Teacher and school outcomes of the Physical Education and Physical Literacy (PEPL) approach: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial of a multicomponent intervention to improve physical literacy in primary schools

ABSTRACT

Background: Physical education (PE) can be considered the centrepiece of school physical literacy (PL) programs, but ineffective lessons or an absence of PE across the public primary school system has raised concern. This study aimed to evaluate the implementation, acceptability and impact of teacher delivery of PE as part of a multicomponent Physical Education Physical Literacy (PEPL) approach, designed to improve classroom teachers’ provision of PE and PL opportunities within a cluster of suburban primary schools.

Method: Within a pragmatic randomised cluster-based trial with mixed methods, a PEPL coach was appointed to seven schools for one school year, with another seven schools continuing their usual practice as the control group. The coach’s role was to support and professionally develop classroom teachers to teach PE and to create opportunities that develop PL inside and outside the school environment. Focusing on Grade 5 teachers, the implementation, acceptability and teacher impact were assessed using direct observations of PE teaching style, a daily log kept by the coach and interviews with principals and teachers.

Results: The PEPL coach visited each school on average once a week for the 33 available weeks of the school year. There were several positive effects for teachers and schools. With no classroom teacher initially taking PE or classroom physical activity breaks, all seven teachers regularly introduced a PE lesson and activity breaks into their weekly schedule. PE class instructional time increased (intervention; +4.8 vs. control; ?3.5 min/lesson; β?=?1.69; SE?=?0.76; p?=?.05), with lessons of greater duration (intervention; +8.6 vs. control +1.9 min/lesson; β?=?1.14, SE?=?0.58, p?=?.05) and moderate and vigorous physical activity increased 5.7 min in intervention classes (p?<?.05). The PEPL coach introduced regular physical activities before and after school and linked the schools with a national sports coaching scheme. Interviews indicated that the PEPL approach was both valued and well-accepted by staff, that classroom teacher confidence to teach PE increased and that principals perceived a shift toward a school ‘culture’ of physical activity.

Conclusions: Well-received by classroom teachers and principals, the PEPL approach resulted in classroom teachers introducing both PE and activity breaks into their weekly teaching program and schools were linked to external sport coaching programs. These effects suggest that the PEPL approach enhanced opportunities for the development of physical literacy in this suburban primary school setting.

Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry identifier: ACTRN12615000066583.     

The relationship between PE biographies and PE teaching practices of classroom teachers

The current study sought to explore the relationship between personal school physical education (PE) experiences and current PE teaching practices of classroom teachers. Questionnaires were completed by 189 teachers from 38 randomly selected schools. Additionally, semi-structured interviews of 31 classroom teachers were conducted. The results indicated that many teachers had negative memories of school PE and believed that they were not taught anything. Interestingly, teachers involved in the study held reasonably positive attitudes towards teaching PE but examination of their current teaching practices indicated that little ‘teaching’ was evident in their PE programmes. A hierarchical regression model was used to examine key predictors of PE programme quality and accounted for 32% of the variance. Personal school experiences in primary school PE, quality of preservice education and attitudes to teaching PE were established as significant predictors. A key finding of the current study was the significant relationship evident between personal school experiences in PE and current PE teaching practices which has not been previously established with classroom teachers. The implications of these findings for preservice education and professional development will be discussed.     

基于教学过程的体育院校体育课程有效性的影响因素探析

运用文献资料法、观察法等方法,在考察体育院校体育教学基础上,对体育院校体育课程有效性的影响因素进行研究。结果认为,就教学过程而言,体育课程设置、教师“教”和学生“学”以及课堂教学评价均是影响体育课程有效性的重要因素。     

Physical Activity Practices in Elementary Schools and Associations With Physical Education Staffing and Training

