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A career in teaching: decisions of the heart rather than the headMary O'Sullivan a; Ann MacPhail a; Deborah Tannehill a

a University of Limerick, Limerick, Republic of Ireland

Online Publication Date: 01 June 2009

To cite this Article O'Sullivan, Mary, MacPhail, Ann and Tannehill, Deborah(2009)'A career in teaching: decisions of the heart ratherthan the head',Irish Educational Studies,28:2,177 — 191

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A career in teaching: decisions of the heart rather than the head

Mary O’Sullivan*, Ann MacPhail, and Deborah Tannehill

University of Limerick, Limerick, Republic of Ireland

There is a growing body of research and scholarship highlighting the importanceof teachers and teaching to children’s learning and life opportunities (Bransford,Darling-Hammond and LePage 2005). More specifically what teachers do inclassrooms is a function of many things (e.g., content knowledge, pedagogicalknowledge) including their belief about students, the subject, and the teachingprocess (Calderhead 1996). The focus of this research was to understand whyyoung people in Ireland are attracted to teaching physical education and whatfactors contribute to their decision to enter a teacher education programme. Acohort of 75 physical education teacher candidates wrote brief narrativessummarising key factors that influenced their decision to be teachers of physicaleducation. Most of these students chose teaching as a career because of theirinterests in sport and physical education, love of working with children, and the anumber of significant others telling them they would be good at teaching. Theirleadership roles on teams (captaincy) and their personal athletic success alsopromoted a keen sense of wanting to help others be as successful as they hadbeen. While a number of the teacher candidates wrote about negative experiencesin physical education or receiving negative comments about a teaching careerfrom teachers, they wanted to be physical education teachers as they believed theycould provide positive experiences for pupils when they became teachers. Anumber of implications for teacher education programme design and delivery arediscussed.

Keywords: teacher selection; teacher candidate beliefs; teacher education; physicaleducation

Introduction

There is a growing body of research and scholarship highlighting the importance of

teachers and teaching to children’s learning and life opportunities (Bransford,

Darling-Hammond and P. Page 2005). A case is made that teachers have a stronger

influence on what students learn than factors such as class size and composition

(Sanders and Rivers 1996). This suggests the quality of the teaching profession

matters a great deal and points to the importance of a profession that needs to be

competitive with other occupations in attracting talented and motivated people

(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) 2005). Teach-

ing as a career in Ireland has traditionally enjoyed high status with keen competi-

tiveness for entry to all categories of teaching (Coolahan 2003; Heinz 2008; Killeavy

1998). Selection of prospective teachers is based predominantly on high academic

performance, and demand for places on teacher education programmes continues to

*Corresponding author. Email: mary.osullivan@ul.ie

ISSN 0332-3315 print/ISSN 1747-4965 online

# 2009 Educational Studies Association of Ireland

DOI: 10.1080/03323310902884227

http://www.informaworld.com

Irish Educational Studies

Vol. 28, No. 2, June 2009, 177�191

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rise in contrast to many other degree programmes and to teacher education

programmes internationally (Flynn 2007; Heinz 2008). This is especially remarkable

given the acute teacher shortages in many parts of world (Heinz 2008; OECD 2005).The high academic calibre of applicants to physical education teaching has been

a consistent trend since the early 1970s. The 2006 cohort to one physical education

teaching degree course, which is the focus of this study, had the third highest point

total (485 points out of 600) in their Leaving Certificate (LC)1 examination of all

degree cohorts entering the university. Although there continues to be a concern with

the feminisation of the teaching profession in Ireland (Drudy 2005, 2006; Heinz

2008), recruitment to physical education is more evenly distributed among men and

women. Despite little certainty of a full-time permanent teaching position for

teachers, including physical education teachers, on completion of their degrees (see

Table 1) it has not dampened enthusiasm for teaching or physical education teaching

as a career pathway (Heinz 2008). It could be argued that the number of quality

applicants denied entry to physical education teaching programmes over the years

has been a catalyst for the recent establishment of physical education teacher

education (PETE) programmes in two National University of Ireland departments.

