Professional knowledge

There are 14 core units in professional knowledge including 3 of teaching experience. All professional units are core units. Table 3 highlights Shulman’s components as prioritised in rank order by staff or ticked as covered within each unit.

Table 3. Shulman’s components developed through professional units

Title of units Credit

s Hp W TH T C K PR AC K G P K P C K C C K K E C K L C K D G Place ments First year Teachers as Educators 20 4 52 √ √ √ Education Studies 1 20 4 52 √ √ √ √ Seco nd year Education Studies 2 10 2 26 √ √ √ √ Initial place ment Independent Professional Development 10 2 26 Thir d year Education Studies 3 10 2 26 Interm ediate School Place ment Exams in PE 14-16 10 2 26 Creating a Positive Teaching and Learning Environment

10 2 26 √ √ √ √

Partnerships: School

and Community Links 10 2 26

Education Studies 4 20 4 52 √ √ √ √ √

Four th year

PE in the 14 - 19

Curriculum 20 4 52 5 4 1 2 3 Final Profes

sional Place ment

Personal, Social, Citizenship and Health Education

10 2 26 2 3 1

Sum (14) 280 levels and 30 hours per week and 390 hours per four

years HpW: Hours per week, HpT: Hours per term

81

Students engage in two units in each of their first two years. In year 1 they examine the professional responsibilities of a teacher, the history of physical education, examine the different views on the aims of education in Teachers as Educators. They consider the content and structure of physical education within National Curriculum and students’ pedagogic skills in Education Studies 1. In their second year students learn how selected government Acts and policies impact upon the teaching of secondary PE and how selected learning and teaching strategies should be used in order to meet the needs of children and young people through the teaching of PE in Education Studies 2. Practical knowledge and understanding of reflective practices as a means of enhancing professional development was developed in the Independent Professional Development unit. This unit is student-centered as explained by the lecturer:

One student might say “I need to develop my subject knowledge in dance”, another student might say “I need to learn more about special education needs policy”, so you can see they’re two different things, another student might say “I need to develop my communication skills”, another student might need to learn how to be a netball umpire. Then they go away and they study and they find out how to do that, so for this module, they could do any one of those really (Course leader University of Brighton).

Student teachers learn practical and basic knowledge between the first year and third year and theoretical and deeper knowledge from third year to fourth year among professional knowledge. In year 3 students take 5 professional units covering knowledge and understanding of assessment and the assessment process in physical education in Education Studies 3 which develops on from Education Studies 1 and 2. Students consider the varied 14-16 PE examination specifications in order to select appropriate material to plan a range of learning opportunities in Exams in PE 14-16. They learn knowledge and understanding of issues relating to behaviour management in the secondary school context such as a classroom, children’s behaviour, and behaviour management within a physical education setting in Creating a Positive Teaching and Learning Environment. The concept and role of partnerships in furthering the aims of physical education within and outside the National Curriculum is covered in Partnership: School and

82

Community Links. Assessment for learning at Key Stage 3 and 4, the mentor/trainee relationship in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) is covered in Education Studies 4. There are two units in the fourth year. Student teachers learn about planning the curriculum and content appropriate curriculum for Key Stage 4 Physical Education and the structure and content of 14-19 Physical Education in PE in the 14-19 Curriculum and key work on and critical approach to secondary PSCHE in Personal, Social, Citizenship and Health Education (PSCHE). Finally, student teachers join in school for two weeks in second year and each 15 weeks in third and fourth year as a school experience. Among these units, the course leader summarized the units of Education Studies 1~4 as follows.

It’s just all the kind of professional knowledge relating to teaching, we just try and break it up into little bits so in Year 1, the focus is for example related to aspects of teaching, we look at things like how to lesson plan, how to organise, something to do with teaching styles, how to give feedback and some aspects of teaching.

In Year 2 we look at concepts such as, we go into a little bit more detail so we look at teaching styles, learning styles, differentiation, aspects of inclusion and then in Year 3 we look at aspects of inclusion in more detail, we look at children from different backgrounds, gender, class, ethnicity, race, homophobia, disabled children and then how to develop teaching practices, to try and help those children.

These modules are really just things. They’re to do with aspects of teaching and being a teacher ... that all teachers would need. …… they’re about aspects of teaching and being a teacher and yet we obviously relate them to physical education, but they’re things they need to know about teaching, the teaching profession, how to be a teacher and the kind of things that teachers do in their day to day work (Course leader University of Brighton).

He explained that units increased in detail in Education Studies 1~4 focusing increasingly on the practice of teaching. Student teachers learned basic knowledge of education in the lower grades based on physical education, as they gradually became the upper grades, they learned more detailed knowledge related to assessments, teaching styles, models and the application of English situations such as the policy of partnerships in these professional units. One student teacher also summarized his studying about units of professional knowledge as follows reaffirming the scaffolded structure highlighted by the course leader.

83

I think in the first year, we touched it in the education module and again it was more touching bases in the first year, second year is a lot more dealing with like the EAL pupils, dealing in the second year in more depth, the third year was putting into practice, fourth year reflecting, going over, making sure you haven't missed anything out but yes, they do cover (Student7 University of Brighton).

In addition to the units discussed above, three units focused on PSHE, 14-19 curriculum and Exams. The inclusion of ‘Exams in PE 14-16’ as professional knowledge rather than discipline knowledge was somewhat problematic as it is clear that this unit included significant theoretical components.