Purpose: Authorities recommend that schools provide a variety of opportunities for students to obtain physical activity (PA) before, during, and after school. This study assessed the prevalence of several school PA practices—including measures of quantity and quality of physical education (PE)—in elementary schools and examined the associations of PA practices with school resources (PE staffing, training, and facilities). Method: Surveys were obtained from respondents in nationally representative samples of elementary schools from 2009–2010 to 2011–2012 (1,831 schools). Results: Few schools (20.8%) provided students with PE class every day, but most (76.3%) had an appropriate PE student-to-teacher ratio ( ≤ 25:1). Many schools (74.0%) offered 20 min of recess daily, but fewer than half offered organized opportunities for PA before or after school (e.g., sports). After controlling for demographics and school size, having a full-time PE teacher and requiring PE teachers to obtain PE-related continuing education (CE) were associated with PE practices such as offering ≥ 150 min of PE per week (for 3rd-grade students) and testing PE knowledge, skills, and fitness. Required CE was also associated with a higher likelihood of offering PA during the school day (i.e., activity breaks and PA outside of PE class) and before or after the school day (i.e., afterschool PA programs). Conclusion: Few schools offer a broad array of PA programming. However, PE staffing and CE are positively associated with many PA practices including those outside of PE, possibly indicating that PE staff serve a crucial role in promoting a whole-school PA-supportive environment.     

对体育教师课堂语言暴力现象的探讨

体育教师课堂语言暴力伤害学生的现象在学校体育教学中依然时有发生,由此引发的法律诉讼也常常见诸媒体。体育教师语言暴力滋生蔓延且成为体育课堂教学活动中的突出问题。在借鉴前人及同行研究成果的基础上,就体育教师语言暴力的内涵、类型、特征、产生的根源等方面作初步的探究,旨在帮助体育教师调节和规范自己的语言行为,更好地服务体育课堂教学。研究结果表明:①体育教师语言暴力的实质是体育教师将病理性语言作用于精神和心理并对学生的身心造成伤害的一种隐暴力。②体育课堂教学中学生们经常遭遇的体育教师语言暴力大致可分为侮辱讽刺型、贬低压抑型、威胁恐吓型和抱怨哀求型。③体育教师语言暴力具有有意性、伤害性、迟延性、隐蔽性、扩散性和自我性等特征。④体育教师语言暴力现象产生原因复杂多样,既有传统"师严道尊"观念的影响与体育教师心理本能方面问题,也有体育教师职业道德失范、话语权失控、自身口语素养欠缺和课堂管理能力有待提高等方面的问题。     

Training and Education for Conducting Physical Education Classes in Croatia since 1875

This research analyzed the activities and events that enabled the establishment of an education and training system for physical education (PE) teachers in Croatia. The beginning of professional PE education in Croatia is related to its introduction as an obligatory subject in the elementary school curriculum of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia in 1874. Most elementary school teachers did not have the knowledge needed to conduct PE classes. We recognized two parallel systems of training introduced in 1875: the first consisted of short training courses, and the second was the introduction of gymnastics as an obligatory course at teacher-training colleges. Twenty years after these obligatory PE classes were introduced to Croatian schools, Franjo Bu?ar organized and managed a two-year course for secondary school gymnastics teachers (1894–1896) after his return from a two-year educational programme at the Royal Central Gymnastic College in Stockholm (Sweden). This high school was the first for PE training not only in Croatia but also this region of Europe. In 1959, the first Croatian institution for PE education was established: the High School for Physical Culture in Zagreb.     

支架式教学在体育教学中的运用

传统的体育课堂教学效率低下,体育教师不知道如何帮助学生更好地学习,在新课改的形势下,运用支架式教学于体育教学过程,构建体育教师和学生互动,共同参与体育课堂活动的教学模式,有利于提高体育课的教学效率,促进体育教师和学生的共同发展。     

我国体育院校术科教师群体的科研能力分析

以我国 11所体育院校的 12 0 7名术科教师为研究对象 ,运用调查法、文献与实证分析相结合的方法 ,分析体育院校技术学科教师的科研素质及能力水平。结果表明 :术科教师群体的科研意识、能力水平及投入质量存在着较大的个体差异 ;科研成果、学术论文主要集中在极少数教师中 ,整体研究水平和力量较为薄弱 ;群体学历层次较低是造成这种状况的主要原因 ;重点提高青年教师的科研素质和能力水平 ,是我国体育院校进一步拓展办学功能、提高办学水平、主动适应新世纪体育事业发展需要的一项紧迫任务。     

