Faculty Perspectives Using Practice-Based Teacher Education in Physical Education

Purpose: Practice-based teacher education (PBTE) has been proposed as an approach to combat forms of teacher education that create prescriptive understandings of teaching that are disconnected from practice. In physical education, PBTE is becoming more prevalent. Some have argued that many of its elements have been in use for some time, whereas other elements have been refined or are new. In this study, we were motivated to examine the use of PBTE by physical education teacher educators and their perceptions of PBTE. Method: Participants were nine teacher educators from the United States (n = 6), Turkey (n = 2), and Belgium (n = 1). Surveys were used to gather data on the use of PBTE and the perceptions of teacher educators. Data describing the use of PBTE in their programs were descriptively analyzed. Our perceptions were interpreted using an intrinsic case study with PBTE serving as the case. Findings: Programs adopted similar and different elements of PBTE. Four themes emerged relative to the perceptions of teacher educators about PBTE: (a) how the context of the teacher educator influences their use of PBTE, (b) teacher educators’ use of PBTE, (c) the advantages of using PBTE, and (d) a critical analysis of PBTE. Conclusion: Our approach to operationalizing PBTE may help encourage useful conversations in physical education teacher education.