Teacher Education for Physical Educators: Inventing the Wheel and Other New Practices.

Overview & Synopsis

This document presents various teaching strategies for educators using a physical education curriculum. The study discusses availability of written materials, including journals, computer searches, and conference reports. The future of competency-based teacher education (CBTE) for physical education majors is analyzed, and five inaccurate key assumptions generally made by physical education teachers regarding CBTE are discussed. The assumptions are that: (a) basic competencies for physical education teachers have been specified; (b) competency-evaluation techniques are available; (c) research literature will show which teacher competencies are causally related to student learning in the psychomotor domain; (d) the question of how to teach physical education teachers can be resolved; and (e) developing a CBTE program will not cost any more than traditional teacher education programs. The study examines the assumption that the teacher education system must produce teachers unsuited to the present system before the teaching of physical education can be changed. The selective admissions procedure to professional programs and its difficulties are also discussed. The study concludes that problems in the education of physical educators are not supply and demand but quality. (A list of references is included.) (JS)