The constraints on school provision of post-primary physical education in Ireland: principals’ and teachers’ views and experiences

Dated and limited research relating to physical education in Ireland has reported that the subject is in crisis, unable to move forward until the fundamental resources of facilities, staffing and time for physical education are significantly improved. As part of a recent national physical education survey carried out in Ireland, data was collected from principals (n=417) and teachers (n=405) to inform discussion on the level of current infrastructure for physical education in post-primary schools. This paper investigates the areas of physical education facilities, time allocation and staffing, as a contribution to the debate on the way forward for physical education at post-primary level, illuminating both issues of policy and practice.     

Outdoor education in Scotland

Abstract

Although Scotland is part of the United Kingdom it has a distinct cultural identity and a separate education and legal system. These factors, which have influenced the development of outdoor education, are likely to have an even greater impact in the future following the re-establishment (after a break of almost 300 years since 1707) of a Scottish Parliament in 1999.

Scotland was one of the first countries in the world to formalise outdoor education. This was the result of a combination of factors:

• ? Geophysical and climatic factors together with landholding and land-use practices established in the 18th Century have ensured that much of Highland Scotland is depopulated and devoid of forests; leading to the perception that the area is a “wilderness” and therefore attractive for outdoor recreation.

• ? Exploration for political, economic and scientific reasons in the second half of the millennium, which both led to and developed from Britain's empire, stimulated a national taste for adventure as expressed in seafaring, mountaineering and polar exploration.

• ? Growth in wealth, mobility and leisure-time in the late 19th and 20th Centuries provided the means by which many more people could engage in their own, more modest adventures, leading to the development of stylised forms of outdoor activities in the UK.

Consequently the landscape and surrounding seas of Scotland have long presented challenges for outdoor recreation, and post-war development of outdoor education fitted quite naturally into this physical and social landscape.

In the 1960s and 1970s outdoor education (often formalised as physical outdoor activities and based on a residential experience) was extensively developed in Scotland and was of international significance. In recent years, primarily as a result of political effects, provision has been in some decline; a trend markedly at odds with the concurrent rapid growth in outdoor recreation. A shift away from public provision through the education service seems to be countered by growth in “charitable” and “private sector” provision, especially in the case of residential outdoor education centres.

Some concerns are raised about possible future trends, and the argument made that educational theory should be taken into account in the design of programmes which focus on personal and social education; or which capitalise on the learning potential of the landscape to encourage cultural awareness and principles of sustainability, which are seen as having both local and global significance.     

The Unconscious Fear of Success

The hidden cumculum has served the very useful purpose in educational discourse of alerting educators to the complexity of physical education teaching and learning. However, the ambiguity of the phenomena the term attempts to describe has led to a certain notoriety, and there is now considerable confusion over the meaning of the term hidden curriculum. This paper reviews selected studies of the hidden curriculum in physical education and other literature. The aim of this review is to assess its potential for helping us to better understand physical education as a cultural practice. Building on this review, it is suggested that the terms discourse and ideology locate the hidden agendas of physical education teaching and learning within the realm of communication and meaning making. The implications of this perspective for physical education teaching and research are examined. It is suggested in conclusion that the more precise identification of the hidden curriculum as an aspect of communication and meaning making is important, given new pressures deriving from mass media and popular culture that impact on physical education teaching and learning in subtle ways.     

SOCIAL COMPARISON IN PHYSICAL EDUCATION: AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TWO FRAMES OF REFERENCE AND ENGAGEMENT,DISAFFECTION, AND PHYSICAL SELF‐CONCEPT

Drawing from theory and research into social comparison processes, the present study sought to determine children's motives for comparison in addition to the coexistence of class and individual comparisons in school physical education. The main and interactive effects of these types of comparisons were examined in relation to pupils’ physical self‐concept, as well as self‐reported behavioral engagement and disaffection in class. In total, 545 children (M_age = 13.89 years, SD = 1.57 years) from two schools in England completed the questionnaire. Moderated hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that the higher a child's perception of his or her ability was compared with his or her classmates, the greater the level of engagement and physical self‐concept and the lower the level of disaffection. Interaction analysis showed that when perceived ability with reference to the class was low, a downward comparison with an individual enhanced engagement, but this was not the case when perceived ability was high. Findings suggest that further research into social comparison processes in this setting is warranted.     

