The purpose of this study was to examine the motivation of dance majors taking P.E. courses at a graduate school of education about the choice of their departments and the teaching profession, their knowledge of courses in teaching, pedagogical conten...
The purpose of this study was to examine the motivation of dance majors taking P.E. courses at a graduate school of education about the choice of their departments and the teaching profession, their knowledge of courses in teaching, pedagogical content knowledge and vision. It's basically meant to grasp the reality of preservice secondary teacher education and to suggest some of the right directions for that.
Clandinin & Connelly(2000)'s five-stage narrative inquiry process was adopted to serve the purpose. The subjects in this study were three selected graduate students who were taking courses in physical education at a graduate school of education to become P.E. teachers.
The findings of the study were as follows:
As for the motivation of their choice of major, the preservice P.E. teachers who had majored in dance chose their major due to their own talent and interest in P.E. and the accuracy of measurement and evaluation in this subject. Concerning the motivation of choosing the teaching profession, they were aware of the necessity of learning P.E. teaching methods and hoped to get a stable occupation. The two motivations were evenly common.
Taking courses in teaching at the graduate school of education provided an opportunity for them to look back on themselves, to understand not only themselves but learners and to foster their own qualifications and competencies as preservice teachers. In terms of knowledge of the content area of P.E. courses, they viewed P.E. as a scientific and systematic discipline, as an integrative discipline linked to various academic fields including philosophy, epidemiology, psychology, physiology and pedagogy, and as part of living culture and amusement. Concerning knowledge of P.E. teaching, they acquired the knowledge by taking courses in education, from the teaching methods of their professors, and by observing P.E. instructions.
The subjects in this study acquired knowledge in an integrated manner by taking both courses in teaching and major courses, and they seemed to have mapped out their vision in detail. But their student teaching experience rather resulted in demotivating themselves in association with their major choice.
The findings of the study had the following implications:
First, the preservice P.E. teachers who took courses at the graduate school of education got to understand the teaching profession and found it interesting to learn about major courses, but they became cognizant of the necessity of practical P.E. education because of their negative experience during student teaching. According to the objects of preservice P.E. teacher education of the graduate school of education, not only practical education but the preparation of actual P.E. skills are mandatory becausae of the characteristics of this subject. As the students received no practical education, they faced difficulties during four-week student teaching. Although student teaching should provide an opportunity for dance majors to confirm their own possibility as preservice P.E. teachers, it rather resulted in demotivating the students and making them have fear for the teaching profession. Diverse practical education should be provided for dance majors to foster their professionalism as P.E. teachers, which is actually required at school, so that they could gain significant experience in student teaching.
Second, preservice teacher education should be differentiated from inservice teacher education in the curriculum of the graduate school of education. The current curriculum is designed to educate both preservice teachers and inservice teachers, which makes it impossible to offer quality education for either of them, and the curriculum didn't comply with the intent of the students who entered the graduate school. The dance majors received graduate-school education to have the teaching profession, but the curriculum ended up demotivating them. The kind of curriculum that can nurture full-fledged, qualified preservice teachers should be prepared.
Given the findings of the study, there are some suggestions on future research efforts:
First, more diverse groups of subjects should be selected. In this study, preservice P.E. teachers who had majored in dance were selected to analyze their educational experience. In the future, not only dance majors but those who majored in similar departments such as industrial sports, health guidance or special physical education and have received graduate-school education should be selected to look into their educational experience.
Second, elite athletes who have been retired or who have dropped out due to injuries are likely to decide to go on to a graduate school of education. What the experience of receiving preservice P.E. teacher education at a graduate school of education means for athletes who receive graduate-school education and whether the curriculum of the graduate school makes it possible for them to foster their professionalism in teaching should carefully be studied.