Making some noise: voices of teacher educators in physical education curriculum development

Abstract

ABSTRACT Despite the potential magnitude of the influence of teacher educators on school curriculum, Ball et al. (2011). Policy actors: Doing policy work in schools. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(4), 625–639. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2011.601565) argue that teacher educators are frequently excluded from curriculum design. The purpose of this study was to explore physical education teacher educators’ engagement with primary curriculum reform in Ireland; specifically to what extent a teacher education discussion forum (Network) contributed to this engagement. Data sources included: interviews with six teacher educators, meeting notes circulated following Network meetings, conversations and emails between the two researchers, and the Network’s written response to a curriculum framework circulated for consultation. Findings suggest the process of teacher educator collaboration was valuable for their professional development and provided a means to establishing an identifiable and authoritative voice in curriculum design, effective leadership was key throughout this process, and the responsibility of the Network was unequivocally to ensure that teacher educator voices were heard as policy actors in curriculum design.