Teacher Educators' Perspectives on the Implementation of Beginning Teacher Standards for Physical Education in Ireland: Developing and Regulating the Profession?

Source: European Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 36, Issue 3, 2013, pages 261-278.

The current study examined teacher educators' perspectives on how the Beginning Teacher Standards for Physical Education (BTSfPE) could be implemented.
This study also considered the possible impact on the profession within the discourses of power.
Data collected through semi-structured interviews with 13 teacher educators in physical education.

Participants suggested that the teaching standards could serve as a developmental tool to guide individual teacher education programmes and beginning teachers as well as an assessment function to support quality assurance and to hold programmes accountable.
The teacher educators were committed to addressing issues of quality and status in physical education in Ireland.
However, an agreed vision of how the teaching standards would be used to develop and regulate the profession is necessary to ensure that the intended benefits emerge.