ABSTRACT

Continuing professional development (CPD) is important to ensure teachers continuously maintain and update the best practice knowledge and skills needed for the profession. Limited research into CPD in physical education (PE-CPD) suggests that current provisions are largely ineffective, particularly regarding access, and the specific teaching of motor skills (e.g. throw, catch, run). Improved PE-CPD is clearly needed, and online programmes may provide a promising avenue for more accessible and effective delivery. Digital models of PE-CPD are in the early stages of use, and as yet we know very little about PE teachers’ experiences of online CPD. Thus, the present study aimed to (i) explore elementary school PE teachers’ perceptions of online PE-CPD; and (ii) provide recommendations on the development and provision of future online PE-CPD, with a particular focus on motor skill instruction and assessment. Twenty-two PE teachers participated in focus group discussions, which were analysed in NVivo 11 using an inductive thematic approach. Three major themes and several subthemes were developed from the data. First, there was significant teacher motivation and perceived need for online PE-CPD, mainly in relation to accessibility. Second, and despite this perceived need, teachers reported considerable caution around its use, especially regarding a perceived lack of a ‘community of practice’. Third, teachers provided multiple suggestions for future online PE-CPD design and delivery, including that it: (i) be evidence-based; (ii) provide pedagogical content knowledge and not just content knowledge; (iii) be informed by teachers and translatable to practice; (iv) facilitate communities of practice; (v) be interactive; (vi) be simple to navigate; and (vii) be highly visual. It is clear from teacher feedback that while online PE-CPD provides new opportunities, there are still significant limitations. This research provides novel insights and valuable recommendations that could optimise the success of future online PE-CPD offerings.

摘要

持续专业发展 (CPD) 对于确保教师不断保持和更新专业所需的最佳实践知识和技能非常重要。对体育教育中持续专业发展 (PE-CPD) 的有限研究表明，目前的规定在很大程度上是无效的，特别是在准入和运动技能的具体教学（例如投掷、接球、奔跑）方面。显然需要改进 PE-CPD，在线课程可能为更容易获得和更有效的交付提供有希望的途径。PE-CPD的数字化模型处于早期使用阶段，目前我们对体育教师在线CPD的体验知之甚少。因此，本研究旨在 (i) 探讨小学体育教师对在线 PE-CPD 的看法；(ii) 就未来在线 PE-CPD 的开发和提供提供建议，特别关注运动技能指导和评估。22 名体育教师参加了焦点小组讨论，这些讨论在 NVivo 11 中使用归纳主题方法进行了分析。从数据中发展出三个主要主题和几个子主题。首先，教师的积极性和对在线 PE-CPD 的感知需求主要与可访问性有关。其次，尽管存在这种感知需求，但教师们报告说对其使用相当谨慎，特别是在感知缺乏“实践社区”方面。第三，教师对未来在线 PE-CPD 的设计和交付提出了多项建议，包括：（i）以证据为基础；(ii) 提供教学内容知识，而不仅仅是内容知识；(iii) 由教师告知并转化为实践；(iv) 促进实践社区；(v) 具有互动性；(vi) 易于导航；(vii) 高度可视化。从教师反馈中可以清楚地看出，虽然在线 PE-CPD 提供了新的机会，但仍然存在很大的局限性。这项研究提供了新颖的见解和有价值的建议，可以优化未来在线 PE-CPD 产品的成功。