Research on teacher beliefs in physical education teacher education

The study of teacher beliefs is critical to understanding the value added nature of

teacher education. At its most fundamental level, what teachers do in classrooms is a

function of many things (e.g., content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge)

including their belief about students, the subject, and the teaching process (Calderhead

1996). These beliefs are shaped not just during teacher preparation but can be strongly

influenced by the teacher candidates’ ‘apprenticeship of observation’ and prior

histories in school and as young children and adolescents (Lortie 1975; Sugrue

1996). Shulman (1998 in Darling-Hammond and Bransford 2005) talked about the six

commonplaces of all professions including:

. A service to society

. A body of shared knowledge

. Engagement in practical action

. The importance of experience

. The development of a professional community

Teaching is done in service to others and because of its social importance, it is

critical we prepare new teachers to move beyond their own personal views and

Table 1. First destination of Irish graduates

First destination % 1996 % 1997 % 1998 % 1999 % 2000

Permanent teaching in Ireland 3.8% 3.0% 6.1% 5.1% 4.7%

Part-time, temporary, or sub-teaching 56.9% 56.2 51.4 61.2 74.3

Teaching abroad 8.9 8.9 6.4 7.0 5.0

Other work 12 19.5 21.2 11.1 7.6

Seeking employment 5.1 3.7 6.1 3.4 1.0

Source: First destination of graduates, Higher Education Authority (HEA), 2000

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experiences to bring a wider body of knowledge and experiences to bear on how best

to help students learn. Understanding the factors that lead young people to choose

teaching as a career pathway provides us with one set of data to help teacher

educators prepare student teachers as members of professional learning communities

who work together to advance their knowledge and critique of schooling and

curriculum. There is growing evidence to suggest teacher attitudes impact teaching

performance which in turn has a significant impact on student learning (OECD

2006). Specifically, scholars have noted that teacher candidate beliefs’ serve as filters

for teacher learning and are major determinants of teachers’ practice (Borko and

Putnam 1996). Richardson (1996) noted teacher education is about helping teacher

candidates develop a set of beliefs about teaching and learning. These beliefs are

considered to play an important part in understanding and interpretations they make

in everyday work as a teacher (Calderhead 1996; Pajares 1992). Thus, teacher

educators need to design experiences and tasks that bring these beliefs to the fore and

provide opportunities for teacher candidates to challenge and reflect on these beliefs

and the implications for their roles as teachers. Indeed, understanding teacher

candidate beliefs must be viewed as part of any teacher education programme’s needs

assessment.

As with general education research, much of the PETE research suggests PETE

programmes may not be strong enough interventions in transforming pre-service

teachers’ dispositions (Doolittle, Dodds and Placek 1993; Matanin and Collier

2003). The early research, drawing on socialization theory, suggested that rather than

refine their understanding of teaching and learning, field experiences have tended to

make student teachers more conservative and authoritarian (Templin 1998) and

revert to teaching within a ‘curricular zone of safety’ (Capel and Katene 2000;

Rovegno 1994). Student teachers were judged to be unwilling or unable to

experiment with content or methodologies not previously established in the school

setting or not immediately accepted by their pupils. Tsangaridou’s (2006, 498)

summary of teacher beliefs research noted that:

More often teachers’ initial beliefs shape the professional knowledge acquired throughteacher education programs, instead of initial beliefs being shaped by professionalknowledge [ . . . thus] a greater emphasis should be given during teacher educationprogrammes to the influential role that beliefs play in educational contexts.

More recent research, drawing on constructivist theory of learning and identity

theory (Tinning 2006a), provides insights into the reciprocal nature of the influences

between pre-service teachers’ beliefs and the cultural contexts of their preparation

(on and off campus) as they learn to teach. Tinning (2006b, 288) noted the power of

the secondary school physical education experience as ‘a site for learning and

developing an emerging identity as a teacher’. O’Connor and Macdonald (2002, 41)

drew on Giddens’ social learning theory to talk about the teacher’s self identity as

‘a frame of reference for how individuals position and understand themselves

following a sociological rather than a psychological tradition’. Identity theory is a

useful tool to allow us to understand the developing identities of novice teachers and

the various personal and contextual factors that help shape their developing teacher

identities. We can use our knowledge of their beliefs and values to inform

interactions about teaching, learning, and their understanding of schooling and

the role of the teacher.

