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Purpose: Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) often play a vital role in the delivery of university programs, yet GTAs may lack pedagogical experience. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of GTAs during their first semester of university teaching. Specifically, we provide a descriptive account of the GTAs’ lived experiences and how departments can best prepare GTAs. Method: Four first-year GTAs at a university in the United States participated in the study. Data collection included participant journals, focus group interviews, and individual interviews. Results: Utilizing situated learning theory as a theoretical frame, data sources generated four themes. GTAs reported positive experiences as ample support was provided, expectations were outlined, experiential learning occurred, and confidence increased through the establishment of routines. Discussion/Conclusion: Findings indicated that GTAs can acclimate to their new universities and responsibilities with guidance, resources, and support.

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to explore the developmental stages of a community of practice (CoP) and its impact on teachers’ professional learning. Methods: Eight physical education (PE) teachers and one professor participated in this project, which specifically examined a CoP focused on PE (PE-CoP). Interviews and observations, as well as a focus group, were used to collect the data, which were analyzed through a constructivist revision of grounded theory. Results: The PE-CoP, which shared the same teaching model, progressed rapidly in its early stage by providing the teachers with collaborative activities to develop innovative pedagogies. Learning from the existing members was then added as a main type of professional learning for the teachers. The PE-CoP, however, gradually lost its collaborative approach, which led to ineffective professional learning. Conclusions: Finding an optimal balance between retaining focus on the primary goal of creating a CoP and offering fresh activities for more experienced members was determined to be a key factor in making the community healthy and sustainable.

Purpose: To (a) present a theoretical framework that describes how learners’ movement habits become relevant in the development of movement capability and (b) present data that illustrate how this process occurs in practice. Method: An investigation with preservice physical education teachers was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved examining participants’ movement habits, and the second phase involved examining the participants’ development of novel capabilities in the context of unicycling. Results: Empirical materials from two participants are presented as case studies. The cases demonstrate how different sets of movement habits interact with novel tasks, making the demand for creative action more or less likely. The cases also demonstrate how subjective and physical elements are interwoven. Finally, the cases provide insights into potentially productive habits for movement learning. Discussion/Conclusion: The paper is concluded with pedagogical implications, including a consideration of how crises might be managed in educational contexts.

Purpose: Physical education (PE) teachers’ interactions with students were explored to examine self-selection for PE teaching as a career option during school. Method: Semistructured life story interviews were conducted with 29 PE teachers at different career stages. Complementing occupational socialization, Bourdieu’s habitus, capital, field, and practice were adopted as thinking tools to inform thematic analysis. Results: Three key themes were identified: (a) acceptance into the inner sanctum based on physical competence, effort, and enthusiasm for the traditional curriculum; (b) opportunities provided to students accepted into the inner sanctum, and (c) outside the inner sanctum: mismatched habitus and self-selection for PE teaching. Conclusion: Students exchanged competence, effort, and enthusiasm in the traditional curriculum for acceptance and opportunities to encourage self-selection for teaching PE. Without acceptance, individuals experienced challenges gaining career support. Dominated by a homogenous group resistant to change, PE needs independent careers information to promote change through heterogeneity.

Purpose: To investigate school principals’ perceptions and applications of professional learning communities (PLCs) and how they interpret the roles of physical educators within these structures. Method: This study was conceptualized as an exploratory interview study. Eight elementary and two secondary school principals across four districts participated in semistructured interviews. Each principal had been trained and was currently utilizing the same PLC framework within their respective schools. Result: Data analysis revealed three overarching themes with supportive subthemes: (a) PLCs are Centered on and Structured for Student Learning, (b) The Roles of Physical Educators Differ in Perception and Function, and (c) Successful PLCs are Facilitated by Team Trust and Disrupted by Drift. Discussion: The findings carry implications for principals, physical educators, and physical education teacher education programs. Principals and physical educators have mutually reinforcing responsibilities in creating an equitable space for physical education in the school PLC community.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine children’s, camp counselors’, and activity leaders’ perceptions toward the effects of a 4-week teaching personal and social responsibility model-based summer learning and enrichment program and its ability to reduce bullying behaviors among school-age children. Method: Data collection included semistructured interviews with 30 children and eight camp staff. Child participants completed the following pre- and postsurveys: Personal and Social Responsibility Questionnaire and the Illinois Bullying Scale. In addition, daily observations over a 4-week period were recorded in a field notes log. Survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and bivariate correlations, and all observational and interview data were coded using inductive and deductive techniques. Results: The results indicated that the implementation of teaching personal and social responsibility model was perceived to be associated with reduction in the bullying. Conclusion: Findings from the present study suggested teaching personal and social responsibility facilitated social and emotional learning and improved children’s personal and social responsibility.

Purpose: This study’s purpose was to explore professional career paths into physical education teacher education. Methods: Participants included 27 physical education teacher educators with an average of 20.2 years of experience selected from among attendees at international conferences, using a combination of convenience and purposive sampling. Data sources included semistructured interviews, living graphs, and participant vitae. Results: Findings describe intrinsic and extrinsic motivating factors to pursue a professional role change and the selection of a doctoral program including: (a) prompted by others, (b) self-initiated, and (c) forced choice. After deciding to pursue a doctoral degree, program choice was predicated by disciplinary and institutional, as well as idiosyncratic and personal considerations. Conclusions: Understanding how and why participants repositioned themselves from their current roles into doctoral education has important implications for further research and practice to enhance the quality of doctoral education.