Prioritising Classroom Community and Organisation in Physical Education Teacher Education

Source: Teaching Education, Volume 26, Issue 1, 2015, pages 94-112

This article explores how teacher candidates in a primary physical education curriculum and methods course learned about and were influenced by efforts to emphasise classroom community and organisation.
Qualitative data in the form of interviews, focus groups, and course artefacts were gathered from nine participants throughout one academic term.

The findings suggested that most teacher candidates came to recognise pedagogies that fostered a sense of community; however, only a few were able to connect this to their developing visions for teaching.
Despite this, all participants came to view the development of a sense of community as one of the most important aspects of their evolving teaching practice.