On Tilting at Windmills While Facing Armageddon

Since the 1960s, numerous articles, special features, symposia, and conferences have raised perceptive and often troubling questions about the present condition and future directions of the field. In the 1980s, the debates reached a crescendo with issues about specialization, fragmentation, professional versus academic, and what should comprise the academic core. Any profession should periodically evaluate itself; it is now time, however, to marshall our efforts and concentrate on what our collective strengths are—or should be. It is suggested herein that useful lessons might be gleaned from an overview of American medicine at the turn of the century and recent discussions concerning medical education. Medicine combines both clinical and academic/scientific studies and draws upon knowledge ranging from the molecular to the macro levels. American medicine and medical education struggled through uncertainties 100 years ago that are not unlike those that physical education has been involved in for the last 3 decades. To achieve first-class academic and professional respectability, however, more physical education faculty must become producers (rather than consumers) of scholarly and scientific knowledge. Moreover, our professional organization must devote greater attention to fostering research, the foundation upon which the respectability of a profession rests.     

Performance contagion and human resource layout: New concepts in performance management

Job performance can be defined as the extent to which one exhibits behaviors that further the goals of the organization, and leaders try to manage the factors influencing the performance in an organization to guide it toward organizational goals. A main factor that influences the performance is emotions and behavior of other people. The influence of people on each other can be divided into physical and metaphysical contagions in the scientific literature. In this article, we introduce a new kind of metaphysical contagion that has a close relationship with individual and organizational performance. We name it performance contagion and introduce two kinds of factors (content and process) and subfactors. We conceptualize a new concept in performance management defined as human resource layout. Tools are suggested for applying the steps of this model to improve both individual and organizational performance.     

Student-centred inquiry as curriculum as a model for field-based teacher education

This research project focuses on teacher education in a field-based methods course. We were interested in understanding what could be when we worked with pre-service teachers in a high school physical education class to assist them in the process of learning to listen and respond to their students in ways that might better facilitate young people’s interest, motivation and learning. To develop a theoretical understanding of what happened in this field-based methods course designed to promote listening and responding to students as a way to guide curriculum, we utilised grounded theory. In this paper, we describe a model, student-centred inquiry as curriculum, which includes a cyclical process of building the foundation, planning, responding to students, listening to respond and analysing the responses. Student centred-inquiry as curriculum is a blending of action in the historical, localised and particular lived realities of students and teachers illuminated through inquiry with the simultaneous engagement of autobiographies, the negotiation of student voice and the social construction of content. We discuss this model as a possibility for transforming the status quo of teacher education and K-12 schools.     

现代远程教育方式下班级管理的新探索

现代远程教育的发展对班级管理提出了新的要求,班级组织形式更加松散和多元。通过对现代远程教育方式下班主任角色转换的研究,明确了班主任组织者、协调者、服务者的角色定位。通过对培养学生自主独立学习习惯的研究,明确了班级管理的目标。     

Hybridising Sport Education and Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility to include students with disabilities

The present study aimed to explore the impact of the combination of two pedagogical models, Sport Education and Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility, for learners with disabilities experiencing a contactless kickboxing learning unit. Twelve secondary education students agreed to participate. Five had disabilities (intellectual and motor). Additionally, three physical education teachers and the mother of one of the students contributed. Five different research instruments were used to obtain information from all participants: drawings, open-ended questions, discussion groups, diaries and semi-structured interviews. Thematic content analysis and constant comparison guided data analysis resulted in three major categories: part of the team, learning and enjoyment. Several ideas were also identified: inclusion, friendship, cooperation, students’ important role and transference. In conclusion, the hybridisation of Sport Education and Teaching for Personal and Social Responsibility seems to be a powerful tool for including students with disabilities in physical education, helping them and their classmates connect in and out of class.     

