings. Lets hope the new ideas that abound in the practises of young teachers support "change", not "more of the same"

On 17 July 2010 04:19 Dr Ash Casey said...
Very true: The 'wash out' effect is huge in the early years of teaching and it takes a strong early career teacher to buck this trend. I have just set up a research study with our students to see what their knowledge and beliefs about PE are when they start our course, what they are when they finish and what they are when they have been working for two years to try and understand the influence of their school, university and then the work place. I am also working with local schools to help them access new ideas in a sustained and sustainable way. We, as a university, are certainly looking at how we support "change" and stop a culture of "more of the same."

Reflection is part of my role as a teacher and the TDA standards for teachers has reflection embedded within it so I do feel that this a relevant discussion to have on this blog. I realise that this might not be everyone 'cup of tea' but I also felt that it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

So what has reflection meant to me this week? Ben Okri's keynote explored 'new ways to the problem of living' (as my title suggests) and, in my interpretation sought to examine the current problems he envisioned with the life lived as a human being. However, in respect to Ben's opening thoughts i.e. brevity is the missing quality of our age, I will try to keep my ideas short.

Jenny challenged the delegates to think of reflection as a different 'thing' depending on the medium through which is presented i.e. thinking, speech, writing, drawing, poetry, performance, acting, dancing etc and that it means different things in these different mediums. However, I am uncomfortable with the notions of drawing, poetry, performance, indeed anything but writing (or typing) as a vehicle for my own reflections. I guess, naively I suppose, that this relates to Ben's profound concern about what it means to be human and to live as a human inasmuch as I have become disassociated with these other forms of expression to such a degree that I am uncomfortable with the level of ineptitude I might show in using them. Ben suggested that there has been a fundamental disconnect between the arts and philosophy, and living as a human being. These things are no longer interconnected but instead we have become concerned with being artist rather than living as an artist. In other words, art is a means to an end rather than a lifestyle choice.

Being aware of my promise of brevity I will conclude in this paragraph with three fundamental concerns that Ben expressed: Failure, actuality and listening. Failure has become an end point. When we fail we stop. However, for those who strive and aspire to something 'else' failure is not an end point but just a landmark on the road to success. Drawing on the musings around Leonardo de Vinci Ben suggested that de Vinci knew what he would achieve before he started in. Therefore, failure should not be seen as a obstacle but should instead be seen as something to learn from and use as a springboard for future, and inevitable, success. Actuality, Ben suggested, was what we see i.e. I see hundred white swans and therefore all swans are white, and subsequently remains unchallenged. Actuality is Plato's shadows on the cave wall. In contrast reality is 'how things actual are' i.e. not All swans are white. Yet it is the disconnect between actuality and reality that hampers our ability to live. Finally, Ben suggested that listening with an empty mind was more important than hearing. He felt that we could hear things but not listen to them. I guess that that relates to our own reflection. We can write (or perform) but listen to our own voices. Yet it is in really listening that we find the reasons and ability to live life like a human being.

I am not sure that I have done justice to these ideas and on re-reading these words I am sure to want to explore them again in my own private spaces but they serve as a record in time of my ideas. I will leave you with a twitter poem written by Ben a line a day on twitter in January 2010 and which he open his keynote.

As clouds pass above our heads

So time passes through our lives.

Where does it go,

And when it passes,

What do we have to show?

We can plant deeds in time

As gardeners plant roses.

We can plant thoughts, or good words too

Especially if they are noble and true.

Time is an act of consciousness:

One of the greatest forces

Of the material world.

We ought to use time

Like emperors of the mind:

Do magic things that the future,

Surprised, will find.

We could change our life today

And seek out a higher way.

The Buddha sat beneath a tree

And from all illusion became free.

And as we travel on this life that is a sea

We can glimpse eternity.

We can join that growing fight

To stop our world being plunged into night.

We can wake to the power of our voice

Change the world with the power of our choice.

But there is nothing we can do

If we don't begin to think anew.

We are not much more than what we think;

In our minds we swim or sink.

If there is one secret I'd like to share

It's that we are what we dream

Or what we fear.

So dream a good dream today

And keep it going in every way.

Let each moment of our life

Somehow help the good fight

Or help spread some light.

The wise say life is a dream;

And soon the dream is done.

But what you did in the dream

Is all that counts beneath the sun.

The dream is real, and the real is a dream

Each one of us is a powerful being.

Wake up to what you are,

You are a sun, you are a star.

Wake up to what you can be.

Search, search for a new destiny

Was letting go, not taking part

Was the hardest part

And the strangest thing

Was waiting for that bell to ring

It was the strangest start

I could feel it go down

Bittersweet, I could taste in my mouth

Silver lining the cloud

Oh and I

I wish that I could work it out

Coldplay released this song (the hardest part) on the X&Y album and the lyrics always struck me as poignant. I felt that they reflected of my desire to change my position within the classroom and the difficulties that I experienced in shifting from the spotlight and into the wings. If, as William Shakespeare wrote, all the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players, then in my teaching I didn't fully understand when to enter and when to exit or that there were many roles for me to play. I had always believed that I wanted to teach and teaching for me was standing in the at the centre of learning and directing it like a conductor controls an orchestra. However, the more I read and the more I did, the more my lessons look like a jazz ensemble (i.e. an apparent jumble of sounds that looks effortless , sounds great and yet takes years of practice and a huge amount of practice).

The legendary golfer Gary Player once said, "The more I practice, the luckier I get" and this was certainly the case for me. However it was hard. Letting go of centre stage and allowing the pupils to control the pace of their learning was hard. I did feel that I was waiting for the school bell to ring as I watched them work. Yet my work, although done on the periphery, was now even more important. I was the script writer planning for the actors to get involved. I designed the stage and arrange for the props. I adapted when something went wrong and I prompted when the students forgot their lines. I managed the learning environment but I didn't coach the learner. I planned meticulously and I timed by interventions and developed the ability to question not answer. Finally, as Gary Player said I practiced and my lessons (somehow) got better and the learning got deeper and the pupils got more involved.

