Who wants to be a teacher?

The potential impact of
school-led
Teacher Training
on physical education
Tuesday, 11 September 12

Dr Ashley Casey
& PESP Group

In his 2011 letter to the
Teacher Development Agency
the Secretary of State for
Education stated his
expectation that there would
be a greater emphasis on
school-led teacher training
(DfE, 2011).


This policy statement has
significant ramifications for
the development and
enhancement of school
physical education praxis and
pedagogy.


This presentation argues that
this policy shift has taken
little or no account of pre-
service teachers (PSTs)
existing beliefs about what
teaching ‘is’ and ‘does’ nor of
their motivations (what Lortie
(1975) called their
“subjective warrant”) are for
becoming teachers.

occupational
socialisation


occupational
socialisation

Teacher
Education


occupational Students experienced
socialisation

Teacher
Education


socialisation Positive Role Models

Teacher
Education


socialisation Positive Role Models Near Equality of status

Teacher
Education


socialisation Positive Role Models Near Equality of status

Teacher conclusions
Education


Many occupations are
licensed by governments
after candidates pass certain
exams and demonstrate
certain competences.

however...


This is the end point
of a long process in
which an individual
will qualify or
disqualify themselves
from potential careers.
Lortie 1975


for example,
children might
check out their
dexterity to see
if they have
surgeon’s
hands, or argue
with their peers
to see if they
would become
good lawyers.

Mauss 1973

Therefore,
those whose
goal it is to
become a
teacher will
have constantly
tested and
retested
themselves
against what
they believe
they need to
be to be a
teacher, and
have identified
that they match
those criteria

consequently...


what people
THINK they
need to become
a teacher
becomes their

Subjective
Warrant


The subjective warrant

“ consists of each
person’s perceptions
of the requirements
for teacher education
and for actual
teaching in schools ”
Lawson (1983a, p6)


The subjective
warrant is key
in teacher
education as it
serves as a
filter for
teacher
learning and is
therefore a
major
determinant of
future practice.
Borko and Putnam (1996)


Lawson (1983) identiﬁed two key areas of research

The relationship
between
subjective warrant,
recruitment and
teacher education.


Relationship
between teacher
education, school
entry, socialization
in schools, and
longevity in schools

while our wider programme of research seeks to explore the

Relationship
between teacher
education, school
entry, socialization
in schools, and
longevity in schools

The purpose of this presentation is to start to explore

The relationship
between
subjective warrant,
recruitment and
teacher education.


The purpose of this presentation is to start to explore

The relationship
between
subjective warrant,
recruitment and
teacher education.
with particular emphasis on the perceived risks of
making teacher education the responsibility of schools

The factors inﬂuencing an individual’s subjective warrant
for physical education

Personal Factors
Situational Factors
Societal Factors

Dewar and Lawson, 1984,p23


Personal Factors

Significant others, gender,
race, ethnicity, self concept
and aspirations



Situational Factors

Socio economic status,
academic achievement,
primary involvements, and
achievements in physical
education and interscholastic
and agency sponsored sport.



Situational Factors

Secondary involvements and
achievements in physical
education and interscholastic
and agency sponsored sport.
Other related work
experience.



Societal Factors

Cultural stereotypes for physical
education and sport impact on the
professional recruitment processes
through perceptions of:
1) Status and economic rewards of the
physical education profession
2) Working conditions (job security,
hours of working, vacations) of the
profession.
3) Requirements for entering the
profession.


This study used Occupational Socialisation
as its theoretical framework to examine
the subject warrant of ‘apprentice’
teachers of Physical Education

Lawson (1983) identified
three phases of occupational
socialisation.


the anticipatory/
acculturation
phase is the
period from birth
to entry into
teacher education
in which the
subjective
warrant is
formed.


The acculturation/
anticipatory phase has a
powerful impact on recruits
moving into the field well
before beginning their PETE
programme.
Hutchinson (1993)


It is responsible for the
development of the pre-
service teachers beliefs
about teaching physical
education
Dewar and Lawson (1984),
Doolittle, Dodds and Placek (1993)


professional socialisation

“ is the process whereby
the recruit comes to
learn about and
internalise the culture of
the profession he or she
has elected to enter.
”
Western and Anderson, (1968, p96)


The organisational
phase is significantly
influenced by wash out

Zeichner and Tabachnick (1981)

In other words

The influence of the
organisation can be
reality shock for the
newly qualified teacher
which can, in turn, lead
to the adoption of a
pedagogy of necessity

Tinning (1988)

which often replicate
the practices of their
teachers and their
teachers-teachers and
so on...


While Lawson (1983)
identified three phases of
occupational socialisation
we are predominantly
interested in the first stage
of anticipation/acculturation


To this end we opted to
interview our 1st year
students on their very first
afternoon in the university in
an effort to ascertain their
existing knowledge and beliefs
about physical education
before they were influenced by
us.