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As in general education, sport pedagogy scholars have drawn on Pierre

Bourdieu’s concepts of field, habitus, and capital to study how gender relations of

PETE candidates contribute to their professional behaviour (Brown 2005; Brown

and Evans 2004). They argue teachers selected to PETE programmes reflect a

gendered notion of specific competencies and then refine and reinforce their

gendered habitus (i.e., values and ways of behaving) of what it means to be a

physical education (hereafter PE) teacher. Even after 15 years, Doolittle et al.’s

(1993) warning is still worth contemplating. They argued that to ignore the beliefs ofstudents entering physical education teacher education programmes is to ensure the

programme will have limited success in the teacher candidates adopting the values

and commitments of the teacher education programme unless these values are

already aligned with their existing beliefs from past experiences.

Purpose of the study

The data in this paper are part of a larger project aimed at understanding how

teacher candidates’ beliefs and practices evolve during a PETE programme, how

their emerging beliefs and practices inform the programme, and what the value

added nature of the PETE programme has been for teacher candidates learning to

teach. The focus of this aspect of the research was to understand why young people

in Ireland are attracted to teaching physical education and what factors contributed

to their decision to enter a teacher education programme. Understanding of youngpeople’s decision-making processes around a decision to teach should help to inform

how teacher educators assist aspiring teachers in defining teaching tasks, organising

knowledge relevant to student learning, and shaping their perceptions about

teaching and learning (Calderhead 1996).

Research design

This is a qualitative study and is grounded in the biographical perspectives of the

young adults who made a decision to be teachers. The narrative research focus is

based on the assumption that stories can be used as forms of professional

development for teacher candidates and allows teacher educators to learn about

recruits’ reasons for entering teaching and the understanding these teacher

candidates bring to their teacher education programme (Armour 2006; Goodson

and Hargreaves 1996; Sugrue 1996). The study received ethical approval from theUniversity of Limerick’s Research Ethics Committee. It was made clear that teacher

candidates would be sourced through first-year modules and that they would be

volunteers. The discussion by students as to their reasons for choosing a teaching

career path was part of a tutorial in a first-year module but submission of the written

document for research purposes was completely voluntary and unrelated to their

grade for this module. This was further clarified on the front page of the

demographic survey teacher candidates were asked to complete. The duration of

participation for each participant was detailed as was the fact that all student data

would be coded anonymously.

There is a growing interest in enhancing the relationship between research and

teaching (and learning) within higher education institutions (Brew 2003). This study

used a scholarship of teaching and learning approach (Boyer 1990), recognizing that

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knowledge arises through research, synthesis, practice and teaching. The study is

more closely aligned with Boyer’s ‘scholarship of teaching’. By conducting research

about the aspiring teachers on the programme and why they were attracted to a

teaching career, it was anticipated such knowledge could inform the practice,

teaching and subsequent learning experiences of teacher candidates.

Data collection

As part of a first-year module, 73 PETE teacher candidates, in the first week of

semester one, were asked to develop a decision timeline that displayed their decision

to become physical education teachers. Demographic data were gathered in a

separate survey and related to their gender, Leaving Certificate examination points,

and occupation of their parents. Students displayed their educational timelines in

class and interacted with small peer groups sharing the influences that brought them

to the first week of the PETE programme. The students wrote a brief narrative

summarising the key factors from this timeline that influenced them or dissuaded

them in choosing this career pathway and to identify the important people and

critical incidents that influenced their decision. These typed narratives (which form

the data set for this paper) were not an assessed piece of work and were between

one and three pages in length. A limitation of the research design was the quality of

the narrative provided. This was one of the first writing tasks for students at

undergraduate level. Even though it was a voluntary, non-graded assignment, andsubmitted anonymously, it is not possible to know to what degree the narrative was

influenced by the class group discussions about their educational timelines and how

willing they were to be honest with their views. The educational timeline was the

foundation of the narrative and a central part of class discussions on their views of

teaching, schooling, and the role of the teacher in student learning. Each narrative

was read by one of the researchers and two thirds of them were read by at least two of

the researchers. Each statement was coded (e.g., primary school physical education

experience, sport coach, captaining a team, representative honours, coaching young

people, father’s sport involvement) and a series of themes created (Charmaz 2006)

from these codes describing factors impacting positively and negatively on the

teacher candidates decisions to teach. The themes are presented in the following

section. Excerpts are taken directly from narratives so dialectical features of interview

are presented as written. The bolded text emphasises key theme(s).

