Physical Education Teacher Candidates' Development of Caring Relationships

Background and Purpose: Student engagement is important for student learning (Rink, 2012). A caring learning environment can influence student engagement in a physical activity setting (Gould, Flett, & Lauer, 2012). Caring... [ view full abstract ]

Background and Purpose: Student engagement is important for student learning (Rink, 2012). A caring learning environment can influence student engagement in a physical activity setting (Gould, Flett, & Lauer, 2012). Caring occurs when a teacher builds relationships with students by understanding their feelings and experiences (Noddings, 1992; Owens & Ennis, 2005). Noddings (2005) suggested that teachers should develop attitudes and skills that support the development of such relationships. Thus, teachers need to develop pedagogical skills and knowledge in relation to diversity issues and the content (Tannehill, van der Mars, & MacPhail, 2015). Relatedly, the purpose of this study was to explore teacher candidates’ development of caring relationships with K-12 students. One research question guided this study: How do teacher candidates perceive and develop caring relationships?.

Methods: Participants for this case study were two teacher candidates, one male and one female, both in their final student teaching experience. Data sources included: semi-structured interviews, field notes, artifacts, and informal conversational interviews (Patton, 2015). Data were analyzed using open and axial coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Trustworthiness was established through data triangulation, expert review, peer review, and member checks.

Results: Findings indicated two themes regarding teacher candidates’ perceptions and development of building relationships: 1) recognizing students as individuals, and 2) knowing students. Providing options and getting on students’ physical level characterized recognizing students as individuals. Knowing the students meant engaging short conversations, sharing commonalities, and helping students.

Conclusions and Implications: Results implied these teacher candidates possessed the attitudes to be caring teachers and were responsive to students’ needs (Noddings, 1992; Owens & Ennis, 2005). In this study, however, building relationships was implemented with the intent of being a good person; not necessarily a good teacher. Future research is necessary to determine when and how teacher candidates learn caring skills within PETE programs.