Background and Purpose. Regular student assessment in Sport Education is a critical part of the pedagogical model; however, learning to plan with curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment in alignment is a difficult task for... [ view full abstract ]
Background and Purpose. Regular student assessment in Sport Education is a critical part of the pedagogical model; however, learning to plan with curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment in alignment is a difficult task for preservice teachers. Using the lens of occupational socialization theory, the purpose of this study was to examine how preservice teachers understand and enact the message system (assessment, pedagogy, and curriculum) while employing the Sport Education model in an advanced methods course. Research questions included: (a) How do pre-service teachers make instructional decisions related to models-based practice?, and (b) How preservice teachers’ understanding and beliefs of assessment correspond with their practices?
Methods. Six participants who had previously taught three Sport Education seasons and were enrolled in advanced physical education methods course were purposefully selected. The preservice teachers taught separate Sport Education seasons at local elementary schools, with each season totaling 540 instructional minutes. Data collection included interviews (formal, focus group, and informal), reflective journals, participation observation, document collection, and video recordings of lessons. Analysis included inductive and deductive analysis using the constant comparative method. Trustworthiness was established using data triangulation, peer debriefing, negative case analysis, member checking, and an audit trail.
Results. Results from the study identified weak assessment literacy upon implementation in the field experience setting. Participants reported a lack of time and feeling pressure to implement all features of the model as barriers to the use of assessment practices. One participant, however, felt the use of assessment afforded him the ability to shift control to the students in the model.
Conclusions. Although the preservice teachers demonstrated an understanding and value of assessment, they struggled to utilize assessment as a critical part of the model-based practice in a field setting. Future research should explore how the message system is understood and enacted in different contextual settings.
• Transformative learning and teaching in physical education and sports pedagogy