Findings

The demographic data revealed a very evenly distributed cohort of female (n�36) and

male (n�37) teacher candidates. Their mean Leaving Certificate (LC) examination

score for this cohort was 460 points (out of a possible maximum total of 600). This

included some mature students whose points were 15�20 points lower than the main

entry route via the LC examination. Teaching was the occupation of choice for 10

mothers and six fathers among these students with one student noting his parent was a

physical education teacher. From our data analysis, three themes captured the key

influences in their decisions to be physical education teachers: interests in sport and

physical education, love of working with children, and significant others. The positive

aspects of these themes are presented next.

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Positive influences in decision to teach: a case of the heart

Interests in sport

Many of the teacher candidates have high levels of interest in sport and physical

activity and love to be around anything to do with sport. They see physical education

teaching as a way of staying involved in something they love and want to share with

others as noted below:

I wanting to be a PE teacher originated from my love of sport and along the way otherpeople have influenced me into becoming a PE teacher. (Interview 54, my italics)

Ever since I joined my local GAA club I have had a massive interest in sport and I wouldhave always liked a future involving sport. PE teaching is in my opinion a healthy activelifestyle [ . . .] I will be constantly on the move and out in the fresh air [ . . .] and this willportray a positive image to all the students. (Interview 22, my italics)

Their positive feelings towards sport are understandable, as most of these young

people had high levels of success in sport and on school teams and captaining these

teams. In addition, several had represented their county and province in their sport

with a few already at junior national level status:

I have been fortunate to represent my county at all underage levels. (Interview 34, myitalics)

I have always played sport [ . . .] I then progressed to playing semi professionally for[soccer team] [ . . .] and competed in athletics winning All Ireland Bronze medal in theU17 cross country. (Interview 33, my italics)

Love of working with children

For many teacher candidates, a key influence on their decision to teach was the positive

feelings (i.e., a case of the heart) from teaching/coaching other people. Many had

opportunities to work with children and found they enjoyed passing on their knowledge,

sharing their passion of sport, and being a role model toyoung people. Many hadworked

with young people in summer camps, coached junior athletes at their local club where

they were a high level performer, or provided lessons to adults (e.g. life guard instructors

and dance teachers) sharing their knowledge and expertise. These excerpts note how their

enjoyment of these experiences developed their interests in a teaching career:

Another major element that has caused me to do PE is that I adore working with kids.The past two summers I have taught GAA summer camps and I found the work to beextremely enjoyable and beneficial. (Interview 19, my italics)

The desire to pass on my knowledge to other kids [ . . .] as I saw how positive the effects ofteaching and developing a person’s skills could be. (Interview 50, my italics)

A career in teaching physical education was greatly influenced by the positive

coaching opportunities from their own adolescent years as noted in the following

excerpts from their narratives:

Having reached the age of 16, I then began to coach children both in soccer and inGaelic and football. The joy of seeing these young people improve week after week undermy guidance gave me a real sense of fulfilment and I knew I wanted to make a career outof helping and guiding children. (Interview 10, my italics)

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I began coaching younger years in basketball and volleyball and discovered howrewarding it could be. I loved seeing people improve with practice and adopt the tips andadvice I gave them. (Interview 5, my italics)

They gained a sense of achievement in the accomplishments of their learners and

these experiences convinced them they would enjoy teaching as a career. Teacher

candidates noted that:

The instructor asked me to assist in instruction the classes [ . . .] I took on the challenge[ . . .] I began to enjoy teaching water safety class as my confidence grew [ . . .]I will never forget the nervous moment when the examiner told me that my class hadpassed their first exam. The sense of achievement and fulfilment I felt was echoed in thedelight I saw on the faces within my class [ . . .] this critical experience was one of thestrongest pushes toward becoming a PE teacher. (Interview 28, my italics)

One of the main reasons why I choose PE was the fact that I would love to be the one toteach young children new games and ways to be active and have fun in the process. I’vealways enjoyed teaching children and I hope I can do as good a job as my previousteacher did with me. (Interview 8, my italics)

The teacher candidates believed they had the aspirations and qualities to be a teacher

based in part on these interactions in summer camps and in coaching situations and

on what people said to them about how well they did in these situation. The

following accounts exemplify this point:

