PEPRN Podcast

Episode 2 in this the fifth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Ingrid Bahr And Jonas Wibowo's chapter in Ben Dyson and my book "Cooperative Learning in Physical Education".

Episode 2 in this the fifth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Alan Ovens and colleagues chapter in Ben Dyson and my book "Cooperative Learning in Physical Education". This week I’m delighted to welcome Jo Bailey as the practitioner responder this week and thank her for taking the time to respond and for her considered words.

Episode 1 in this the fifth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Ben Dyson and my book "Cooperative Learning in Physical Education". This week I’m delighted to welcome Imsporticus as the practitioner responder this week and thank him for taking the time to respond and for his considered words.

Episode 8 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to welcome Håkan Larsson as the practitioner responder this week and thank him for taking the time to respond and for his considered words.

Episode 7 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to welcome Sue Whitman as the practitioner responder this week and thank her for taking the time to respond and for her considered words.

Episode 6 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to be the practitioner responder this week and thank her everyone who has gone before me for taking the time to be involved and respond.

Episode 5 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to welcome Vicky Goodyear (@VGoodyear) as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her insights and for taking the time to respond.

Episode 4 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to welcome Natasha Low (@NatashaLowNZ) as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her insights and for taking the time to respond.

Episode 3 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to welcome back Andy Vasily (@andyvasily) as the practitioner responder and I thank him for his insights and for taking the time to respond.

Episode 2 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to welcome Mel Hamada (@mjhamada) as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her insights and for taking the time to respond.

Episode 1 of 8 in this the fourth series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Daniel Memmert's book "Teaching Tactical Creativity in Sport: Research and Practice". This week I’m delighted to welcome Nathan Horne (@PENathan) as the practitioner responder and I thank him for his insights and for taking the time to respond.

Episode 11 of 11 in this the third series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Jonathan Jones (@J_JonesPE) as the practitioner responder and I thank him for his insights and for taking the time to respond.

Episode 10 of 11 in this the third series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Patty Kestrel (@pk_lv2teachpe ) as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Patty's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to her sentiment.

Episode 9 of 11 in this the third series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Brendan Jones (@jonesytheteachr) as the practitioner responder and I thank him for his insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Brendan's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to his sentiment.

Episode 8 of 11 in this the third series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Sarah Gietschier-Hartman (@GHSaysRockChalk) as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Sarah's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to her sentiment.

Episode 7 of 11 in this third series of my "Major Themes in Physical Education Research". It explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Blue Jay Bridge (@MrBridge204) as the practitioner responder and I thank him for his insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Blue's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to his sentiment.

Episode 6 of 11 in this third series. It that explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Naomi Hartl (@MissHartl) as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Naomi's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to her sentiment.

Episode 5 of 11 in this third series. It that explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Ross Halliday (@FizzicalEd) as the practitioner responder and I thank him for his insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Ross's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to his sentiment.

Episode 4 of 11 that explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Jo Bailey (@LovePhyEd) as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Jo's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to her sentiment.

Episode 3 of 11 that explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Joey Feith as the practitioner responder and I thank him for his insights and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Joey's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to his sentiment.

Episode 2 of 11 that explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week I’m delighted to welcome Amanda Stanec as the practitioner responder and I thank her for her considered words and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are Amanda's but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to her sentiment.

Episode 1 of 11 that explores Tony Rossi and Colleagues book "Workplace learning in Physical Education: Emerging teachers’ stories from the staffroom and beyond". This week ’m delighted to welcome Andy Vasily as the first practitioner responder and I thank him for his considered words and for taking the time to respond. The words you hear in the response are his but the voice is mine. I just hope I do justice to his sentiment.

Hopes and Olympic dreams I'm sure at one point in many of our lives we have all dreamed of playing at the elite level. Whether that is in sport or as a professional singer or songwriter. However, truth be told most of us won't play for a ‘Man United’ or have songs in the top 10. Yet for those that do, as this blog shows, the elite don't do it on their own. To become elite and meet the dreams and aspirations of playing at the top level, performers need support from their family, coaches, teachers and schools. They need to be pushed and challenged because without a cohesive and coherent approach from all those involved in the performer's life, the performer may never reach their true potential.

When Forrest Gump ran for the first time there was a perception that he couldn’t but he would be the exception and not the rule. Because running is something that a child learns to do at such an early age there is an assumption that they don’t need to be taught. If that was the case in all areas of life why would we teach children to read and write when they can already converse. Or why do we correct their language when they make a mistake? Why? Because there is a difference between doing something and doing it well. Don’t we need to start applying the same understanding to those young people we would like to be physically active but who lack the ‘vocabulary’ to be so?

The boy who ‘used to’ Sometimes we make our own decisions and leave pursuits of our past in the past, for example when end our competitive playing days or sell a bike. At other times these decisions are made for us by significant others, for example the child that leaves his or her school work undone and plays outside is frowned upon and told to take greater responsibility for his or her life. We discourage play and yet we also understand the importance of physical activity. The danger, as this week’s pedagogical case shows, is that desire to play and be active becomes something that we used to do.

