Teaching outdoor and adventure activities: an investigation of a primary school physical education professional development p

Teachers’ knowledge of children expanded
. Due to the nature of O&AA 
where the children were responsible for each other and where activities involved co-
operation and trust, teachers learned a lot about their pupils which may not have come 
to light through other subjects; 
And kids who help each other, I have seen loads of them try and assist, you 
know, keep helping each other. Even the blindfold challenge, some of them are 
actually very good to others and will help the different group even. So it is lovely 
to see a different side to the kids.
(2 FGT Alannah 5) 
In one lesson I was surprised…the little boy who needs a lot of help in my class, 
strangely enough, connected with another boy who’s very kind and on two 
occasions, really helped him out on two different lessons and they just clicked 

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together. I didn’t even do it [pair them]. They did it themselves and I found that 
amazing…I didn’t see it in class ever.
(2 FGT Moira 3) 
All teachers spoke about how children who they perceived as less able in 
physical education, felt less threatened during O&AA when they had opportunities to 
participate with their peers of a similar ability and attitude and this enhanced these 
children’s motivation to engage, and therefore learn in physical education. This 
knowledge impacted further on teachers’ willingness to teach O&AA, as they saw that 
children who may not necessarily be games players can excel in other areas of physical 
education. 
Back to basics.
Teachers commented on the amount of planning they 
recognised had been done and they had to do throughout the PDP; 
‘You would have 
your activities arranged, extra follow-on activities …..so you’d have to have all that 
thought out before, there’s a lot of thinking before you went out’ 
(1 FGT Sophie 6).
‘There’s a lot of preparation, getting all the tags put out and all that’ 
(1 FGT Seán 6).
‘That would be the hardest thing in terms of organising it [the lesson], you know, the 
actual putting out the equipment’
(2 FGT Simon 3).
‘I think your advance planning or 
how familiar you are with the material is huge’
(2 FGT Eileen 3). 
You need to be organised. I found that anyway. You need to be so organised 
yourself…knowing what it was, knowing what equipment you needed yourself, 
what maps you needed, just what you needed yourself, what you were 
doing…because if you didn’t know how were they supposed to know.
(2 FGT 
Siofra 2) 
One NQT had a different perspective on planning. Natalie understood that as a 
new teacher she needed to plan and prepare all her lessons; 
It’s a little different for me. Because I’m only new starting off I had to do an 
awful lot more preparation in my head because I am not experienced enough 
that things are natural. So I’m used to doing an awful lot of preparation nearly 
for everything because I am not used to doing it yet.
(2 FGT Natalie 1) 
The other teachers in the school did not see themselves as new teachers although 
in the context of teaching O&AA they were again NQTs and in theory should do as 
NQTs do and plan and prepare appropriately. The planning and preparation involved in 
trying to teach something new, I thought would have been obvious to the teachers; 
however they seemed surprised that so much planning was necessary in physical 
education. Whether this was due to the fact that it was physical education and they had 

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not planned for physical education previously, or because O&AA was an area that they 
had no experience in, merits further investigation. Planning whether a natural habit of 
teachers or not, should be highlighted in future PDP design, as a requisite part of 
undertaking any change in teaching practice.