上海市学校体育的现状调查与研究

为准确掌握上海市学校体育工作的现状,在全市中心城区、城区、郊区、远郊区抽样25所学校,调研体育教师、非体育教师、学生及其家长四大主体。从体育认识、学校体育课程与教学、学校课外体育活动、家长与学生课外体育活动、体育教师培训、经费投入与安全设备保障机制等方面入手,分析学校体育工作面临的主要问题,为对策与建议提供参考数据。     

义务教育阶段卓越体育教师职业核心素养内涵及形成机制的质性研究

打造高素质专业化教师队伍是我国实现教育强国目标的基础保障和必然要求。在以培育学生体育核心素养为前提的体育教师职业核心素养研究是当前体育学界关注的热点领域之一。运用扎根理论，采用自下而上的理论建构方式，对CCTV体育频道《我是体育教师》栏目中义务教育阶段26位卓越体育教师受访视频的转录稿进行三阶段编码，构建卓越体育教师职业核心素养的内涵，包括职业精神、职业态度和专业修养3个方面。通过分析他们的职业成长路径发现，义务教育阶段卓越体育教师的核心素养形成机制为：教师原生形态是其核心素养的形成基础，教师入职后的职业发展认知是形成其核心素养的动力源泉，而教师所处的外部环境是促进其核心素养形成的催化剂。     

江苏省青少年的学校体育教育分析

运用问卷调查法、数理统计法、文献资料法和逻辑分析法等,对江苏省青少年的学校体育教育现状进行分析,结果表明青少年的体育课堂教育重技术、技能轻理知识与理论,青少年对体育课的满意度并不是很高;体育教师的教学行为并没有得到青少年的高度评价,且失常行为如粗暴或不公平对待学生的现象仍然不少,而体育课被文化课占据的发生率过半;虽然青少年表现出对课外体育活动较高的兴趣,但学校课外体育活动的开展还未能全面满足青少年的需求;青少年对体育运动的认知度尚可,但其体育行为则易受学校及其周边人群的影响。最后指出了相关的对策与建议。     

应对课程改革，构建体育教师素质

高素质的体育教师是深化课程改革的关键。从新的发展视角,提出学校体育改革发展的新趋势:课程目标的变化,课程内容的变化,考核与评价的变化。并就新的课程改革的需要以及新大纲的要求,提出体育教师应具有的素质,如创新能力、运用现代科教技术能力等,试图为体育与新课程改革提供新思路。     

构建高校体育教学改革特色分析

高校体育教学改革应顺应时代的发展和高校体育教育思想的发展方向。重视"终身体育"思想和重视体质健康的教育模式,是高校体育教学改革的主要方向。在此基础上,优化高校体育师资队伍,发展不同高校的特色教育形式,完善高校体育教育的方式和方法。     

Entering the Field of Physical Education: The Journey of Fifteen First-Year Teachers

Purpose: Given the significant challenges facing today’s physical educators, the purpose of this study was to examine the expectations of induction teachers and identify the factors in both their personal and organizational environments enhanced or constrained their assimilation into the field during their 1st year. Method: Using occupational socialization theory as a guide, data from demographic surveys and a series of formal interviews with participants at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year were inductively analyzed for theme development. Results: Results revealed positive acculturation experiences and unity regarding the purpose of physical education as preparing students to be fit for a lifetime. Barriers were noted to be family and personal crises, role conflict, isolation, marginalization, issues with classroom management and discipline, and difficulties in developing positive relationships with stakeholders. Enhancers were identified as positive interactions and rapport with students, colleagues, and administrators and favorable individual dispositions. Conclusion: Implications indicate a need for purposeful physical education teacher education training to proactively address these barriers during professional preparation as well as the creation of additional support systems for beginning teachers.     

体育教育中教师行为论析

本文指出：学校体育如何落实素质教育．这是体育教育改革中最具现实意义的问题之一．教育过程是由教师和学生共同完成的,教师行为的研究可以有效地反映体育教育过程的效益。本文通过体育教学环境中教师与学生交互关系的研究,提出体育教师与学生的良好有效关系应该是“主体与主体”．亦即“我与作”的关系,只有这样体育教师行为才能呈现较高的满意度,体育落实素质教育才有可能成为现实。     

Physical education in Tunisia: teachers' practical epistemology,students' positioning and gender issues

