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

Active learning.
According to Day and Sachs (2004), professional development 
has changed over the past 20 years from school-focused professional development to a 
more sophisticated approach taking into account school culture, work-based learning 
and professional learning communities. Desimone (2009) describes the change as 

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moving from discrete activities (such as workshops, conferences and courses) to 
conceptualising professional development as situated and cognitive views of learning 
through interactive and social means, based in discourse and community practice. This 
type of embedded professional development, directly related to teaching, can take many 
forms such as mentoring, co-teaching, reflecting on lessons, provision of materials, self-
examination or even designing new curricula (Desimone, 2009). 
Professional development must provide teachers with opportunities to actively 
engage in relevant tasks (Armour, Makopoulou and Chambers, 2008; Darling-
Hammond and McLoughlin, 2011; Day, 1999; Garet et al, 2001) where they are 
supported and given feedback. These opportunities may cause their self-efficacy to 
heighten which will make them feel good about themselves and their teaching 
(Cordingley et al, 2003; Guskey, 2003; Maldonado, 2002).
 Coherence.
For years, educators and education researchers have lamented the 
fact that the majority of professional development is delivered to teachers in the form of 
in-service workshops. These one to three-day workshops are presented by content area 
specialists such as college lecturers, teacher unions, education centres and independent 
consultants (Conway et al., 2009; Darling-Hammond, 2000; Guskey, 2000; Irish 
National Teachers' Organisation, 2006). There is criticism of these in-service 
workshops for failing to have lasting effects and for leaving teachers feeling unprepared 
for the classroom (Darling-Hammond, 2000; Fullan & Steigelbauer, 1991; Guskey, 
2000; Guskey, 2003; Knight, 2002; Sugrue et al., 2001; Sugrue, 2004). The major 
criticism of this type of professional development is that the content of the session is 
externally imposed and teachers’ real needs are not taken into consideration in the 
programme design. This comment is espoused by Ward and Doutis (1999) who state 
that the purpose of these half/one day workshops is to teach something new or current, 
after which, teachers are expected to be sufficiently motivated and trained to modify 
their teaching. The workshops are also distanced physically and conceptually from 
what happens in the classroom, as they occur away from schools and without children 
present in most cases.
Professional development that is integrated into the daily life of the school, that 
is aligned with classroom conditions, school contexts and teachers’ daily experiences 
(coherence), is more likely to produce enhanced knowledge and skills (Armour & 
Duncombe, 2004; Armour & Yelling, 2004b; Cochran, DeRuiter & King 1993; O' 

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Sullivan & Deglau, 2006; Pope & O' Sullivan, 1998; Timperley, 2008). Differentiating 
the professional development for the needs of individual teachers gives teachers a sense 
of ownership and gives them the opportunity to build on previous knowledge (Armour 
& Yelling, 2007; Betchel & O' Sullivan, 2006; Cordingley et al, 2003; Garet et al, 2001; 
Guskey, 2003; Maldonado, 2002). Teachers want support for themselves in their own 
situations. This may not be the most cost effective method of professional development 
but if this is what teachers report would be the most beneficial to them, and may 
produce the outcomes providers wish to achieve, then research must investigate all 
aspects of such professional development provision.
As context is very specific for the teaching of physical education, compared to 
other subjects such as Mathematics or English, this makes the job of facilitating 
effective professional development a challenge for all providers. Contexts within Irish 
primary schools are so varied the nuances of the varying contexts alone make it difficult 
to take into account the confines of a one size fits all programme. All this coupled with 
the fact that this is only one of the subjects that the primary generalist teacher must 
contend with, classifies these teachers as having very special and specific professional 
development needs.