After ethical
approval had been
obtained from the
university, and after
students had agreed
and accented to be
involved in the
study, they were
interviewed one-to-
one by a researcher
from the department

These were semi-
structured interviews which
lasted between 15 to 25
minutes. In total 102
students across two
cohorts were
interviewed,which
constituted of 100% of our
students


A thematic analysis was
undertaken using NVivo9
and this paper is the first
articulation of the findings.


Comparable to Curtner-
Smith (2001) most students
were supported in their early
physical development by
their parents either as
‘active’ role models and/or
as ‘taxi’ drivers.


“ my mum’s a PE
teacher...and I proper
look up to my mum.”

“ my parents have always
said that they’d think I’
do something in P.E., so
they’ve always pushed
me in the direction what
I wanted to be in...”


“ It was more my dad that
really pushed me into as
many sports as I could
try out for, as many
sports as he could teach
me himself ”


“ my mum’s my biggest
influence from home I
think and obviously
because she’s got school
experience, she’s taught
for many years, she can
impart her knowledge
on me so she will ”


In many ways the
influence of parents was
important in terms of
those early experiences
but it didn’t appear to be
a defining influence as a
number of students didn’t
mention their parents in
their interview.

For most students who had
supportive and facilitatory
parents, this early
engagement in physical
activity was enhanced
through their school
experiences.


For others, school physical
education was where they
first identified the
supportive environment they
needed to develop and
shine.


“ The main influence on me
has been my physical
education teachers at
secondary school that took
me through year 10 and then
my A’Levels. They have been
my main influences. They’ve
helped me throughout the
way they told me I can do it,
I can get it right. ”


“ [names three
teachers]...them three
were like really big idols
to look up to and just
like inspired sort of
thing and just like I
wanted to be like
them...”


“ Definitely my PE teachers
at school. I’ve always
looked to them, like role
models. Always thought
that it looked really
exciting, like I want to do
it too... ”


“ and I just look up to them
because they just inspire
me, like the things they
do for the school, the
things they do for PE,
the passion they’ve got
for the sport. It’s just like
I want to be like that.”


Without these reported enhancements and the
‘extra mile’ that these teachers were prepared travel
then these students may not have moved beyond
the specialisms of their parents or primary schools.


One is left to wonder what
might happen when this,
predominantly secondary
school experience, becomes
the only enhancement they get.
With the promise of solely one
year PETE programmes do we
need to reconceptualise our
other undergraduate provision?


It is also worth considering the
impact that any practitioner can
have on a fledgling teacher.

such powerful role models do not necessarily
equate to good quality learning for these
apprentice teachers and could just as easily lead
to the reinforcement of poor and/or ineffective
practices (Pedder et al, 2010).

Many students reported
that they got on well with
their PE teachers.


Leading us to query if they
had been implicitly
recruited into “the inner
sanctum of the physically
able” in the school (Brown
1997).


Indeed, so close was the
reported friendship between
with some students and their
teachers, that it appears that
as aspiring PE teachers they
began to occupy a position of
near equality with their own
teachers.
Brown and Evans (2004).


When asked about major inﬂuences one student replied

“ definitely my A’level
teachers. I used to work
down the department as a
sports technician, so I
used to see them quite
often and just happy,
bubbly, exciting, you
could always approach
them for anything”

He went on to suggested that

“ I’ve always just wanted to
be just like them. So like
from from year 7 I went
to after school basketball
club and I was the only
one to turn up and ever
since then I’ve just lived
down there [the PE
department] basically”

A young woman suggest that the support of her teacher
extended beyond her time at the school

“
”


Another young woman ed that the support of her teacher would
extended beyond her time at the school

“ ...and she’s even said now
[on the first day of PETE],
like if I need any of her
help then I can still email
her and she’ll still help me
or I could just go into
school and see her... ”


another student indicated that

“ I live in quite a strong
sporting environment
anyway, like at home and at
school so I think just
influences from that and
being part of, an important
part of the PE department at
school as well.. ”


she went on to explore her place within the department

“ [I] took quite a lead role
when I got to my older
years so I think that’s
imparted on me wanting
to pursue that kind of
career. ”


In turn this privileged position
within the department seemed
to reinforce some traditional
expectations around what it
meant to be a physical
education teacher (Curtner-
Smith, 2001) and also what
PE should do and be.


“ I feel I’d be a teacher where
students can come and talk to
you and can on like that friendly
basis, if that makes sense. And
a passionate teacher, if you’re
not a passionate teacher then
your students aren’t going to be
passionate either - and a role
model to the students as a
teacher. ”


“ I think PE helps to link it
all together and also it
expels all your energy so
kids go outside, let it all
out and come back in and
they can move on to their
next lesson, nice and
fresh again ”

when asked what sort of PE teacher she wanted to be
one student suggested she would be all about

“
”

when asked what sort of PE teacher she wanted to be
one student suggested she would be all about

“ getting kids interested in
sport, making them active so
they’re not just all sitting
around playing computer
games all the time, so they’re
actually out, it builds
friendships and stuff, makes
you have friends and develops
your communication skills so
people friendly I guess. ”

Listening to these students
it is easy to see physical
education replicating itself
from generation to
generation. With little or no
need to evolve.