Change takes time and yes it can be like a rest. But in the long term it is hard and it takes practice and it is hard...however, it is worth it.

Perhaps it is the efficiency of technology that when it goes wrong it is unexpected and therefore it is frustrating. Perhaps the fact that booting up a computer doesn't take the same amount of time as making an espresso (but rather it takes less time than it takes to drink one) that exacerbates our annoyance with any hiccups we encounter. Perhaps we are so caught up in technology that we want it to better than 'old fashioned' approaches that we make it do things that it is not yet capable of undertaking.

In physical education we are beginning to explore technology and my involvement as a blogger and a tweeter encourage me to get the iPad to see how far I could take it all. But when I mentioned flipcams to an experienced member of a local school he wondered what their use was outside of performance analysis. I said that we were using them for Vidpods and in game-making but that got me thinking. Where do we take them? A colleague described the use of camera's in Australia a decade and more ago to film a sport 'walk through.' The concept is that the camera goes through a game with students and they use them to voice the decisions that they are making in the game at the time they are making them. Almost like 'thinking out loud.'

It made me wonder where the other opportunities were for technology. How do we apply the science in teaching?

What can I do with the iPad in my work as a lecturer and teacher educator that I couldn't do with anything else? Imagine the resource I have in my hand in a practical where I show the students a exemplar and then send it to their mobile devices to use in their work. By syncing our technology we create and use opportunities that never existed before...now that is the appliance of science.

Comments From The Previous Blog...

On 10 June 2010 10:55 Dylan said...
Great blog-would love to have ipads/iphones in lessons-you never know?! Got me thinking of possible uses so logged my thoughts http://thepeteacher.wordpress.com/

Let me explain my reasoning. 'The best' and 'the best of the best' are celebrated in physical education and we teach in such a way that it allows them to massage their egos. Take track and field athletics. We teach the athlete and laud the fastest, furthest and highest while those placed other than first are left trailing in the ego of the winner. The same in cross-country i.e. everyone starts together and the first placed runner gets to watch everyone else run in behind him or her. Are we encouraging the ablest to do well and discouraging the less able? Is it time we forgot about the best and helped everyone else? Is it time to forget about the egos of those who already love physical education and who would take part in anything regardless of the activity and concentrate on those whose egos we have constantly hammered throughout school physical education? Is it time to adopt an anti-ablest pedagogy?

A bit radical maybe but would we be better encouraging the least and less able to enjoy physical education and hope that we can inspire them to lead a healthy and active life-style? Should we focus on developing their mastery of an activity that they might enjoy and follow through as a lifelong activity? Is the established player less in need of our support? Should we be massaging a different ego? These are strange idea to a teacher who came into the subject with a coaches role in mind but I just wonder now if we have our priorities wrong. Are the ablest simply better disposed to lifelong physical activity? Research suggests that physical education has concentrated on sports technique for so long that a 'one-size fits-all' approach to teaching has become the norm. This hasn't discourage the ablest but has alienated the majority of less-able students. Should we throw the pedagogy out and prioritise those who 'just CAN'T do it?'

Let me know your thoughts?

Comments From The Previous Blog...

On 2 June 2010 15:54 jonesytheteacher said...
Coming from a strong sport culture in Australia, what you say makes perfect sense. When sport and its players are idolised the success mind set permeates all stratas, including school PE. I would argue that it's good to differentiate the notions of sport and physical activity into separate streams (competitive and lifelong recreational pursuits), provide practical examples and opportunities and thus encourage our students to see that there is an alternative to winners and also rans. I also see the modern PE professional needing to be a critical voice in the ear of our students, breaking down the clarion call of sporting goods manufacturers and the media that second place is for losers.

On 3 June 2010 01:29 Dr Ash Casey said...
There is a stigma attached to the less and least able by physical educationalist. We either don't want to teach the 'b' or 'non-squad' group or thrive teaching them the very basics. We like triers but how often do we try the things we don't like? I dislike pineapple with a passion and avoid it at all costs...isn't physical education the same for sme students? We need to develop a hunger in our students for knowledge not performance. Students need to learn what they can do and lean about themselves afterall how many (even our best of the best) will make their lifetimes living out of sport performance? It is time to abandon what Stephen Brookfield called the nike school of teaching (student: "I don't understand sir!" Teacher: Oh...just do it') and adopt an apporach that help ablest and leadt ablest alike to succeed and understand what physical education is about i.e. an education about the physical rather than an education that is simply physical.

On 3 June 2010 06:00 dblain08 said...
Prioritising those who can't-interesting!

Prioritising all- a challenge I believe all PE teachers should take on. How do we ensure challenging lessons for all? Push our gifted and talented not the detriment of others. Coming from a school which teaches mixed ability and mixed gender classes - differentiation is a major challenge.

I believe we must create learning environments with a mastery climate for all, in the hope that as the research suggests students will become intrinsically motivated to take part in physical activity. This needs to be across a wide range of activities so pupils feel confident in lots of activities. Coupling this with providing pupils with information on the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle will-I hope develop these lifelong participants in physical activity.

Should we do this by ignoring our best? Here is where I think extra curricular (EC) activities play an important role. It's vital to have a wide ranging EC programme which caters for all and provides opportunities for the best to challenge themselves. Current schemes are aiming to do this (5 x 60).
 

On 3 June 2010 06:13 Dr Ash Casey said...
EC is a key ingredient here but is it EC sport to challenge the ablest or extra opportunty to develop a desire for out of hours particiaption?

