Contextual Issues
Timetabling and the organisation of resources are the main contextual issues. The same
classes groups do not have physical education lessons in succession which would
alleviate the problem of each teacher having to collect, set up and return equipment for
every lesson. The geography of the school in relation to the location of classes, the
proximity of yards, GP Hall and three equipment stores is also an issue that needs to be
addressed. The lack of toilets in close proximity to the GP Hall causes problems for
teachers, mainly those with junior classes.
Limitations
Almost a third of teachers’ responses were absent, not allowing an accurate picture of
the teacher demographics to emerge. The use of this questionnaire highlighted the
limitations of questionnaires for the overall study. Many of the responses given in the
questionnaires were very different to the responses given by teachers in the interviews
and from the observations made. In this phase of the study the focus group interviews
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provided a more accurate picture of the practices and perspectives of the teachers to
physical education.
Implications and Recommendations
The strand chosen to support first, following analysis of both the interview and
questionnaire data, was outdoor and adventure activities. This strand had been taught
by only one teacher and therefore had not been experienced by either teachers or
children. This was also identified by teachers as an area in which they lacked
confidence and subject knowledge.
According to the Primary School Sports Initiative (Houses of the Oireachtas
Joint Committee on Education and Science, 2005) it is important at all times that class
teachers’ fears are allayed about teaching physical education and they should be
educated that large parts of the curriculum are ‘doable’ which do not require specialist
knowledge. Hardman and Marshall (2005) and Wright (2002) support this idea pointing
out that if pre-service and in-service programmes in physical education for primary
school teachers were given more time, funding and recognition then the need for
specialist physical education teachers in primary schools may not be an issue. While
designing the professional development programme it will be vital to ensure the strand
is ‘doable’ by all teachers as the likelihood will be greater that they will continue to
teach this ‘new’ strand (Keay & Spence, 2010; Talbot, 2008). From the observations
and data collection process it is evident, that each teacher’s circumstances is very
different, even though some are teaching the same class level and all of them are
teaching in the same school with the same facilities and equipment. This emphasised
the importance of contextualisation for the teacher (Fullan, 2001), not just the context of
the school but more importantly the context of their own class (Lyon, Wylie & Goe,
2006).
The recommendations from the findings are; increasing teachers’ knowledge of
physical education as a subject and also the subject knowledge content required to
teach it effectively (Petrie, 2009; Siedentop, 2002) both of which are prerequisites to
quality physical education provision; establish a protocol regarding equipment
management; ensure timetabling of classes is carried out with all teachers input which
may necessitate organisational change (Guskey, 2002b); devise a physical education
policy and school plan with staff input; build on the positives that exist in the school
and amongst staff ; compilation of resources necessary for strand implementation and
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establish the support methods which will need to be employed with each teacher, which
will form the basis of the planned professional development programme (Craft, 2000;
Keay & Spence, 2010).
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