Fitting in when you don’t know the ‘rules’ We’ve all watched documentaries (I would have thought) that see explorers journeying deep into the jungle to meet an isolated tribe and, like me, have wondered at their strange ways and new language. Yet in many ways we assume that it takes a journey such as that to find something so fundamentally different from what we already know and understand. Increasingly, it seems, children and young people are migrating with their families (or in some case without them) to find a new life. In moving out of their established ways of living they are forced to find ways of settling and fitting in. However, they are required to do that by trial and error because it seems people seldom teach them or seek to understand.

Finding value in running…again We often focus on what we can’t do and where the risks are and forget that greater competence, confidence and support help us to achieve. Therefore, when a child (like Joshua) suffers a life-changing accident we focus on what he can no longer do and forget to focus on what he can still do. If we focused on the strengths of our students and found ways to motivate them to be physical active – in what ever form that takes – then perhaps we could prevent the numerous crises of health and participation that are reported daily in the news.

Running before she can walk… Why do we have running or sustained running lessons in schools? To improve students’ fitness? Their endurance? To give them the knowledge of how to lead a physically active life? Yet, when it’s the time of year for the running unit, how many students bring a note? How many disengage? And how many are unable to complete the course? This blog asks us to consider the individual needs of students and explore how we might focus on the content of endurance units in different ways.

Balancing the drive to well with ‘down time’ Even model students need our help. It is easy to get caught up with those who struggle and it is equally easy to assume that those who are thriving don’t need as much help. In physical education and sport we often focus on the model students or the elite but, as William’s pedagogical case shows, there is a need to achieve balance. After all, “all work and no play” makes William want to quit.

Girls are girly and they don’t play aggressive and explosive sports like football. They might throw like a girl or hit like a girl. They might be a big girl’s blouse and they might cry but they don’t gain kudos from being sporty. These commonly held beliefs are increasingly being challenged and yet many of our common sense views, when challenged, are nonsensical. They need to be rewritten and yet they go unchallenged and remain to provide unnecessary obstacles to participation.

“I learn about things I can’t use in my life” How many kids walk out of their lessons and leave experiences and say “but…”? We need to help young people understand the ‘why’s’ but often we don’t and expect it to happen. This week’s blog is about worth and relevance and highlights the important of explaining and developing an understanding of ‘why’ we do this and ‘why’ we don’t do that.

Our focus on “our sports” (as teachers and families) and on traditional sports acts as a very real barrier to participation for some while widening it for others. Choosing one sport over another sport is an active decision and it limits the ways in which children access different activities. Likewise, choosing not to ‘do’ or value a sport – either in the family or the school or community – is also a decision. While it is impossible to do everything we need to be aware that we are making decisions for the right reasons, which aren’t always the same as our reasons.

Sometimes we don’t often get the time to speak to the parents of the students we teach. The role of specialists, such as physiotherapists, in physical education might also seem abstract. This blog highlights the importance of three way communication pathways between parents, teachers, and specialists. It shows that by working together we all play role in supporting young people’s development.

A student misses two coaching sessions in a season, would you question their commitment to the team? If these sessions were two important cup matches, would you be frustrated? Often, and whether right or wrong, a natural reaction is to be disappointed. But, how we present this disappointment to the student needs to be managed. Some coaches don’t, and punish students by asking them to run laps or tidy the equipment store. Others, talk to the student and work together to support their engagement and development. So, what type of coach are you? Or, how would you help another coach to work with his/her players to support their engagement with the team? This blog helps us to understand how we might help the coach who punishes, and the player who misses two games.

Many of the activities that occur in school and sports clubs are public but increasingly they are also occurring in the semi-private spaces of social networking sites (SNSs). Celebrating the successes of young people is great but increasingly (at least in the fact that we are hearing more about it) there is a dark and sinister side to sport and SNSs. Ignorance is bliss but we can’t simply turn a blind eye to events. No child should ever feel that inappropriate actions are every permissible or appropriate – be that the instigators or the victims of such actions. Therefore, as adults, we are charged with a duty of care for all young people and, as such, “they’re just being kids” is never a suitable excuse for harassment or bullying. We should never condone the behaviour of others through our inaction or ignorance and instead must ensure that the young people we nurture and support can nurture and support those around them too.

As parents, coaches, and teachers we’re often faced with a dilemma as to how much we encourage young people to follow certain pathways. This is particularly prevalent when young people show a high level of competence in a specific sport. How much should we encourage them to specialise? Could they become a professional? Should we send them for extra training? Should they miss school and fixtures to compete for county or even professional teams? By training will they miss out on social development with their friends? This blog might assist with some of the decision-making. It suggests that, until the age of 16, specialised training and structured training are not as advantageous as we might have been led to believe.

