Exploring teacher educator pedagogical decision-making about a combined pedagogy of social justice and meaningful physical education

Abstract

Teacher educators shape curriculum in the pedagogical decisions they make (Lunenberg et al., 2007). Yet, evidence is lacking about how physical education (PE) teacher educators make decisions about what to include in their teacher education pedagogies. Four teacher educators in four different PE teacher education (PETE) programmes collaborated to examine their decision-making as they explored ideas related to Meaningful PE and social justice pedagogies. Insight into how teacher educators make decisions can add nuance to understanding pedagogical decision-making in PETE. A self-study of teacher education practices frame supported collective and individual interrogation of our decision-making processes. Data included planning documentation for each teaching episode (n = 42), individual reflections (n = 33), recordings of conversations with critical friends (n = 15), and recordings of collective meetings (n = 8). Pedagogical confrontations (Moran et al., 2019) provided a lens for each teacher educator to gain perspective and insight into their decision-making related to Meaningful PE and social justice pedagogies The findings are presented in the form of four individual cases that illustrate the distinct story of each teacher educator’s engagement with Meaningful PE and social justice pedagogies. Teacher educators’ decisions were guided by their purposes and influenced by their contexts. Additionally, peers were an important source of pedagogical confrontations to influence decision-making practices. This research contributes to the understanding of innovation in PETE by illustrating how clarity about priorities promotes deliberate decision-making by teacher educators resulting in adoption or rejection of innovation.