'I would have loved it': Experiences, practice and perspectives of primary teachers related to physical education

The history of primary physical education (PE) can provide an insight into the nature of PE in primary schools today. However, many chapters of this history remain undocumented. In an Irish context Duffy (1997) outlined the... [ view full abstract ]

The history of primary physical education (PE) can provide an insight into the nature of PE in primary schools today. However, many chapters of this history remain undocumented. In an Irish context Duffy (1997) outlined the evolution of policies in school PE and sports. He concluded that there was a lack of ‘…concerted study of the position of PE in an Irish context’. This study sought to capture the voices of Irish primary teachers who reported on their views of the position of PE within society and within primary education.The voices of primary teachers who have been teaching PE to children for more than thirty years provide insights into the changing practices of teaching PE related to their personal experiences of PE as pupils and teachers, how they define PE today, factors that they think may have shaped their beliefs and understandings, and the amount and content of PE taught by these teachers today. The research question that underpinned this study was ‘What are the experiences, practices and perspectives of Irish primary teachers related to PE?’ A qualitative methodology was used to gather data from teachers (n=25) who were interviewed. Initial findings revealed that teachers defined PE in ways that were generally influenced by a health discourse with consideration of ‘the whole child’. They described their own experience of PE relating it to their teaching of PE in ways such as ‘I would have loved it [PE] and I was interested in it but I never really felt confident in [teaching] it’.  This study concluded that the voice of teachers can provide particular insights on teachers as learners that could inform current practice of teaching PE while also contributing to tracing the position of PE in educational history and comparing its position across countries in time.