I feel I can communicate well with younger children and I feel this could be a goodattitude to have. (Interview 18, my italics)

I get great satisfaction out of helping someone to develop and further their skills.(Interview 36, my italics)

Many teacher candidates noted the positive physical education experiences they had

at school (particularly primary school). Physical education was a favourite subject

for many as described in the following narrative:

Physical education in school was always a positive experience [ . . .] we had P.E. once aweek in the local community centre and we did various activities from basketball andsoccer to volleyball and Badminton. This gave me a great basis for P.E. in secondaryschool. Here we developed our skills and we did activities like aquatics and gymnastics.(Interview 37, my italics)

The influence of significant others

Adults were quite influential in these young adults considering teaching as a career.

These included family members (fathers in particular), coaches, teachers including

physical education teachers, and current and former students of the PETE

programme. These people influenced them in one of three ways: by developing

their interest in physical activity and/or teaching, by developing their sense of

identity as a potential teacher, or inspiring them as role models that teaching was

something they would enjoy and could do well if they chose this career pathway:

My family has enormous influence on my decision in becoming a PE teacher. As long asI can remember, I have always been going to Gaelic football matches with my parents eitherto participate in or to observe. My father and brother are heavily involved in football and on

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Sunday morning when my father went off coaching the local boy’s team, I would get up andgo to the pitch with him and do the drills by myself in the corner. (Interview 17, my italics)

My first introduction to sport was mainly through my father who, from a very early age,I would see taking off from the house on Friday evening with a hurl in one handand a gear bag in the other. Sometimes at weekends, my mother would bring meto see his matches and I remember loving the thrilling atmosphere in the GAAgrounds before and during the match, sometimes after the match too if they won!!!(Interview 23, my italics)

Almost all spoke of at least one coach who inspired them and developed their

confidence as persons and athletes. These coaches were role models and influenced

how they envisioned physical education teaching as a career pathway. Many of these

coaches were also physical education teachers:

There were a few coaches who had a positive impact on my decision [ . . .] They alwaysencouraged me no matter how badly I was playing. I played some of my best hurling inthe [county] jersey under [coach] and this is the way I want my PE classes to be run.(Interview 32, my italics)

Sixteen of the teacher candidates’ parents (n�16) were teachers and observing their

parents’ lives as teachers had been a positive influencing factor. Other teachers also

influenced their interest in teaching as noted by these comments:

Another teacher who had a positive influence on me was Mr X [ . . .] It wasn’t so much thesports he got me interested in but more so the actual teaching. He was strict but fair andgot on very well with students. He made classes very interesting and enjoyable,something which I hope to emulate. (Interview 17, my italics)

I can distinctly remember having an inspirational teacher in 4th class [ . . .] He wascertainly a role model in my eyes and a teacher to aspire to and had a major impact onmy decision to teach P.E. (Interview 31, my italics)

Many of the physical education teachers who taught these candidates were their

coaches and former graduates from the PETE programme and were influential in

their decisions to be PE teachers:

I had an excellent PE teacher. He always tried his best to cover as many aspects of PE aspossible such as games, gymnastics, gym work, and outdoor activities [ . . .] I admiredhim as a teacher and so I feel he most definitely had a positive influence on my decisionto do the PE teaching course here at [university]. (Interview 21, my italics)

My PE teacher in secondary school was most helpful when I approached her about myinterest in taking this course in University. She explained to me how it is such a broadcourse providing many opportunities for its graduates. My guidance counsellor [ . . .] alsorecommended the course to me, as she understood my passion for sport. Shealso thought I would make a good teacher as I am friendly and approachable.(Interview 15, my italics)

Factors of uncertainty: a decision of the head

From an analysis of the data, two themes best present how these young people were

discouraged from teaching as a career option: teaching as a low status career and

personal capacity to manage.

