Exploring collective action in becoming a teacher in physical education: Understanding the development and use of signature pedagogies across teacher education contexts

Abstract

Researchers have highlighted the urgent need for large-scale international collaborative research projects between teacher education and school physical education (PE) to develop practices and understandings that address the grand challenges facing the field ( MacPhail and Lawson, 2021 ). In response, this article outlines and illustrates the design and methodology of an international project built on collaboration among PE teacher educators, in-service teachers, and pre-service teachers (PSTs). This collaborative work aimed to explore the development and use of signature pedagogies as collective action across diverse PE teacher education contexts, including both initial teacher education and continuous professional development in five European countries. This article serves two purposes. First, it presents a design for international collaborative research between school PE and teacher education, with a specific focus on signature pedagogies in PE teacher education. Second, it illustrates the methodological approach, detailing the research methods used to explore signature pedagogies across varied international contexts. In so doing, the article contributes to the field by offering a framework for designing international research that engages with collective action and pedagogical innovation. We advocate for research designs that employ robust methodologies, clearly defined analytical frameworks, and transparent procedures. Such designs are essential for conducting large-scale international collective action projects involving teacher educators, in-service teachers, and PSTs from diverse PE teacher education contexts. We argue that these elements are critical for scaling up research in the field and for supporting the development, adaptation, and use of signature pedagogies across educational settings.