This week’s podcast explores the pedagogical case of Teresa. She is an eleven-year old daughter of legal Mexican immigrants. She is responsible for caring for her younger siblings while also being challenged by learning English as her new language. She knows that some of her teachers see her (and her friends) as a burden and a drain on the education system and feels that her needs are not being meet. In fact she knows that she is not valued and this is impacting on her approach to school.

This week’s podcast explores Deshane’s life and the conflicting things he witnesses on a daily basis. Loved and supported by his family and church he is also beset with crime and violence on a daily basis. We learn that his position as a black male has implication on what he can and can’t do, as does his impoverished upbringing. Finally we learn that trust, achievable goals and role models are three potential ways of making things better until such time as we achieve social justice.

This week’s podcast explores the case of Patrick, a seven year-old boy with autism. He is isolated from his peers and is caught up in the same movement patterns and habits. Exploring his autism through bio-psychomotor and adaptive physical education perspectives the podcast suggests a number of ways of helping Patrick to develop. It suggests that understanding and consistency can lead to significant improvements in both his approach to and engagement in physical activity.

This week’s podcast explores the pedagogical case of Kate, a six year old who is doing well in most areas of school except when it comes to fine and gross motor skills. Looking through the lenses of motor development, and biomechanics we learn that Kate struggles in comparison to typically developing children. By focusing on her self-esteem, avoiding competitive situations, giving her more visual cues and by practicing whole body movements the podcast suggests that she can develop her motor skills.

This week’s podcast explores the case of Sophie and, through the lenses of physical activity, motor development, exercise physiology, and pedagogy, we learn how her daily life may or may not impact on her future. We will look at different research traditions and try to draw a single message from what we find in an effort to support students like Sophie to develop safely at home, school and in the community.

This week’s podcast marks a change of direction (and a change of book) for the blog. Drawing on the twenty chapters (and nineteen cases studies) located in Kathy Armour’s edited “Pedagogical Cases” book the podcast explores the cases studies nineteen individual (and fictitious) students aged between 5 and 16. These young people, presented as “complex and dynamic young learners who deserve to be taught and coached by practitioners who draw on a wide range of multidisciplinary knowledge to devise appropriate) interdisciplinary learning encounters.” Over the subsequent nineteen weeks I will explore each of these cases again from a pedagogical perspective but this week I start with Kathy’s introduction to the idea of a pedagogical case.’

This week’s podcast looks at change not as a whim but as a journey. It argues that we (as human beings) give up on new ideas too quickly; perhaps because we head towards change without realising the effort it will take to begin it let alone to sustain it. The podcast, the last using papers from this four-volume book, argues that change is difficult and without recognition of this it’s unsurprising that we often fail to move forwards and instead stay just where we have always been.

This week’s podcast highlights how we make inferences about particular situations. Indeed, it suggests, and in specific reference to gender, culture and race, that we make assumptions about girls in PE that may not be relevant to all girls. The podcast suggests that we take a ‘one-size’ fits all approach and allow our practices to reflect the dominant and overarching assumptions that exist about girls in PE.

This week’s podcast considers the dominance of sport in the PE curriculum. It questions how this ‘one way’ of teaching and learning can promote health and physical activity. Indeed the podcast asks us to consider that if sport is the dominant approach, do students learn more about health outside of the PE classroom?

This week’s podcast builds on previous work and presents the findings from a review of research on sport education to argue that we have the evidence to support our desire to change. It argues that, ten years ago (nearly), we had enough evidence to show that this approach works. The question is: “is this enough evidence to encourage you to change?”

This week’s podcast explores how what we do and what physical activities we participate in are shaped by the culture in which we exist. While there are varying forms of activities, what is participated in is shaped by the dominant culture. In many cases, Britishness.

This week’s podcast explores the fundamental elements of the Sport Education model and talks about the key aspects of sport that helps people come back again and again. It isn’t just winning or scoring the winning goal or making the winning pass. Instead it is about affiliation and rivalry (would Bjorn Borg have been such a great player without the rivalry of John McEnroe?), about festivity and formal competition, and about fair play.

This week’s podcast explores the idea why #physed and asks us to consider why we are ‘sporty’ and ‘active’ and why we want others to be. It asks us to consider the gap in expectation between physical education and sport and the gulf in popularity. It asks us to consider what #physed is and imagine what it might be.

This week’s podcast considers assessment of game performance. Building on the theme of Teaching Games for Understanding it encourages us to be critical about assessment tools and reflect on, if and how the assessment tools we use are really assessing game performance. Moreover, it asks us to consider whether our assessments are a true reflection of the learning that we are developing and promoting in lessons, and if so, do we need to change what and how we assess.

This week’s podcast explores the idea of “if-then-do” knowledge and how it is developed in games. The ‘if’ is positioned to suggest that something has happened, the ‘then’ represents the decision-making process based on the event, and the ‘do’ is the action or executed skill. The podcast suggests that in thinking of the physical and cognitive relationship between events and actions we are able to see the social relationship inherent in games.