Summer Greetings from pelinks4u

This month we're delighted to include a guest editorial from Dr. Daryl Siedentop. Few - if any - of today's physical educators have not been influenced by Daryl's research, publications and presentations. Most teacher preparation programs are founded on teaching principles developed by Dr. Siedentop. And as noted at the end of his editorial, Daryl's contributions have been recognized by numerous national and international organizations.

Consequently, it's interesting to hear Dr. Siedentop's current thoughts about the status of physical education teacher preparation. Daryl contacted pelinks4u after reading my recent editorial reflecting on the purpose of physical education. I suggested that we should be cautious about justifying ourselves as THE solution to the obesity epidemic. I reiterated the thoughts of noted physical education philosopher R. Scott Kretchmar, that the intrinsic value of movement and play was valuable in and of itself and needed no additional justification.

In his editorial, Dr. Siedentop expresses a concern about the content of physical education teacher education (PETE) programs. He believes that excessive time is being devoted to "sub-disciplinary" knowledge and not enough time to content knowledge. The diverse range of physical skills typically taught by physical educators take a substantial amount of time to develop. It's my observation that many students pursuing physical education teaching careers today (and maybe in the past too), do not enter university programs skilled in activities beyond the typical team sports. Finding time to develop these personal and teaching skills within the time constraints of a degree program is a source of great frustration for many teacher educators.

Another issue Dr. Siedentop raises - that resonates with me too - relates to how teacher educators typically begin preparing their majors as teachers. He suggests that before having PETE students learn how to write lesson plans they should first be taught how to successfully implement well-written plans given to them. For years it frustrated me watching my students struggle to learn how to write good lesson plans, struggle to manage a group of students, and then attempt to teach information about which they knew very little! It occurred to me that in other job training situations we didn't invite new recruits to design how to do the job before having them get some experience doing it in a prescribed manner. I certainly wouldn't want a novice to creatively frame my new house rather than follow tried and tested construction techniques! Similarly, surely it makes sense to first get our students teaching good lesson plans before challenging them to write their own?

Daryl has other suggestions for teacher educators that you can read about in his editorial. I hope you'll find these both interesting and cause for reflection. I invite you to share your own thoughts on ways to improve professional preparation. There's a link at the end of Dr. Siedentop's editorial where you can post your comments. It doesn't matter whether you are a teacher educator or a public school teacher. We all need to reflect more on ways to improve our profession. It's imperative we change to meet the needs of today's students. Reflecting back on how our lives have changed over the past 30 years it's clear that we face new and different educational challenges. Physical education's future depends on us being responsive and not simply doing what we've always done unless it continues to make sense. Please share your thoughts.

Very best wishes for a healthy and active summer lifestyle,

Steve Jefferies, Publisher pelinks4u

Tweaking Physical Education Teacher Education
by Daryl Siendentop

The recent national concern about child/youth overweight and obesity has brought physical education into the national spotlight. As a result of the federal requirements for school districts to develop local school wellness councils, many states have increased time requirements for physical education/physical activity, and some have required student to teacher ratios that are similar to classroom ratios. New evidence supports the notion that regular physical activity during the school day not only is likely to improve student health, but also is likely to make students more attentive and engaged in their classroom courses.

All this media attention and legislative action provides an opportunity for physical education to re-establish itself as central to the education of children and youth. To take full advantage of these opportunities, physical education teacher education (PETE) programs need to examine their own efforts to ensure that newly licensed physical educators are prepared to deliver the programs that will further solidify the central role of physical education in the education of American children and youth.

My first concern with PETE programs is their inadequate provision of content knowledge (CK) courses, which I define broadly as K-3 skill themes, sport techniques and tactics, and health-related physical activity and fitness. One of the concerns I have heard for many years is that PE units in schools are typically so short that students don't get the chance to be sufficiently competent in an activity to engage in it outside of class. My guess is that they are short because too many PE teachers have not been given the opportunity to develop the CK necessary to take students beyond a rudimentary introduction to an activity. This is especially true for the content knowledge to teach a variety of approaches to lifetime fitness: For example, to create and maintain a "health club" model for high school students, or to do Pilates or yoga with junior high school students.

Most PETE programs require considerably fewer credit hours in CK courses than they did a generation ago. CK coursework has diminished as Kinesiology sub discipline course work has increased. I am at odds with our national leadership that has included Kinesiology sub disciplinary knowledge as CK. The Praxis I exam for teacher licensure in PE measures a candidates level of content knowledge. Nearly half of the 120 questions are about sub disciplinary knowledge in biomechanics, exercise science, motor learning, and the social science sub disciplines.

A web-review of PETE requirements from a variety of institutions showed that disciplinary course credit hours were always more than the credit hours of CK courses. Credit hours in CK courses range from a low of 9 hours to a high of 24 hours. Disciplinary courses typically account for twice the number of CK credit hours. The sub disciplines of Kinesiology have developed markedly over the past two decades, moving from basic knowledge to highly specialized knowledge that Diane Gill, in her Amy Morris Homans lecture, suggested has "little relevance for the non-specialist." This is not to suggest that disciplinary courses are unimportant, but it does suggest that those disciplinary courses that are required should emphasize pedagogically relevant knowledge for PETE majors.

In other teaching fields, CK is clearly the most important part of the program. At my own institution Dance majors take 48 credit hours in CK courses and Music majors take 53 credit hours in CK courses.

I also have come to believe that quality field experiences are at the heart of good teacher education. First, I think that PETE majors should be in schools during their first term in a program. They don't have the background to be solely in command of teaching a class, but they should get a sufficient experience to know what it means to teach a full day of PE classes. My experience is that some of them will realize that teaching PE is not for them. It is better, both for them and the program, that they realize this early rather than during their student teaching.

Learning to manage classes effectively is a prerequisite to effective teaching. Class management skills are not hard to learn, but situations must be created for PETE students to practice these skills with various age groups in different settings. This suggests that field experiences should be available throughout the program, gradually building towards the student teaching term. The more time PETE students spend in schools with specific management and teaching skills emphasized, the more likely they will be successful first year teachers. Sites for field experiences should be chosen primarily on the basis of good programs with skilled teachers. It is nearly criminal to expect a PETE student to learn properly in a school setting where the PE program is not good, and the PE teachers are neither skilled nor motivated.

It makes no sense to me that PETE students should begin planning their own lessons before they have substantial experience in schools. Good lessons plans should be provided to PETE students by the faculty, with the primary goal for the student to implement the plan successfully. If students are provided good lesson plans over a series of field experiences, they will learn how to plan by modeling the elements of the plans provided to them by the program.

The best way for PETE students to come to understand their own teaching is by carefully focusing on what students do during the classes they teach. Are students engaged appropriately? Are they successful? Is time for learning optimized? Do transitions go quickly and smoothly? Does it appear that the students are enjoying the class? Thus, supervisors and cooperating teachers should learn how to observe and code the behavior of students being taught rather than focusing on the student teacher, which typically reveals very little.

Finally, it appears that the most widely accepted goal for physical education is that students will come to "adopt a value a physically-active lifestyle." This goal has serious implications for the kind of pedagogy used in PE classes in schools. PETE students need to learn how to create a culture of caring in their classes, making sure that their students are not only engaged and successful, but also stay with an activity long enough achieve a level of competence that motivates involvement outside of class. Certainly, at the high school level, that means students should be able to choose the activity class that most interests them. Many of our PETE majors will not have experienced that kind of pedagogy in their own K-12 education, but it must become the pedagogy they learn and value if we are to fulfill that goal.

What are your suggestions for ways to improve the professional preparation of future physical education teachers? Post your ideas here.