Troubling identities: teacher education students' constructions of class and ethnicity

Working with diverse student populations productively depends on teachers and teacher educators recognizing and valuing difference. Too often, in teacher education programs, when markers of identity such as gender, ethnicity, ‘race’, or social class are examined, the focus is on developing student teachers' understandings of how these discourses shape learner identities and rarely on how these also shape teachers' identities. This article reports on a research project that explored how student teachers understand ethnicity and socio‐economic status. In a preliminary stage of the research, we asked eight Year 3 teacher education students who had attended mainly Anglo‐Australian, middle class schools as students and as student teachers, to explore their own ethnic and classed identities. The complexities of identity are foregrounded in both the assumptions we made in selecting particular students for the project and in the ways they constructed their own identities around ethnicity and social class. In this article we draw on these findings to interrogate how categories of identity are fluid, shifting and ongoing processes of negotiation, troubling and complex. We also consider the implications for teacher education.     

New organisational structures and the transformation of academic work

This article will particularly focus on Norway and the consequences for academic work. Frequently in studies of academic work, focus has been on academics’ individual autonomy and to what extent the latter is challenged (Altbach in Ann Am Acad Pol Soc Sci 448:1–14, 1980; Shattock in High Educ 41:27–47, 2001). One of the shortcomings in literature dealing with academic workplace is lack of attention paid to the emerging division of work generated by an increasing differentiation of the academic profession (Musselin in Knowledge Matters, The public mission of the research university, 2011). In order to better address complexities and dynamics that surround academic work, the article will in particular examine whether academic work is subject to an increasing specialization and collectivization. In our attempt to observe changes in the practices of academic work, particular interest is given to “how the organization of an academic enterprise affects academic work” (Blau in The organization of academic work. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, 1994:8). Inspired by organizational theorists such as Brunsson and Olsen in The reforming organization. Brunsson and Olsen (The reforming organization. Fagbokforlaget, Bergen, 1997) we also want to attend to the relations between organizational change and academic work. Here we address the relationship between formal organization and informal organization which is likely to develop as decoupled structures—one adapted to institutionalized norms of society and the other for coordinating activities. Furthermore, there are tendencies suggesting that universities are becoming less special as an organization (Musselin in Key challenges to the academic profession. INCHER-Kassel, Paris, 2007) and converge to more general organizational characteristics by constructing dimensions of organizations such as identity, hierarchy and rationality (Brunsson and Sahlin-Andersson in Constructing organizations: the example of public sector reform, Organization Stud 21:4, 2000). In this article we are mainly interested in how hierarchy is constructed enabling coordination by an “authoritative centre” (Brunsson and Sahlin-Andersson in Constructing organizations: the example of public sector reform, Organization Stud 21:4, 2000:726) and how it interferes with traditional forms of organizing the university. This calls for a concern to whether the specificity of academic work, built of the mainly individual exercise of a large diversity of tasks, remains a key characteristic for organizing academic activities at universities. Empirically this article studies changes in academic work regarding new patterns in organizing research funding and doctoral education in Norway that emerged in the last decade. Like in other European countries, new policies for research funding and doctoral education have led to the creation of new organisational structures within Norwegian HEIs, namely research centres and doctoral schools.     

The Blueprint I revisited: Training and practice in school psychology

In 1984, the National School Psychology Inservice Training Network (NSPITN) published School psychology: A blueprint for training and practice (Blueprint I), which recognized that America's public schools were troubled and focused on how school psychology could help with a transformation; the role of school psychologists was divided into 16 practice domains. In 1997, the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) published a successor, School psychology: A blueprint for training and practice II (Blueprint II), which credits the first edition with having “driven much of the progress in school psychology.” To better understand the impact of the Blueprint I, this study analyzes responses from Nebraska and Iowa school psychologists about it, finding that doctoral-level respondents believed that they were more competently trained than subdoctoral school psychologists in the research domain; quality of training was rated higher by respondents receiving degrees after 1984 in class management, classroom organization and social structures, interpersonal communication and consultation, legal/ethical and professional issues, multicultural concerns, parental involvement, research, and systems development and planning. Analyses revealed numerous areas of congruence and dissonance between training and practice. Respondents reported a preference to decrease the amount of time spent in assessment and increase the time spent in all other domains (except basic academic skills). The relevance to the Blueprint II and the implications for school psychology training and practices are discussed. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

What Would Physical Educators Know About Movement Education? A Review of Literature, 2006–2016

This review article identifies the conceptual underpinnings of current movement research in physical education. Using a hermeneutic approach, four analogies for movement education are identified: the motor program analogy, the neurobiological systems analogy, the instinctive movement analogy, and the embodied exploration analogy. Three issues related to logical consistency and its relevance for movement education are raised. The first relates to tensions between the analogies and educational policy. The second concerns differences among the four analogies. The third issue relates to the appropriateness of specific analogies for dealing with certain movement contexts. In each case, strategies for improvement are considered. The article concludes with a brief summary, along with reflections on issues that require further attention.     