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Teaching as a low status career

A diversity of people actively tried to dissuade some of these teacher candidates from

teaching as a career noting:

The prospect of becoming a teacher really appealed to me but the majority of the peopleI spoke to tried to dissuade me [ . . .] A lot of my teachers were of the opinion that I’d bewasting my points and almost ‘‘settling’’ for teaching. Some of them left me with theimpression that they thought I was showing a lack of ambition in wanting to be ateacher and almost made me feel guilty. I initiated meetings with an external careerguidance teacher who again advised me against a career in teaching saying that I wasthinking with my heart rather than my head. (Interview 6, my italics)

Following a similar theme another noted:

Two teachers separately came to me and told me not to do PE teaching. These wereteachers I had a lot of respect for, so their comments came as quite a shock to me. Theybasically said the same thing, that I would be bored after a few years of teaching it.(Interview 35)

While most friends were supportive, some resisted their peer’s choice of degree:

My friends were less than co-operative to see me pursue my interests to third level in[university]. They all seemed happy to head to [another university] together and couldnot see why I would wander outside the fray and head off to college without them . . .I think they should have been more supportive. (Interview 16, my italics)

Several teacher candidates came to teaching from different careers and worried about

the financial repercussions of such a choice:

I already had a good qualification and I had a permanent job. I was worried about thefinancial aspect of things, but I know at the end of four years I will be in a job thatI always wanted. (Interview 48, my italics)

Personal capacity to manage

A series of injuries from sport made several candidates reconsider teaching physical

education as a career pathway noting:

I got a succession of sport injuries and wondered would I be able to fully participate in sportin the future. Also my teachers were somewhat of a negative influence. (Interview 5, myitalics)

While much of their writing reflected their passion for sport, the joy of working with

children, and a sense of identity that they could do the job and enjoy it as a career, a

small number commented on challenges of teaching and working with young people

in a school setting:

My dance teachers were prone to shouting and chastising people, which was by nomeans fun. As I got older and was leaning towards choosing physical education as acareer, I began to question would I too turn out like my dance teachers in times of stressand pressure. They showed me the difficulties of teaching in general, and specifically ofteaching physical activity. (Interview 53, my italics)

The fact that I possesses a certain amount of natural ability probably protected me fromthe possible pitfalls which can occur for a child when initiating a sporting career e.g.

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exclusion, bullying due to a lack of ability etc [ . . .] [I] want to protect children fromnegative exposure. (Interview 40, my italics)

In summary, the findings suggest that the teacher candidates found many of the

opportunities to coach/teach/work with children (and for some working with older

adults in a fitness or sport setting) enjoyable. They felt a sense of accomplishment in

helping young people learn and develop as young people under their guidance. The

respondents noted several critical incidents as children and young adults that were

catalysts in thinking about physical education as a career. Their leadership roles on

teams (captaincy) and their personal athletic success also promoted a keen sense of

wanting to help others be as successful as they had been. Their positive experiences

in physical education generated a sense that they wanted to provide this experience

for others. While a number of the teacher candidates wrote about their own negative

experiences in physical education (more so at the secondary school level) or getting

negative comments about a teaching career from teachers; they still wanted to be

physical education teachers as they believed they could provide more positive

experiences for their pupils when they became teachers than had been provided

for them.

Discussion

The academic calibre of these teacher candidates at an Irish university stands in stark

contrast to the large numbers of students who enter PETE programmes in the UK

and USA. A physical education teaching career in Ireland is not, as Dewar (1989)

noted of North American recruits one of the few careers available or one of the few

university degree programmes to which they could gain access. While the status of

physical education may be low in Irish post-primary schools (MacPhail, O’Sullivan

and Halbert 2008), PETE programmes recruit some of the highest academically

qualified students to the university. Their desires to be teachers were varied and

personal. Family members were influential to some in considering this career

pathway. Fathers were more influential than mothers in this decision but no more so

for males than for females. For others, it was their own positive experiences in sport

and the encouragement of coaches. Others saw physical education teaching as a

career which kept them involved with something they loved and something at which

they were very successful (i.e., competitive sport). It was not possible to complete a

gendered analysis of the teacher candidates’ decisions given the anonymity of the

narratives received (Brown 2005; Brown and Evans 2004).

Despite the very different entry criteria for a PETE programme in Ireland (i.e.,

high academic standards required) with respect to international PETE programmes,

many of the attractors to teaching physical education (love of subject and love of

children) are similar to those found in the international literature (Dewar 1989;

Doolittle, Dodds and Placek 2003; Hutchinson 1993; Matanin and Collier 2003). It

is less than clear whether their academic credentials bring a different, perhaps even a

critical, dimension to how they interact with and what they gain from their teacher

education programme. In what ways will they resist, as other researchers have noted,

some of the key messages of the programme if these messages do not align with their

values and expectations for teaching physical education that they bring to the PETE

programme?

