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principal, teachers and children to the PDP. At completion of stage 1, the teachers and
children were positive about their experiences during the PDP and
looked forward to
teaching the strand in the forthcoming year. Provision of resources and support through
modelling by an external expert were reported as playing a strong role in the adoption of
the PDP. A very big step was taken, whereby every child
and teacher in the school
experienced a programme of O&AA, establishing both teacher and curricular change
within the school. Structural change was also evident in school systems whereby issues
with storage of resources, timetabling and access to facilities
were negotiated in order to
facilitate change and improve teaching conditions for the teachers. The findings also
pointed to aspects of the PDP where further changes needed to be made to include
different types of teacher learners, further support for teachers
who move class levels,
support in planning and organisation of equipment, and technical language.
Considering the background of the teachers and their initial lack of content knowledge
in the area of O&AA, stage 2 demonstrated that the PDP was effective and teachers
gained confidence as their knowledge expanded allowing them
to teach a programme of
O&AA with minimal support. It also identified that support was necessary to get to this
stage and further support was identified by individual teachers in specific areas of
content and pedagogical content knowledge. Teachers’ and children’s perceptions of
physical education began to change as the PDP progressed.
Teachers recognised child
learning in physical education as a result of the PDP and teacher collaboration was
identified as a legacy of the PDP.
The findings will be discussed in the next chapter drawing upon the literature on
professional development, teacher change and programme evaluation and
social
constructivist theory to provide a deeper understanding of the process of professional
development and the challenges it may face when attempting to facilitate a PDP with
teachers in schools.