I come from a sporting elite background and I thrived in a sports background but lots of my peers hated it. I think all should be catered for but curricular time shouldn't be about egos but about mastery. I'm not sure that an anit-ablest pedagogy is quite what I mean but I could have been given a diet of tig/tag and I would still have loved Physical Education...but there are those who really don't like sport and engage in leisure activities like walking and cycling for the rest of their lives. Don't we need to aspire for more of these people?

The five hour offer...great but who will benefit...those who already do?

thought?

On 3 June 2010 06:54 Dylan said...
EC for both sport & participation. We as PE teachers need to develop a standard at grassroots but we must ensure we provide opportunities for all to participate.

I do however agree that this 5 x 60 scheme is not having the effect it could-mainly because there is not enough take up from pupils-the question is why? Pupils are constantly being offered activities such as karate, fencing, mountain biking, canoeing, surfing... Why do pupils not want to take up such opportunities?

I agree that curricular time should be about mastery not egos. How about massaging these egos by using them in coaching capacities within lessons. I write with athletics in mind-pupils aiming to refine their techniques to improve personal bests and others helping them in this process - a winner for all?

On 3 June 2010 07:04 Dr Ash Casey said...
I think of myself as a student-centred teacher. I use meta-curriculum models like Cooperative Learning, Sport Education and Teaching Games for Understanding to allow students to work in a role other than that of performer. I believe in social as well as academic learning and the only time a tape measure made it into one of my lessons was to help students understand what worked in athletics.

I think that there need to be real links between schools and clubs. I am sure that these exist but they need to be the norm rather than the aspiration.

As to why they don't take part...perhaps because they are run by the physical education department? That is food for thought (for me at least)...

Instead of this emphasis on techniques they developers of TGfU put the game first. Badminton (like other net and wall games) is about hitting the shuttle so your opponent(s) can't hit it back and returning all your opponents viable shots. By teaching students to understand this concept and apply their skills to the achievement of this aim Bunker, Almond and Thorpe believed that thinking players would be developed. The idea, therefore, was to teach game appreciation through the use of modified games. The following example (taken from a coach sessions I lead for teachers on Saturday) helps to frame my argument.

Basketball

The immediate emphasis was on a hierarchy of decisions based upon the role that the player was undertaking. There were four roles: 1) on the ball attacker (the player with the ball) 2) the off the ball attackers (all the other players on the ball carrier's team) 3) the on the ball defender (the player marking the ball), and 4) the off the ball defender. Each student had priorities based upon their role:

1) on the ball attacker (the player with the ball) - Scored, passed to someone in a better position to score, or dribbled to improve either their teams ability to score.

2) the off the ball attackers (all the other players on the ball carrier's team) - found space to receive a pass in

3) the on the ball defender (the player marking the ball) - Either tries to deny the score or gets the ball for his or her team.

4) the off the ball defender - denies the attacker space.

With the roles established split the group into four teams we played two half court 3v3 games. The modified rules were 1) no dribbling 2) if you shot and hit any part of the backboard or ring then you scored one point 3) if you scored a basket then you scored three points 4) a ball turned over when you were defending had to be passed out of your half before an attack on the basket could be made. In between the games I used question and answer sessions to get the student teachers to develop a basic understanding of the modifications. They suggested that they were trying to score from everywhere because it was easier to score but that they were very inaccurate.

We played 3 games and all the while I asked players to wear different coloured bibs. These bids represented the player's ability and the level of pressure the defence could put on the ball carrier. A red bib meant fully defence (i.e. the player could defend to the very best of their ability); a yellow bid meant partial defence (i.e. defenders could not get closer than 0.5 metre and could only use their hands to block and not steal the ball); a green bib meant that the player could not be marked closer than 1 metre and that the defender could only shadow them. Every player wore a different colour in each game to decide where the pressure was most suitable for them. For the rest of the session the players then wore their favoured colour (which they could modify by task i.e. good players but poor shooters might wear a different colour to buy themselves a little more time).

Such a modification allows students to be fully engaged in an adapted game (we later went on to change the target for the shot to the inner black box and the top part of the hoop, and the shooting range from anywhere, down through the three point line and then to the key; and finally introduced dribbling). Throughout the session (which was 3 hours long) players played in and against mixed ability teams and yet all profited from this system. In this way players were taught to think intelligently about the game, they started to 'read' the triggers that come from match play rather than doing everything in static drills. We covered shooting as a technique, and dribbling and then put it them quickly into a modified game.

For more information see: http://www.tgfu.org/ and download the Bunker, Almond and Thorpe's original paper.

• They were fun (which isn't a bad thing but I now feel it might have skewed by end-of-course evaluation which was judged predominantly on my satisfaction)
• They were one day and one-off courses with no follow-up
• The impact on teaching and learning in my classroom or department were never checked or monitored
• The impact on my long-term behaviour as a teacher was miniscule (and this was certainly never checked)

Since then I have engaged in a handful of what I consider highly ineffectual courses (not because of what I learnt but because of what I have forgotten as a result of their solitary impact in my very busy working life) and two highly effectual and satisfying courses. These two combined to last over 2000 days and were regularly followed up, they had a huge impact on the teaching and learning in my classroom and their impact on my behaviour as a teacher was so huge that it is hard to quantify at this time as I am still enjoying the results. The CPD I am talking about is action research.

CPD as action research allowed me, in the words of Kemmis (2009), to change my practice as a practitioner, understand my practice, and explore and appreciate the conditions in which I work. It was an opportunity to become aware of the potential benefits of educational research findings and it stimulated reflection and professionalism on my part rather than simply teaching me another way of doing the same again and again. I was not conscious of the ways in which I constructed my personal and practice knowledge about and around teaching before I engaged in action research. It was only through sustained and supported research that I can to fully appreciate what it was that I did as a teacher only to find out that I wanted to change what I did. However, action research was there to support me during the change for it allowed me to understand the long term behavioural and pedagogical changes that I was enacting.