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A clear commitment of these teacher candidates to their teacher education

programme is evident in their passion about physical activity and their desire to learn

more about that content. It would seem prudent of teacher education faculty to use

that energy and interest to connect directly and immediately with these teacher

candidates and acknowledge these interests formally in early modules. It would seem

that engaging students in learning about and studying physical activity, such as a new

sport or the theoretical dimensions of improving in a sport they know well could be acatalyst for attending to what Loughran (2006) describes as the two competing

agendas of learning to teach: learning about the subject content and learning about

how best to teach that to others. Active learning of an aspect of the school physical

education syllabus could be an immediate focus in year one to engage teacher

candidates in discussions about their own learning and about the pedagogy of

teaching physical education to young people (Loughran 2006). We have adopted

such an approach in the first semester of their programme, taking an aspect of the

junior certificate curriculum few have experienced, where they learn the content (i.e.

adventure activities) while at the same time learning about the challenges of teaching

this content to young people. Towards the end of this semester they teach a number

of adventure activity lessons to children in local primary schools. The feedback from

the teacher candidates has been extremely positive on this approach to their

development as teachers.

The teacher candidates wrote overwhelmingly positive narratives recalling their

feelings of accomplishment and enjoyment in working with young people. Yet theirnarratives never acknowledged that most of the young people had volunteered to

attend these coaching sessions and represented only a portion of the student

population with whom they would work as physical education teachers in schools.

Very few discussed what it might be like to share their passion for sport and physical

activity with students who did not necessarily share these interests. The distinction

between teaching in school and in a community or club environment was lost on all

but a very few (mainly mature) teacher candidates. While coaching young people had

influenced their decision to teach, teaching physical education is quite different to

working with young people in a coaching/community environment. We speculate

however that rather than focus on the differences between school and community

settings in terms of the purposes of physical education, the teacher education

programme might be better served in establishing links between both and how one

can support the other. At the university, a relatively new module in their teacher

preparation programme focuses on youth sport development and sport policy and

teacher candidates complete a placement in local youth sports clubs. During this

module they discuss the relationships between physical education, school sport and

community physical activity programmes and how they can support young peoples’engagement in active lifestyles. The module discusses similarities and differences of

these teaching and coaching pedagogy contexts. Further research is required to

identify if such an approach can extend their understanding of the role of the

physical education teacher in promoting health and active lifestyles.

There were differences between what attracted these teacher candidates to

teaching and some of the earlier findings in the literature (Doolittle, Dodds and

Placek 1993; O’Connor and Macdonald 2002). Two areas are particularly striking.

The first is the absence in the narratives of what has been termed the coaching

contingency: where students see a physical education qualification as a pathway to

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coaching and a potential coaching career. Teaching was not viewed as a back door

to coaching. This makes sense as currently in the Irish context it would have been

unrealistic to consider coaching as a career option until quite recently. The

employment of a number of coaching development officers by several governing

bodies of sport in recent years will change this scenario. Whether a teaching

qualification will be viewed as a positive attribute for these applicants is unclear as

the initial appointees have tended to be persons who were elite performers in theparticular sport.

Many of the teacher candidate narratives wrote of the ‘sport’ and ‘games teachers’

and not the physical education teacher in their lives. The teacher candidates’

identities as teachers and coaches (O’Connor and Macdonald 2002), and how they

view distinctions between these roles, are important sources of information for the

teacher educators with whom they will work. While most teacher candidates had

positive personal experiences of physical education at primary and secondary level, a

driving factor was the belief (perhaps overly optimistic) that they could provide

better experiences for students than their own teachers had provided for them

(Hutchinson 1993). It seems critical teacher candidates be provided with opportu-

nities in their teacher education programme to explicate their understanding of

physical education as a school subject, critique their own definitions of and the

purposes for the subject and how these views might impact on their teaching of

young people in schools. This in turn will help teacher educators understand how

these perspectives might shape what they can learn in the teacher educationprogramme (Richardson 1996; Tsangaridou 2006). A further difference in these

findings from earlier literature was the greater focus on the role of teaching and not

just teaching of physical education. This may best be explained as a consequence of

the type of teacher education programme offered to these recruits. These teacher

candidates had to elect an additional subject (mathematics, geography, Irish,

English, chemistry) as part of their teaching qualifications. They were therefore

forced to think about a teaching career and not just a career in teaching physical

education. This may explain the many references in these narratives to what could be

termed the transmission role of the teacher given the high stakes testing examination

process that these teacher candidates have successfully navigated.

