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

Objectives. 
To introduce the teachers to the O&AA strand of the curriculum. 
To explore a range of O&AA appropriate for a six week (one hour a 
week) O&AA programme in primary schools over two six week blocks. 
To enable the teachers to provide guidance to children undertaking the 
activities 
Teachers were expected to experience all six lessons at stage 1 of the 
PDP and a minimum of four lessons should be taught at stage 2. 
Introduction to the curriculum.
The content of the O&AA strand was explained 
to teachers in written form, prior to the PDP and again midway through the PDP prior to 
the teachers embarking on teaching the O&AA strand on their own (Appendix U).
Teachers were given schemes of work for O&AA and 6 lesson plans appropriate to their 
class level supplemented with a warm-up and cool-down information, containing age 
appropriate pulse raisers, flexibility activities, mobility exercises and pulse lowering 
activities. Teachers seemed happy with the resources at this stage and they were asked 
again following each stage of the professional development programme if they would 
like to contribute/change any of the resources and their responses are reported in 
subsequent chapters.

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Teachers will explore a range of O&AA.
Teachers engaged with the materials, 
resources and equipment and explored them over 12 one-hour lessons (carried out in 2 
six week units of work in concurrent academic years). The exploration of activities was 
supported during the PDP through the following options: 
Modelling of complete lessons 
Modelling of activities within a lesson 
Simulated practice/Team teaching – where the teacher and researcher 
taught together, each teaching a different aspect of the lesson or each 
working with different groups. 
Simulated practice/Coaching for application - helping with organisation 
of equipment, placing of controls for orienteering for example 
Coaching for application/Feedback - provide feedback to teachers who 
taught the lessons or aspects of lessons themselves 
Lesson briefs - time spent with a teacher going through the lesson plan to 
ensure the teacher was happy with the content prior to its delivery 
Feedback - discussion and reflection on outcomes of the above 
The level of teachers’ engagement with the support outlined above, during the 
implementation of the PDP, is described and discussed in detail in chapters six and 
seven. 
Enable the teachers to provide guidance. 
Teachers explored issues 
underpinning the teaching of O&AA such as pair and group work, maximum 
participation, teaching styles, instruction giving, technical language, observation of 
children and feedback. Given the very nature of physical education, many of the 
activities involved active learning by the teachers. The teacher will participate in an 
activity and it will be through this participation that they will learn how to ‘teach’ the 
activity: 
The individual learner is not gaining a discrete body of abstract knowledge 
which (s)he will then transport and reapply in later contexts. Instead she 
acquires the skill to perform by actually engaging in the process, under the 
attenuated conditions of legitimate peripheral participation (Lave and Wenger, 
1991, p. 29) 

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In addition to the curriculum related content that formed the PDP, teachers also 
experienced additional PD around warm-ups, cool-downs and flexibility. Although 
how the PDP was to proceed within the school is outlined above, the actual 
implementation of the PDP with each teacher and class within the school is outlined in 
chapter 6, process investigation and impact of the PDP.