Comments From Previous Blog...

On 13 July 2010 05:48 pdhpecovenant said...
Very interesting post. I'm now toying with the idea of introducing a PD follow up form for my staff to complete after going to a PD Course that will ask them to identify techniques or ideas from the course that they could introduce to their teaching and then following it up a further 2-3 months down the track to see if they've actually implemented it or forgotten it. I was wondering if you've seen anything like this before or have something like this that I could look at or ideas to include on one I create?

Gradually - but especially after 1762 - the educational space unfolds; the class becomes homogeneous, it is no longer made up of individual elements arranged side by side under the master's eye. In the eighteenth century, 'rank' begins to define the great form of distribution of individuals in the educational order: rows or ranks of pupils in each class, corridors, courtyards; rank attributed to each pupil at the end of each class and each examination; the rank he obtains from week to week, month to month, year to year; an alignment of age groups, one after another; a succession of subjects taught and questions treated, according to an order of increasing difficulty. And, in this ensemble of compulsory alignments, each pupil, according to his age, performance, his behaviour, occupies sometimes one rank, sometimes another; he moves constantly over a series of compartments – some of these are 'ideal' compartments, marking a hierarchy of knowledge or ability, other express the distribution of values or merits in material terms in the space of the college or classroom. It is a perpetual movement in which individuals replace one another in a space marked off by aligned intervals. Foucault (1977, p. 147)

This extensive quotation shows that much of the eighteenth century notion of schools and schooling survives to the modern day. There are few inventions that have had such longevity and yet the social construction and reconstruction of the school has survived. I am not suggesting that the educational space described in Foucault's book endures unchanged, but there are substantial and fundamental similarities that have survived for nearly two hundred and fifty years.

[an extract from my PhD]

• Is transformative
• encourages collaboration
• is inclusive
• is supportive of all those who get involved
• encourages a pedagogy of physical education that is innovative and student-centred
• allows teachers a platform for personal and professional development
• is flexible enough for a post-industrial age

Yet, now I am at an impasse. I don't want to rush into anything and am looking for help. I have a rough idea of how I might like the website to look but the content is still unclear. This is where I seek help. Please comment on this blog, or on your own blog, about the skeleton upon which to hang these aspirations:

• What simple, easy to navigate and inclusive facilities should be housed on this website?
• What should teachers be able to access from here?
• What support do I need to offer?
• What tools can I use to invite busy teachers into this virtual learning environment?
• How do I create a PLN?

Thanks, in anticipation of your help

Ashley

Comments From Previous Blog...

On 11 May 2010 20:01 Kevin Morrow said...
great question. I'm not sure either. small changes are good. Grow a little at a time. I am trying to start a pod casting initiative. Trying to get other Physical Educators on board to make pod casts about their PE programs that all of us can listen to a learn from. A bunch of pod cast from PE teachers all over the world all stored in one place that all of us can listen to and grow professionally. I have access to an i tunes U account where these pod casts could be archived. Whatever I can do to help you let me know. If you would like to make a podcast about what you are trying to do I would love to listen to it and archive it for you. I have two podcast posted under my link PEpros on my website. www.coachmorrow.com 

On 13 May 2010 01:24 Dr Ash Casey said...
Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your comments. I have looked at podcasting but not in any detail and I would love to try one out about my aspirations. Any guidance you could offer would be great.

I want to help to create a virtual staffroom where teachers and teacher educators can come and find like-mined people to challenge their ideas and support their think about teaching in physical education.

I need a structure though about what to put there. I have an idea of front page with say four images of physical education and a mission statement and a few key quotes. Then I would like a ...

This is where I need advice. I want teachers to have a chance to chat through ideas. To seek help with their own attempts to change their practice. To find academic work to read and fellow physical education teachers to follow and talk to.

I want it to be a web 2.0 environment filled with interaction etc not a place to leave a library of information for people to find. I want the vibrancy of a staffroom but for the topic of conversation to be about best practice and fantastic teaching.

Any ideas? 

On 13 May 2010 07:41 kylemckune said...
Look at the big sites like www.pecentral.com and www.pe4life.com and see what they are lacking. Try and fill in the void. It seems you want the interactivity that web 2.0 provides. I use twitter for that, but the PE teacher segment on twitter is small. I think it will take grand marketing skills to get the amount of people you want to create a network that will continue to come back. Best wishes.

On 14 May 2010 09:12 Dr Ash Casey said...
Thanks Kyle,

I am going to contact teachers in the local community and offer free PD. I am hoping that I can visit personally with teachers and talk to them as part of the wide old student network we have at the Uni. Still, I think your right it will take a lot of effort to get teachers to engage but any help or advice is always welcome. 
 

On 1 June 2010 14:28 doug said...
First chance I've had to check out you site, thanks to Tom Fullerton, I'm taking a class with him in Vancouver Canada. I'm a PE guy who up until this point had little or no knowledge of using technology of any kind with either my class or my teaching. Things have now changed drastically over the last year, implementing blogs, web pages and now looking at getting into some networks with PE minded people. I have found this to be somewhat difficult because there are only few out there, maybe I just don't no where to look, and in my school anyway, change doesn't happen quickly. I teach coed Grade 10-12, with an emphasis on weight training/personal fitness and am always looking to discuss ideas and strategies with other educators. I like the idea of a virtual staffroom, I'm always interested to see how others are motivating students. I'll also like the idea of pod casts, haven't done one yet, but would be open to trying. Look forward to hearing from you. 

Because it's:

• a one-off
• content rather than practice orientated
• unsupported past the actual course
• chosen by the school rather than the teacher
• its poorly delivered
• expensive to go on the course
• expensive to cover the teacher with a supply teacher in school
• often a national governing body award
• renowned as being good if it finishes early and has a nice lunch

The aim of the physical education practitioner researcher network is to support the CPD of its members. How?