It is interesting to view the teacher candidates’ narratives in light of the six

commonplaces of all professions (e.g. service, shared knowledge, practical action,

community of learners) (Shulman 1998 in Darling-Hammond and Bransford 2005).

The teacher candidates wrote about their service to society in terms of wanting to

give back to young people and pass on their knowledge of sport and games. Their

view of a shared body of knowledge was quite narrowly defined as skills andstrategies of sport and a much more limited view of movement activities prescribed in

the post-primary curriculum. Only one teacher candidate spoke about the theoretical

side of physical education. This is understandable as there has been no opportunity

in Irish school programmes to study the sociology or psychology of sport or the

physiology of exercise. It was not surprising that the teacher candidates were eager to

engage in practical action (i.e., work with children in teaching them about sport).

While a few spoke of the challenges of working with different students and their

needs, most of them never commented on the challenges of teaching or the need to

develop professional insights in applying knowledge to the particular contexts in

which they might work and the needs of the specific students in physical education

188 M. O’Sullivan et al.

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lessons. There was some evidence that teacher candidates appreciated learning by

doing and the importance of gaining such experience with children and with learning

more sports and games. However there was no recognition that learning to teach was

in part about developing communities of learners who worked together to design

innovative, enjoyable and meaningful lessons for the students during their field

experience opportunities. Learning to teach was very much seen as an individual

endeavour with little if any recognition of how their own personal and professionalidentities might impact on what and how they might wish to engage in teaching and

learning with their students (Brown 1999).

Implications

We suggest four implications of our analysis for teacher education programme design

and delivery. First, it is important to provide opportunities for teacher candidates to

share their experiences and beliefs about sport, teaching, and young people and to

acknowledge in these discussions their passion for movement activities in early

course modules. The timelines and the subsequent narratives gave us much insight

into their views and beliefs about teaching and sport. We drew on these views again

and again during that first semester, teaching some aspects of the physical educationcurriculum with primary school children. Second, using that base of knowledge as a

foundation, it is important to broaden their understanding of the subject matter:

what is the purpose of teaching, of teaching physical education and what does it have

in common with as well as distinguish itself from sport, recreation, and physical

activity. The narratives were a rich source of information for such discussions, as

teacher candidates were challenged by their readings and directed to connect the

readings to their own experiences but also to what they were observing in their

teaching placement. Third, how do we engage teacher candidates in learning new

sports/physical activities, something we know they care about, and use it as a

platform from which to engage them in learning about the teaching of physical

education to young people (Loughran 2006). The choice of adventure education as

one of the first content areas in their teacher education programme was quite

deliberate as it sought to build on Loughran’s ideas of learning something new for

the first time (few of the candidates knew much about this component of the

curriculum) and what implications this might have for how they would think of

planning how to teach this content to a group of children who may not be as

motivated or as physically able as they were. Finally, we know these teachercandidates enjoy working with young people (albeit a select group of young people).

The teacher education programme should build on this motivation and provide

opportunities for them to give teaching and coaching sessions (service teaching) in

areas of their expertise and use it as a basis for discussions on the educational agenda

for sport and physical education as well as their developing understanding of youth

and their development. The central message of this study is the influential role of the

teacher candidates’ beliefs in teacher preparation programmes and why they should

be addressed in the design of early experiences of a teacher education programme.

We among others have written elsewhere (Borko and Putnam 1996; Darling-

Hammond and Bransford 2005; Loughran 2006; O’Sullivan 2005, 2007; Tannehill,

O’Sullivan and Ni Chroinin 2006) of the pedagogies of teacher education that have

shown promise in shaping the commitments and values of potential graduates.

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Note

1. Students who complete the final examination in their formal schooling (Leaving Certificate)are awarded a point allocation (generally out of a possible maximum of 600 points) on thebasis of their grades, with entry to university programmes set at a minimum grade pointaverage.

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