The Body and the Place of Physical Activity in Education: Some classical perspectives

Abstract

The place of physical education has been contested in recent times and it has been argued that its justification as part of school curricula seems to be marginal at best. Such justifications as have been offered, propose that physical education is justified because of its contribution to moral development or because it is capable of being studied as a theoretical subject. Other justifications have centred on the embodied nature of the human being. In this article we draw on some classical thinkers, Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Augustine and Benedict, to argue for a strong, integrated view of the human person. From this it is concluded that physical education is a necessary component of education and that a complete education therefore involves physical education. Physical education is understood in a broad sense as a family resemblance concept which incorporates a wide variety of physical activities. Disciplined physical activity which enables individuals to gain those physical skills required for learning, it is proposed, is essential for intellectual development. Benedictine education, which involves hard physical work, reading, prayer and reflection, illustrates how the physical and mental aspects of a person are to be integrated in order to attain the ends of the committed Benedictine monk.     

Towards openness and new forms

This article explores some theoretical and methodological problems concerned with scale in education research through a critique of a recent mixed-method project. The project was framed by scale metaphors drawn from the physical and earth sciences and I consider how recent thinking around scale, for example, in ecosystems and human geography might offer helpful points and angles of view on the challenges of thinking spatially in education research. Working between the spatial metaphors of ecology scholars and the critiques of the human geographers, for example, the hypercomplex social space in Lefebvre's political-economic thinking and the fluid, simultaneous, multiple spatialities of Massey's post-structuralism, I problematize space and scale in education research. Interweaving these geographical ideas with Giddens’ structuration and Bourdieu's theory of practice, both of which employed what might be termed scale-bridging to challenge social science's entrenched paradigms, leads me to reconsider what is possible and desirable in the study of education systems. Following the spatial turn in the social sciences generally, there is an outstanding need to theorize multi-scale methodology for education research.     

A comprehensive approach to managing school safety: case studies in Catalonia,Spain

Background: Schools should be safe spaces for students, teaching staff and non-teaching staff. For the concept of ‘safety’ to be meaningful, it must be interpreted broadly to encompass well-being in its widest sense. A common challenge for schools and educational authorities is, therefore, to manage school safety appropriately not only to prevent physical accidents and incidents, but also with the purpose of creating an environment that promotes physical, emotional and social well-being, both individually and collectively.

Purpose: The aim of this research paper is twofold: (a) to explore the concept of safety as it is interpreted by schools and analyse the extent to which schools are committed to the goal of creating safe and healthy school environments; and (b) to identify organisational and management practices that promote the safety of school staff and users.

Design, sample and methods: The research was carried out from a qualitative perspective, based on a study of multiple cases carried out in Catalonia, Spain. The case studies (N = 9 schools) were selected by means of a purposive sampling process in order to obtain a selection of schools covering different education stages and under different types of ownership. The data collection process involved carrying out semistructured interviews (N = 39) with school principals, health and safety officers, teaching staff and non-teaching staff; focus groups with families (N = 2) and a review of general documentation and specific safety documents (N = 58). The data collected were completed and verified by means of interviews with experts (N = 3). The interviews, focus groups and notes arising from the document review were transcribed literally and analysed thematically, following a cross-case analysis structure.

Results: The data analysis indicated that creating safe and healthy environments was not always an explicitly endorsed principle or goal for schools. However, all members of the educational community were involved in ensuring adequate levels of school safety; and diverse management and organisational actions and measures were implemented to ensure physical, emotional and social safety.