By being:

• free
• providing free supply cover that is paid out of the funding grant
• sustained over four, related and supported workshops across the academic year
• delivered by physical education teacher educators
• supported by practitioner researchers with experience of research physical education in school
• a potential part of a higher degree
• followed by a nice lunch
• supported through a Professional Learning Network (PLN)
• supported through a bespoke website

It is the last two that I need help with. I have used a wiki before to support my secondary school students when they were making their own games (see Hastie, Casey and Tarter, 2010) but I haven't instigated a PLN or, to use @TomFullerton's words, developed an inquiry group with a virtual extension. The conceptualisation and design of this extension (in the form of a webpage) is the position that I am currently in and to which I am turning to a wider community for help. What follows is the original proposal that secured the first year's funding.

Proposal

Introduction

The purpose of the project is to contribute to the development of new and innovative approaches to teaching and learning of physical education by facilitating the creation of a collaborative network of practitioner researchers in local schools (Bedfordshire and environs). The practitioner research network (PRN) will be a means of supporting teachers' continuing professional development in becoming reflective practitioners and in conducting systematic practitioner research. As such, the PRN is intended to provide a location for developments in physical education, in particular through models-based practice (Metzler, 2005; Kirk, 2010). The recent PhD study undertaken and completed by Casey (2010) has shown the difficulties of undertaking a sustained practitioner research project in isolation. This remoteness, which could liken to the loneliness of the long distance runner, would be lessened, rationalised or removed through the PRN.

Practitioner research can be defined as: "a deliberative process for emancipating practitioners from the often unseen constraints of assumptions, habit, precedent, coercion and ideology." Carr and Kemmis (1986, p. 192)

A useful summary of the way the term 'practitioner research' is used was given by Cochran-Smith and Lytle (2007, 25) when they described it as "a conceptual and linguistic umbrella to refer to a wide array of education research modes, forms, genres, and purposes." They argue that the expression encompasses a range of educational research methods including: action research; teacher research; self study; narrative (or autobiographical) inquiry; the scholarship of teaching and learning; and the use of teaching as a context for research (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2007, 25).

In grouping these six genres of research Cochran-Smith and Lytle (2007) went on to justify their choices by exploring the shared features that cut across the various versions and variants. The primary aspect of all forms of practitioner research, they said, is the notion that the practitioner himself or herself takes on the role of researcher. Secondly, practitioner research works on the premise that in order to comprehend, and therefore improve practice, the interplay of power relationships and the workplace have to be expressly understood in the context of daily work. Finally, the very same professional context is the site of any practitioner inquiry and the "problems and issues that arise from professional practice are taken up as topics of study" (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 2007, 26). It is this investigation of 'problems and issues' that is missing from our understanding of teacher development through school-based research.

There is an abundance of research in education about the effectiveness of this approach yet there has been little written in physical education to indicate that such a process is as effective. Indeed, as Armour (2006) recently wrote, practitioner research in its many guises is research that begins with "I" but ends with "you" and "we" as a profession. There is currently a dearth of literature around sustained programme of practitioner research in physical education. Many studies have involved physical education practitioners (See as examples: Almond, 1986; Dyson & Rubin 2003; Dyson & Strachan 2000; McMahon & MacPhail, 2007) but have been written for a different purpose. Little research has shown how the school as an institution facilitates and constrains the development of teachers through their own actions. Yet, as Almond (1986, 4) surmised:

Teachers cannot be expected to monitor and appraise all the time, but planning, teaching and thinking about one small unit of work can have a powerful effect. The course participants expressed the view that they had learning more about their teaching, their understanding of games and their pupils. They identified a change in their thinking as a consequence of examining their practice.

Objectives of the project

The principal objective of the project is to create a PRN that strives to improve the quality of physical education in schools. The funding gained would allow us to offer continued professional development (CPD) to practitioners through the establishment of the PRN. We will do this initially by establishing a series of four half-day workshops for teachers centred on practitioner research. The need for such CPD is important given the recent indication that recent provision has been "woefully inadequate" (Borko 2004, 3) and that the traditional "sporadic one-off, one-day, off-site courses contradict everything we know about the ways in which people are most likely to learn" (Armour 2006, 204). In contrast, the PRN would allow us to engaged teachers in meaningful and sustainable collaborations that gave us the opportunity to locate CPD in the community. Furthermore it would allow us to attract teachers to engage in masters or research-based higher and become partners in our own research.

References

Almond, L. (1986). Coventry Curriculum Development, Games: Coventry teachers explore...teaching for understanding. Coventry, England: Elm Bank Teachers' Centre.

Armour, K.M. (2006). The way to a teacher's heart: narrative research in physical education. In D. Kirk, D. Macdonald, & M. O'Sullivan (Eds.) The Handbook of Physical Education. (467-485). London: Sage

Armour, K. (2006). Physical education teachers as career-long learners: A compelling research agenda. Physical Education & Sport Pedagogy, 11(3), 203-207.

Borko, H. (2004). Professional development and teacher learning: Mapping the terrain. Educational Researcher, 33(8), 3-15.

Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming Critical: Education, knowledge and action research. London: Falmer.

Casey, A. (2010). Practitioner Research in Physical Education: Teacher Transformation through pedagogical and curricular change. Unpublished Doctoral Thesis: Leeds Metropolitan University.

Cochran-Smith, M., & Lytle, S.L. (2007). Everything's ethics. In A. Campbell & S. Groundwater-Smith (Eds.). An ethical approach to practitioner research: Dealing with issues and dilemmas in action research, 24-41. London: Routledge.

Dyson, B., & Rubin, A. (2003). How to implement cooperative learning in your elementary physical education program. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance 74, 48-55.

Dyson, B., & Strachan, K. (2000). Cooperative learning in a high school physical education program, Watikato Journal of Education, 6, 19-37.