And how the urban myths
and fairytales of sport and
physical education
perpetuate themselves from
generation to generation


Given these strong student
biographies of PE what are
our chances as a PETE faculty
of positively influencing the
subjective warrants of our
students and influencing their
expectation about PE?


Of more importance however, how are
these traditionally views of physical
education going to evolve if teacher
education is reduced to a year and
situated predominantly in schools?


Given these findings and given what
research states about the difficulties
that four-year university-based
programmes have in influencing PST
anticipatory beliefs (Lawson 1983)
its seems quite likely that work-
place training is only going to
reinforce current pedagogical
practices and support 'inter-
generational reproduction' (Brown &
Evans) in PE.


If that is the case then what
impact might this policy have on
the future of physical education
in the UK? A question made
more poignant given the call for
radical reform (Locke, 1992)
and warnings of possible
extinction (Kirk, 2010).


So what choices do we have?


More of the same

Kirk 2010


More of the same Extinction

Kirk 2010


More of the same


Extinction


so we’re left with one door

Radical Reform

Where does radical
reform take us?


How do we change the near
universal subjective warrant?


Recruit differently


Change our focus from
secondary to primary


Look to our undergraduate
programmes as platforms for
change?


We need to decide
soon...


References
Borko, H., & Putnam, R. (1996). Learning to teach. In D.
Berliner & R. Calfee (Eds.), Handbook of educational
psychology (673–708). New York: Macmillan.
Brown, D. (1999) Complicity and reproduction in teaching
physical education, Sport Education and Society, 4, 143–
159.
Brown, D. & Evans (2004). Reproducing Gender?
Intergenerational Links and the Male PE Teacher as a
Cultural Conduit in Teaching Physical Education. Journal of
Teaching in Physical Education. 23, 48-70.
Curtner-Smith, M.D. (2001). The Occupational Socialization
of a First-Year Physical Education Teacher with a Teaching
Orientation. Sport Education and Society. 6 (1): 81-105
Dewar A. & Lawson, H.A. (1984) The subjective warrant and
recruitment into physical education, Quest, 36: 15–25.
Doolittle, S.A., Dodds, P. & Placek, J.H. (1993) Persistence
of beliefs about teaching during formal training of preservice
teachers, Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 12:
355–365.
Hutchinson, G.E. (1993) Prospective teachers’ perspectives
on teaching physical education: an interview study on the
recruitment phase of teacher socialization. Journal of
Teaching in Physical Education, 12: 344–354.


References
Kirk, D. (2010). Physical Education Futures. Routledge: London.
Lawson, H.A. (1983) Toward a model of teacher socialization in
physical education: the
subjective warrant, recruitment, and teacher education (part 1),
Journal of Teaching in Physical
Education, 2, pp. 3–16.
Locke, L.F. (1992) Changing secondary school physical
education, Quest, 44, pp. 361–372.
LOCKE, L.F. (1992) Changing secondary school physical education, Quest, 44, pp. 361–372.

Lortie, D.C. (1975) Schoolteacher: a sociological study. Chicago:
The Chicago University Press.
Mauss, M. (1973). Techniques of the body. Economy and
Society, 2(1): 70-88.
Pedder, D., Opfer, V. D., Mccormick, R. & Storey, A. (2010)
'Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England -
State of the Nation' research study: policy context, aims and
design, Curriculum Journal, 21, 365-394.
Tinning, R.I. (1988). Student Teaching and the Pedagogy of
Necessity. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education. 7 (2): 82
Western, J.S. & Anderson, D.S. (1968). Education and
Professional Socialization. Journal of Sociology, 4: 91-106
Zeichner, K.M. & Tabachnik, B.R. (1981) Are the effects of
university teacher education ‘washed out’ by school experience?
Journal of Teacher Education, 32, pp. 7–11.


Image Credits
Slide Image
1 & 85 School by Jibby! on Flickr
2 Personal photograph
14 ABRSM by Arngaladh on Flickr
Discussing where the treasure might be located by Jonne
17
Naarala on Flickr
18 [TEST] Canon SX40 HS by Maurizio Natali on Flickr
23 Close-up Filter by JD Hancock on Flickr
35 Apprentices ... Jan 1978 (a guess) by srv007 on Flickr
37 icicle by dgreichert on Flickr
46 journalist by ivancicas on stockchng


Image Credits
Slide Image
52 Personal Image
63 mojave desert highway by rappensuncle on iStockPhoto
65 Jays on nest from iStockPhoto
66 Woman Superhero from iStockPhoto
82 Crocodile from Flickr
83 magic wand by digital zoetrope on flickr
89-93 Elevator from iStockPhoto
94 & 103 Fossil on iStockPhoto
95 to the unknown by R-J-Seymour on iStockPhoto


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