Conclusions: We conclude that according to a broad interpretation of safety, which encompasses well-being in its widest sense, a comprehensive school safety management approach had not been fully adopted by schools in the studied sample. Whilst involvement in safety practices was evident, many actions appeared to be carried out without full consideration of the wider promotion of school safety. The study suggests the importance of training and awareness activities for education professionals in order to build and promote safety culture and to facilitate the introduction of a comprehensive school safety approach in the day-to-day management of schools.     

Changing Physical Education Teacher Education Curriculum to Promote Inclusion

Many physical education teachers are not well trained to address the needs of students with disabilities in an inclusive physical education class despite inclusion being a general educational policy (Rust & Sinelnikov, 2010 Rust, R. and Sinelnikov, O. 2010. Practicum in a self-contained environment: Pre-service teacher perceptions of teaching students with disabilities. The Physical Educator, 67: 33–45.  [Google Scholar]). This lack of training could be improved through well-designed physical education teacher education (PETE) curriculum. This article proposes a curriculum framework based on the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) to effectively train pre-service physical educators toward the inclusive physical education. Three curriculum stages (lecture-focused, lectures with teaching practicum, and internship-focused) and the stage-matched strategies adapted from the TTM are discussed as promising ideas to systematically restructure the PETE curriculum and effectively train pre-service teachers to promote inclusion.     

Easy,collaborative and engaging – the use of cloud computing in the design of management classrooms

Background:?Cloud computing has recently received interest in information systems research and practice as a new way to organise information with the help of an increasingly ubiquitous computer infrastructure. However, the use of cloud computing in higher education institutions and business schools, as well as its potential to create novel learning environments remains an underresearched topic.

Purpose:?To address the research gap, this paper investigates how the capabilities of cloud computing have fostered collaborative learning processes of students in the design of management classrooms. The research project has taken place in a three-year period and has covered five post-graduate knowledge management classes, which have been situated in the context of business education.

Research design and sources of evidence:?I have used an illustrative case study of five knowledge management classes as research design to explore and describe interconnections between methods of social constructionism and cloud computing properties which enhance collaborative learning experiences of students in the classroom. To develop a theoretical background for the case study, I first review literature on constructivist and experiential learning, new management profiles, and information systems. In the empirical part of the case study, I have observed the experimental blending of constructivist learning methods and the cloud computing platform Google Apps for Education in three post-graduate classes and two Executive Master of Business Administration classes on the topic of knowledge management. For the data collection, I have focused on collaboration processes to understand how students have used various cloud computing tools to work together, and how their usage has affected interaction and reflection in the observed courses.

Results:?Findings show that collaborative properties of cloud computing, when they are undergirded by methods of social constructionism, influence learning factors on cognitive, emotional, spatial and group levels and lead to substantial changes in teacher/student roles and behaviours. The ease-of-use, playfulness and immediacy of cloud platforms creates collaborative learning spaces and has the potential to foster lateral thinking and problem solving of students in the classroom.

Conclusions and contribution:?By illuminating mutual interrelations between learning factors, constructivist principles and cloud computing properties, the paper enriches the literature on the innovative use of information system technologies in universities and business schools. The paper provides, in addition, practice-oriented insights for pedagogical and methodological choices that undergird the capabilities of cloud platforms to foster collaborative learning processes of students in higher education institutions.     

Social constructivism: Infusion into the multicultural science education research agenda

This article focuses on (a) theoretical underpinnings of social constructivism and multicultural education and (b) aspects of social constructivism that can provide frameworks for research in multicultural science education. According to the author, multicultural science education is “a field of inquiry with constructs, methodologies, and processes aimed at providing equitable opportunities for all students to learn quality science.” Multicultural science education research continues to be influenced by class, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender, and different lifestyles; however, another appropriate epistemology for this area of research is social constructivism. The essence of social constructivism and its implications for multicultural science education research includes an understanding of whatever realities might be constructed by individuals from various cultural groups and how these realities can be reconstituted, if necessary, to include a scientific reality. Hence, multicultural science education should be a field of study in which many science education researchers are generating new knowledge. The author strives to persuade other researchers to expand their research and teaching efforts into multicultural science education, a blending of social constructivism with multicultural science education. This blending is illustrated in the final section of this article. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.