Kirk, D. (2010) Physical Education Futures London: Routledge.

McMahon, E., & MacPhail, A. (2007). Learning to teach sport education: The experiences of a pre-service teacher. European Physical Education Review, 13(2), 229-246.

Metzler, M.W. (2005) Instructional Models for Physical Education, Scottsdale: Holcomb Hathaway (2nd Edition).

Research has long suggested that the teacher works beyond the limits of their subject(s) - which is defined by knowledge and method – and works in a more general role that supports the mission of the school, the innate human desire of pupils and their parents towards learning and the need to cooperate with colleagues and other educationalists. The multifarious role of the teacher as subject and school expert places them in an ideal position to support and develop innovations in ways that best suit their particular environments. This degree of expertise is unprecedented in government and yet our school leaders are offered thousands of pages of systemic advice. Is not time that we acknowledged the bespoke knowledge of our teachers and trusted them to instigate practices that are particularly beneficial to their students?

Learning is not simply a case of mimicry. We need to challenge learners, regardless of their age, to confront their preconceptions and discover and construct new meaning from their experiences. If we know so much about how we learn, and if we acknowledge the localised expertise of teachers, then why do we persist with a 'top-down' system of educational reform? Is it not time that our 'leaders' acknowledge the 'nous', wisdom and common sense of our classroom practitioners and instead of giving them instructional diktats they are afforded the respect and encouragement that their professionalism warrants. Success comes in 'cans' not 'can nots' and if our childrens' teachers are continually devalued then we run the risk of paralysing them through fear of recrimination and indictment. The measures of adequacy that seem to have entered the vernacular of society have made commonplace a desire to blame the teachers for the moral decline that we are currently experiencing. Freedom to inspire rather than the compliance of mediocrity is what is required to redress issues of anti-social behaviour, poor health and fears of obesity and even to motivate the one child who might win Olympic gold or a Nobel Prize.

Acknowledge the expertise of the practitioner and watch these wonderful individuals inspire our children to do the rest!

This house believes that physical education is...

About doing...

• Physical education is a practical activity that serves as a break from the rigours of life (whether these are the stresses of work or the confusion and melee of school). It is a vehicle for healthy living and while it has long been associated with traditional team sports (like football, Hockey, basketball, rugby, cricket etc) and leisure activities (like running, cycling, aerobics etc) anything that improves our general well-being should be enough to satisfy the population.
• Sport is the essence of physical education. It is the doing or watching that is important and besides sport allows us to develop leadership skills, work cooperatively and prepares us for the cutthroat world outside the comfort of our own homes (or for some within their homes and neighbourhoods).
• Physical education is about national sporting success. If kids don't like competition or elite sports then they have to acknowledge that fact and find something else to do. As long as the country does well on the world stage then the forms of physical education as sports participation is a worth incarnation of sport in schools.
• No pain, no gain. If something is easily obtained then it is not as worthwhile. The struggles inherent in working hard (and beyond your comfort and ability range) are good for you and certainly builds character. Adversity will end your childhood and make an adult of you.

About informed participation...

• It is not enough to do. Those who engage in physical activity need to be, in the words of Daryl Siedentop, 'competent', 'literate' and 'enthusiastic' participants. They need to be able to improve their personal ability so that they can succeed to their best. They need to understand physical activity so that they can be critical consumers i.e. they can watch or play and understand the rules and the nuances of the activity. Finally they need to take part for taking parts sake not because someone tells them to. Coercion is not a pathway to lifelong physical activity but is a repeatedly reissued invitation for physical education to be mocked in the media and across social networking sites.
  
  From twitter over the last 24 hours
  
   - Physical education! Ugh
   - A very bad time at physical education class
   - physical education works sucks.
  
  
• A survey undertaken in the UK http://www.realbuzz.com/articles/top-10-most-popular-sports/ suggests that of the top ten most popular participation sports for men and women on one was a team game. Yet our schools teach team games ahead of anything else. Furthermore when we try something else we get lambasted by the press http://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/6338489/Yoga-and-circus-skills-replace-school-rugby.html .
• Does this mean that physical education is about sport and elite participation or does this mean that the way physical education is viewed is wrong? Take the example of exercise makes you thin and thin is healthy. How much of that statement is true? Looked at like that… then not much… but that is the crux of the argument that we put across on a daily basis. We have made associations so broad that anything seems to be possible and which leads people to extreme behaviours rather than healthy lives.
• We need to inform our children, parents and adults about what good and safe living is and surely that should start in physical education.

Is academic...

• Physical education and sport lends, borrows, gives, and shows (among other things) examples of the workings of the human body to the world. http://sportsmedicine.about.com/ Many of our passions about sport come through our heroes and role-models and a plethora of sports jobs have grown up around the field http://www.uksport.gov.uk/jobs/ . Indeed how many people went to the Beijing Olympics and how many were actual competitors? This is a huge employer and people should know the options.
• However, some don't think that physical education equates to being academic (Twitter: Joke for tomorrow: I'll be sitting for a PE theory test! Yes, physical education. HAHAHA!) yet with kinesiology departments and sport science departments and physical education and sports studies departments http://www.beds.ac.uk/departments/physical have we overlooked an important part of a children education?
• Some don't even know that PE means physical education - what went wrong (Twitter: pe?? as in physical education? Or oh PE is Physical Education xD like gym lol). It seems that gym has replaced lifelong physical activity or learning about how the physical occurs. There is an association with physical education as doing i.e. Correct me if I'm wrong but PE stands for PHYSICAL Education! (thanks to twitter for some life conversations) rather than understanding. Have we turned our subject into a 'doing' only subject?

If you have got this far then thanks for sticking with me.

Education has some issues to address and physical education has some decisions to make... i.e. what are we and what do we do?

