How Does a Selection of PE Teachers Reflect Upon Own Professional Development In Individually Written Pedagogic Creeds?

Abstract

This article is based on the concept of Pedagogic Creed linked to High School teachers in Physical Education (PE) and Sports. The article will investigate how teachers in PE and Sports formulate their pedagogic creeds in writing. Research suggests that teachers in PE and Sports tend to have a cementing practice and are less concerned about professional ethical and pedagogical implications that the subjects raise. It is also often showed to a gap between the ideological guidelines in the subject, and how the subject is practiced with a penchant for more instrumental and performance-oriented practice. The article builds upon an empiric study, narratives written by 15 High School teachers in PE and Sports in the Vestland county in Norway. A major finding in this study is that half of the group of teachers claimed that their pedagogic creed in the subject had not changed, despite at least 20 years of professional experience. It turned out that teachers with a more developed and reflected pedagogic creed, emphasized mastery and effort on part of the students, and teachers with less developed and reflected pedagogic creeds had a more definite focus on the students’ performance in sports. When these teachers did reflect on academic challenges, they pointed more to pragmatic superficial conditions, and less to their own professional competence. In just a few cases, teachers could show to academic challenges which had led to consciousness and change in their academic identity and practice.