Youth disaffection physical education & school sport career-long professional development for PE teachers

Aligned with the phenomenon of youth disaffection and as a way to tackle it, investment in Physical Education and School Sport (PESS) programmes has undergone dramatic expansion. In particular, evidence suggests that physical education (PE) teachers as role models and significant adults can have a life-changing impact on disaffected young people. To enable the effective engagement of these young people in the education context, it appears essential to ensure that PE teachers are appropriately trained through Initial Teacher Training (ITT) and Career long Professional Development (CPD) programmes in youth disaffection in PE. The purpose of this research study, therefore, was to address and explore issues of: (a) the role of PESS in tackling disaffection and in re-engaging these young people into PESS, education and further, in society; (b) PE teachers ways of effective learning with focus on their CPD training. In order to understand PE teachers learning, principles of the learning theories of social constructivism (Vygotsky, 1978) and situated learning were employed (Lave and Wenger, 1991). Data collection incorporated an open-ended survey and a two-tier case study approach (11 single cases and 3 multiple cases). Data were analysed using predominantly thematic analysis and elements of social constructivist grounded theory (SCGT), such as coding, categorising and memoing. NVIVO software was additionally used as a data analysis tool . Key findings indicated that: (a) almost all PE teachers had experienced disaffection in their classes; (b) PESS s role and its impact on disaffected youth was suggested to be positive overall, yet only under certain circumstances; (c) PE teachers: the most effective way of learning about youth disaffection in PE was through their everyday work and when sharing ideas and experiences with other colleagues; (d) PE CPD was suggested to be appropriate and effective when it is school based, not limited by time structures, and when based on sharing experiences and knowledge with colleagues.