I would have argued that there are many occasions within a single school day when students are asked to work together. Indeed there are numerous examples of students forming their own collaborative groups to complete tasks, ask each other questions, and solve mutual dilemmas (although not always in ways that their teachers, or their parents, would approve of). Furthermore, teachers generally - and physical education teacher specifically - often selected groupings on the spur of the moment to facilitate collaborative learning. The teams inherent in many of the activities in physical education have long been reported as encouraging team work, collective responsibility and leadership but these are not explicit outcomes of team games.

Let me put it another way. If my car breaks down in the middle of the road then I would expect a number of people to help me move it out of the way. Why? Because it is mutually beneficial to all of us and because some people are genuinely nice people. However, this is not sustainable. We don't go around and push lots of other cars out of the way or generally do good things. No. Once the car is moved and I am waiting for the recovery truck then I am on my way and this is the way randomly select teams work in school. They are fit for purpose but unless they are encouraged to stick together and the individuals involved develop (and are encouraged to develop) a sense of belonging to a team then they quickly dissipate and vanish. In fact many children won't recall the teams they were in for the previous lesson because it simply isn't important.

However, what happens if we make the teams important and instead of them lasting for ten minutes in a lesson they last for a whole lesson or four, or even for a full term or semester. Furthermore, what if the teams had names and identities, and the students within them had roles and the teams were heterogeneous with existing friendship groups and rivalries split up . Finally, what if every student was accountable for their contribution to the lesson and/or unit of work, what if they had to depend on one another to succeed, shared a goal and had time to interact with each other and reflect upon what they were doing well and what need improving? Well in that case the students would be working cooperatively. This cooperation lends them purpose and as President Eisenhower said "only strength can cooperate. Weakness can only beg."

That said, don't just take my work on it; this is what a few of my pupils thought about it:

• We worked together and measured how far we were getting on different things or how long it took us and we were able to help each other by checking techniques to see if they were good or bad and saying what they should do to improve it, and stuff like that
• Yes, there's a certain element of knowing that you've worked together and you've learned to trust them and what they say is usually right.
• I think it was to see how we sort of work together, and taught each other and like we might not be able to teach but we could teach each other because we like know each other better and things like that.

So they were cooperative rather than collaborative but why was that important? I will let Anne-Marie, a dear friend (and former colleague) of mine, answer that question:

• The group you worked with was a group of boys who I had experience of working with during library lessons. In those lessons they had great difficulties working with one another. They were a very immature form, especially the boys, and their form tutor recommended that [some were] not be seated or asked to work together.
• Several of the boys tend in lessons to avoid participating yet in your lessons when their peers needed them to be involved, they were more attentive and participatory.
• The importance of the lesson was the development of the boys' ability to work together as a team, supporting and encouraging one another. This, in my opinion, is far more important for their overall development than individual proficiency in an athletic technique. The way you designed the lesson there were important roles for each individual, each contribution of each mattered. Every child felt valued and I suspect that that was the reason for the lesson's success.

By encouraging individual accountability, positive interdependence, group processing, Promotive face-to-face interaction, and by having a group goal the kids worked together and this "Union gives strength" (Aesop).

http://www.slideshare.net/DrAshCasey/reflective-teacher

Once the home groups for the unit had been picked and team mates identified then, just like with a jigsaw puzzle, these groups are split into their individual parts (called experts). These individual experts then form new groups or expertises.

Each expert group now has responsible for developing one part of a routine (for example a floor routine, a vaulting box routine, a routine using a bench and a routine using ropes). In this way one person from each home group now has a unique understanding of one aspect of gymnastics. Once the allocated time has passed and the expertises have been mastered then experts returned to their groups.

They were now the teachers in their home groups and as they were the only people who understood their section of the routine then they had an important role to play in the learning of the home group. In turn these experts then teach each other their segment of the routine. Once all four elements are united each home group should be able to perform an identical routine. In my teaching the experts acted as judges for their section of the routine and an overall mark was awarded based upon the routine with bonus marks given for the teaching done by each expert.

There are over a hundred recognised approaches to using cooperative learning in the classroom, although only a few have been successfully used in physical education. The five main components of cooperative learning are:

• Individual Accountability - Every child has a part to play
• Positive Interdepence - Everyone relies on each other
• Shared Group Goal - The groups work to the same aim
• Promotive Face-to-face Interaction - Time to talk and plan
• Group Processes - Time to reflect

If students have the time and opportunity to achieve each of these then they can be said to be cooperative rather than simply collaborative.

Planning starts usually with something like a general idea...If this first period of planning is successful, two items emerge: namely, an “overall plan” of how to reach the objective and secondly, a decision in regard to the first step of action. Usually this planning has also somewhat modified the original idea.

The next period is devoted to executing the first step of the overall plan.

In highly developed fields of social management, such as modern factory management or the execution of a war, this second step is followed by certain fact-findings. For example, in the bombing of Germany a certain factory may have been chosen as the first target after careful consideration of various priorities and of the best means and ways of dealing with this target. The attack is pressed home and immediately a reconnaissance plane follows with the one objective of determining as accurately and objectively as possible the new situation.

This reconnaissance or fact-finding has four functions. First it should evaluate the action. It shows whether what has been achieved is above or below expectation. Secondly, it gives the planners a chance to learn, that is, to gather new general insight, for instance, regarding the strength and weakness of certain weapons or techniques of action. Thirdly, this fact-finding should serve as the basis for correctly planning the next step. Finally, it serves as a basis for modifying the “overall plan.”

The next step again is composed of a circle of planning, executing, and reconnaissance or fact-finding for the purpose of evaluating the results of the second step, for preparing the rational basis for planning the third step, and for perhaps modifying again the overall plan.

