ARMOUR, K. M. (2010). THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION PROFESSION AND ITS PROFESSIONAL

RESPONSIBILITY … OR …WHY ‘12 WEEKS PAID HOLIDAY’ WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH. PHYSICAL

EDUCATION AND SPORT PEDAGOGY, 15 (1), 1-13.

Kathleen Wack and David Robertson

Learning Activator

“Beach” Volleyball

Purpose of the study• Critically reviews the concept of professional

responsibility in physical education

• Argues that “urgent changes are required to the ways in which teachers learn, teacher educators support professional learning, and researchers undertake, disseminate and are held accountable for their research.”

Background

• Question to teachers on vacation: “How are things going?” Teacher response: “Not great, but what other job can you think of that offers 12 weeks paid holiday a year?”

• What is it about the job of teaching that makes the length of the holidays away from it one of the key reasons for enduring it?

• Armour’s body of research is in professional development

Significance

• “The extended profession needs to find ways to work together more effectively to support teachers who exist to serve the clients of this profession: children and young people.

• It is suggested that one way to start this process is to refocus teachers on themselves as career-long learners, and then to consider the implications for the work of the wider PE profession; including researchers” (pg. 1).

Methods/Analysis• Makes 9 salient points in her discussion

• Game: Thumb ball

1

7

2

869

354

1. Teachers need to view themselves

primarily as learners

2. Career-long learning should

matter to the entire physical education

profession

3. Much of the current professional

development structure/process is

incompetent

4. Expectations on the profession are

increasing, especially in health and positive youth development

5. Being held accountable for our work in health and

positive youth development may lead us to change what we claim,

or do, or both

6. ITT and CPD should focus on supporting teachers to devlop

progressively as learners throughout

their careers

7. The PE profession may need to offer

teachers more specialist pathways

8. If teachers learn progressively, then we need more and better

quality research to feed and support

them

9. PE researchers need to collaborate

with others to develop the scale and

quality of research

Findings/Main arguments• The need to better understand and continually

investigate the topics mentioned as a means to provide an educational physical education experience for students

Conclusions/implications for practice and/or future research

• Teachers as Learners• Career Long Professional Development• Offer specialist pathways—sport—activity • Health-related physical education• Youth sport development

What did we learn?

• The need for career long professional development—physical education instructors K through college (Carl the referee from the movie “Rebound”)