This paper explores gendered student learning in physical education (PE) viewed as a situated emerging process involving a triadic relationship between teacher, student(s) and forms of knowledge that are socioculturally bounded. It concerns gymnastic teaching and learning in Tunisia. It was conducted against the background of the Joint Action Studies in Didactics (JASD). Three Tunisian PE teachers having different expertise and experience and 12 male and female students with contrasted skill levels were observed within a gymnastics unit. Based on the video record of the lessons and on teachers' interviews, the findings stress the personal, institutional and cultural dimensions that shape the observed PE practices with special attention to the gendered content taught and learned. The use of the JASD framework highlights the intertwined processes during classroom interactions that influence the co-construction of gendered learning. It makes visible the interplay between the teacher's practical epistemology and the students' gender positioning and its consequence on inequalities in terms of students' learning and the maintenance of gender order in the gym.     

Teachers' Use of Fitness Tests in School-Based Physical Education Programs

This study was designed to investigate the status of teachers' use of fitness tests in school-based physical education programs. Full-time physical education teachers (N = 325) in 10 states participated. A questionnaire was developed specifically for this study to collect data. Various methods were utilized to lend evidence for the reliability and validity of the items on the questionnaire. Means and standard deviations of continuous variables and Likert-type variables were computed. Frequencies of category variables were calculated and percentages of the frequencies were reported. The results were: (a) most of the teachers used fitness tests with the majority using nationally available fitness tests (among those who implemented the nationally available fitness tests, most utilized the norm-referenced test [i.e., President's Challenge, 1998] and not criterion-referenced tests [i.e., the Fitnessgram, or YMCA Youth Fitness Test Program]), (b) teachers in general implemented different approaches to prepare students for fitness testing and most teachers informed students verbally about the tests in advance, (c) helping students gain awards was the least important purpose for teachers to use fitness tests, and (d) fitness testing was not strongly associated with teachers' fitness/physical activity instruction. The data from the study suggested that fitness testing is merely an isolated part of physical education programs.     

China National Assessment of Education Quality - Physical Education & Health (CNAEQ-PEH) 2015: An Introduction

Purpose: To summarize the framework and development procedure of the China National Assessment of Education Quality - Physical Education & Health in 2015 (CNAEQ-PEH 2015), an authoritative and evidence-based national surveillance protocol developed by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China for Grade 4 and Grade 8 students. Methods: The framework of CNAEQ-PEH 2015 included a test battery of physical fitness and health outcomes and self-reported questionnaires regarding facilitators and barriers to physical fitness and health in school settings and family status, completed by students, teachers, and principals. A qualified, standardized, and responsible work procedure was generated to provide insights into the quality of data collection and supervision of large-scale school-based physical fitness testing implementation. Measure development, stratified unequal probability sampling, and implementation were included in the working procedure. Results: In the first circle of the CNAEQ-PEH conducted on June 18, 2015, 111,173 Grade 4 students from 4,015 elementary schools and 72,243 Grade 8 students from 2,461 middle schools, along with their principals (n = 6,447) and physical education (PE) teachers (n = 11,418), were sampled by probability proportionate to size (PPS) across 323 counties in China. Results provided detailed information regarding students’ physical fitness outcomes, learning, lifestyle, and educational environment. Conclusions: CNAEQ-PEH 2015 is a large-scale assessment of physical fitness and health outcomes. It helps provide opportunities to understand the physical fitness and health status of Chinese Grade 4 and 8 students and to study the correlations of physical fitness and health, as well as their relationship with education-related indicators and academic performance.     

对体育教师角色期望的研究

在体育教育角色的问题上,学生与教师、教师与行政领导对体育教师角色期望是又红又专,体育教师的敬业精神、责任心和专业素质是完成体育教师角色的必备条件。促进体育教师角色融合,需要改善外部条件,提高体育教师职业声望、经济收入是促进体育教师角色融合的有效途径。     

试论学校体育工作中的素质教育

素质教育作为对我国未来一个时期的教育发展有着高度指导意义的一种新的教育观念，在当今学校教育中已成为一个受到广泛关注的问题。在由应试教育向素质教育的转轨中，广大体育工作者认真研究并全面认识和理解素质教育理论，积极推进素质教育，深化学校体育改革，对培养一代跨世纪的新人，有着重要的现实意义。