Helen Ostell
Secondary Physical Education Associate Consultant, NASBTT
Building on and developing trainees’ subject knowledge during their training year is essential to their on-going success and in preparing them for their journey as Early Career Teachers.
There are two aspects to subject knowledge development that I believe providers should address to ensure that trainees receive a rounded experience:
- The development of subject pedagogy
- The development of subject specific knowledge.
By subject pedagogy I mean looking at key pedagogical themes through the lens of Physical Education, for example behaviour management, how pupils learn, assessment, adaptive teaching. This training might be part of, or follow on from, more general training in these areas. Ideally it should provide trainees with opportunities to observe, discuss and apply some of these key themes in a Physical Education setting so that they can develop their understanding in the context of their subject.
By subject specific knowledge I mean, looking at the actual content of the national curriculum and of examination courses, for example the most common activities taught in schools (games, gymnastics, dance, athletics, OAA, swimming) and the topics taught in academic and vocational courses. Trainees should gain an understanding of how to develop students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in selected areas of activity across the key stages and should revisit, review, and develop the theoretical knowledge gained during their own studies so that they are able to confidently teach examination Physical Education.
In addition to those delivering centre-based training mentors in schools have a key role to play in developing trainees’ subject knowledge through providing opportunities to observe and talk to experts in areas where trainees might have gaps in their knowledge and by thinking carefully about how a trainee’s timetable is structured to give breadth of curriculum coverage. Involvement in departmental CPD can also be extremely valuable.
Providers might also want to consider how they use ITAPs to develop subject knowledge and the role that National Governing Bodies can play.
If anyone would like to discuss their Physical Education subject training, please do not hesitate to contact me at pe@nasbtt.org.uk
This is really helpful. We will be working with a teacher who is changing subject specialism from ITT to ECT – apparently more common than I’d realised – and so (though they have a degree-level background in this new subject too) this will need to be a focus for them at ECT level.
Missing the curriculum and progression element can be a ‘mistake’ in some settings – the belief that being a subject expert (especially having a Master’s, Doctorate) somehow automatically makes you a good teacher. Thinking about how children learn and the key steps / sequences that are specific to your subject is vital. Being able to relate to young learners, for example deliberately identifying common misconceptions, is key to making your teaching clearer. There are also questions around understanding assessment models (what level of detail is needed for this qualification? how should they frame it for clarity?) and social / cultural attitudes to your subject (which different groups might tend to take a different view of the purpose and value of Maths and PE?).