In this article Lewin (1946) envisioned action research as being effective in a very specific context in which he was involved with representatives from the local communities, school systems, single schools, minority organizations of a variety of backgrounds and objectives. The specifics of the approach are what make it applicable in educational settings, as it allows for the documenting of everyday lives and practices. Every school, while sharing some common features, is different and the diversity of their populations (and the traditions maintained within) are such that specific approaches are needed for specific institutions. The ability to identify effective case-by-case strategies that when employed in a unique situation had the greatest positive impact, rather than randomly deciding upon a course of action is what makes action research an effective agent of change.

The cycle can be imagined as:

Overall plan --> First step --> Evaluate the action --> Gather new general insights --> Planning the next step --> Modifying the overall plan

Case Study

I was privileged to work with an outstanding librarian in my last school. In her work as an educator she purchased and developed a wiki for the school to use with its students. When I first saw the potential of this system I was determined to use it in physical education but I wanted its use to be meaningful and effective so I set myself the task of devising such an intervention. So my overall plan was to use a wiki in my physical education lessons. However, this was an objective and it took me eight months to instigate the first step. This first step was to use the wiki as a platform for a process of student-designed games making in which my students would create an invasion game from scratch. The wiki would serve as a permanent location for the game which could be accessed 24/7 by the participants (myself, my students and the librarian) and by Professor Peter Hastie (in the role of an advisor) and his students (both in school and university) who would play and evaluate on the games. A huge amount of work went into this first step and yet it was with some trepidation that I taught the first lesson of eight first lessons. Each encounter with the students lead me to evaluate the action I was taking, gather new general insights on the lessons before planning the next steps.

For example: The students found that the differences between imagining a game on the wiki and playing it on the school’s courts difficult. This meant that the advisor and I had to help them with our expertise in games. However, we had to be careful not to tell the students what to do and we found ways of questioning their ideas and offering a range of solutions to difficult problems.

Throughout this process I was modifying the overall plan and trying to find better ways of using the wiki. We initially used student email addresses but designed that log-ins should be made-up names not real names. In the original project I had imagined that all the students would access and edit the wikis but the students wanted to have one ‘wiki manager’ so that they could control the design process. Two of the better games are explained below (which shows the imagination and skill of the students as game designers):

Piko Piko. This was a five-a-side invasion game played across three netball courts. There were two rectangular goals (one at each end of the court) in which players could score one point and which a goalkeeper could defend. The goalkeeper’s area was out-of-bounds to all outfield players and therefore shots were taken from a distance. Two additional goals (hula-hoops on poles) were positioned either side of the half way line and were worth two points. These were undefendable and were positioned within an out-of-bounds area. Players carried two pieces of equipment: A “basher” (a foam swimming pool noodle) which was used for controlling the ball when it was on the ground also and for tagging the ball-carrier thus forcing him to pass; and a "jug" (literally a plastic milk jug with the end cut off to make a scoop) which was used to carry the tennis ball, to pass, parry and shoot. The objective of the game was to outscore your opponents by throwing the ball through any of the three available goals. Players were allowed to run with the ball in the scoop, dribble the ball on the floor with the basher, and hit the ball with either piece of equipment. When tackled (or bashed) the player with the ball was required to pass and therefore only an untackled player could score. Each half started with a bounce ball in the centre (similar to a face-off in ice hockey). Play was restarted (either from a goal, the ball leaving the pitch or an infringement) with a free pass to the opposition.

Run the Gauntlet. This game was played on a single netball court. Two 5-metre end zones were marked out with cones and a 60 cm wooden pole (the flag) was positioned on the middle of the dead ball line within the end zone. The first objective of the game was to pass a foam American football into your opponents’ end zone before being touch-tackled four times. The second objective was to place the ball on the floor of the end zone, pick up the flag and run it back into your own end zone before the opposition hit the flag-runner with the football. Each half started with a jump ball in the centre (similar to basketball). Play was restarted (either from a successful flag run, the ball leaving the pitch or an infringement) with a free pass to the opposition.

Kurt Lewin who first coined the phrase "action research" and who envisioned social change as a collaboration with all those involved rather than as a systemic ‘top-down’ hotchpotch solution.

John Collier who tried to find a solution to the ‘relocation’ of the native American Indians that was co-constructed by all rather than simply enacted by Government officials.

Lawrence Stenhouse who first considered that educational concerns were best considered and affected by those in the classrooms. It was Stenhouse who first advocated the role of ‘teacher-as-researcher’ in the UK and who set out to show the sceptics that it was laudable and valuable position for teachers to take.

The pupils who have I taught over a career spanning fifteen years. They helped me to become a practitioner-researcher and challenge the way in which I taught physical education and eventually how I teacher teachers to teach physical education.

I have been toying with the idea of a blog for a number of months now and having dipped a toe in twitter I have decided to give this a go. The purpose of the blog is to act a guide to classroom-based research - especially but not exclusively - in physical education.

So what is the first step: Find a problem. I would suggest that researching what you are good at becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in which you prove that you were good at it from the start. Indeed evaluate your teaching and find something you are struggling with or which isn’t as good as you want it to be. Personally I decided that I was the very centre of my classrooms and all direction came from me and the only voice that was valid was my own. This led me to find new ways of teaching (i.e. Sport Education, Cooperative Learning and Teaching Games for Understanding) and then to examine my use of them. Before I could do this however I had to learn about them and try to conceptualise how they worked and how they might work in my classrooms. This took time reading books (both academic and practitioner texts) and articles (both academic and practitioner) and a period of trial and error. Indeed my first unit of Sport Education lasted just 5 weeks before I had the plug pulled by a colleague while my last unit (in the academic year 2008/2009) spanned the whole year. So give it a go...can you think of something you do in your teaching that isn’t as good as you want it to be? Maybe you teach a fantastic swimming unit but your gymnastics is a little in the last half of the last century. Personally, I am now considering the way that I teach at University and trying to take my school practices in the gym into the lecture theatre...not a simple process.