Teaching outdoor and adventure activities: an investigation of a primary school physical education professional development p

 
(1 FGT Amy 1)
 
Mary in junior infants stated that she would teach O&AA again. She based her 
confidence not on content knowledge but rather on the class she had, and how confident 
she felt with them; 
Yes and I wouldn’t be as afraid of it….A very big thing is trusting your class.
The thing is until you bring them out each particular class is different and I was 
afraid of this class and they weren’t as bad as I thought they would be outside, 
you know. I was a bit afraid. As the first time I took them on a nature walk that 
just went shshsh [sic] all around.
 
(1 FGT Mary JI)
 
Due to the classes behaviour in the classroom, indoors for physical education, 
and on a previous lesson outside, Mary was hesitant in taking the class out for O&AA.
However, this was not the case, much the opposite, because the children had activities 
planned and organised they remained on-task and there were no behavioural issues.
Through significant changes in teachers O&AA content and pedagogical content 
knowledge, teacher’s confidence and motivation to teach physical education (their 
pedagogical content knowledge) was enhanced as a result of teaching at stage 2 of the 
PDP. As one teacher put it; 
‘I don’t think it’s a reluctance on behalf of teachers not to 
do these things. It’s just that they don’t really know what to do.’
(1 FGT Amanda 1) 
and a late career teacher agreed;
I have to be really honest about things, of all the subjects PE would be the one 
that I would feel at sea. So it’s been a brilliant help. And, you know, it’s not 

---

195 
that people don’t want to do it, it’s just that maybe they don’t know how.
(1 FGT 
Nancy JI) 
This in turn helped them become more confident and competent in their teaching 
of physical education and they began to recognise physical education as a subject rather 
than a ‘break from the classroom’. A marked increase in confidence was noted in both 
the frequency and strength of comments given in the focus groups, in the teachers’ 
ability to teach the strand units of O&AA following their experience of teaching the 
strand with minimal support. 
‘I found the experience of it better than I thought from 
these [lesson notes], yes I’m fine…I’m doing alright’
(2 FGT Moira 3).
‘I think I have 
been teaching it [O&AA] for two years now. I would definitely do it next 
year…because in my head I have six weeks work planned without thinking about it’
(2 
FGT Coleen JI).
‘Yeah this is fine. I can do this. I can manage this. This isn’t sort of 
daunting task as I thought’
(2 FGT Nancy JI). 
In contrast to the teachers who felt they knew enough about O&AA to teach it 
well there was one teacher who lacked confidence in her own ability to deliver the 
O&AA unit. Karen, did not teach the O&AA strand to her class and swapped with 
another teacher, whereby she taught music for that teacher and the other teacher taught 
O&AA for her class. I would describe Karen as a very conscientious teacher who 
during the initial PDP wanted to ensure that she had everything covered and that there 
was no room for any mistakes in her teaching. When asked why she didn’t teach 
O&AA at stage 2, Karen responded honestly; 
I didn’t study this in college, the orienteering, and never done it before so I think 
it is just a confidence issue and like the others are saying, just the jargon and 
knowing … I think I’d need to be, you know, it did help last year seeing you 
model it but I think what I need, me being the type of learner that I am, I need to 
have it written down and walked through it with you without the children and I 
would need to write it down myself. It is part of, I think, being a perfectionist as 
well. I want to know exactly what I have to do. Sometimes if there is something 
I feel I can’t, I feel I am not confident at, I just leave it, you know… I am just the 
type where I need to have it written down and nearly write it myself.
(2 FGT 
Karen 4) 
By asking another teacher to teach O&AA to her class, Karen saw the benefits 
of O&AA and wanted her class to experience this, rather than reverting to another 
strand during physical education time where she may have felt more comfortable. 
Although this practice is carried out in some schools, it would be imperative that 
teachers have a basic knowledge of the learning their class is undertaking to be able to 

---

196 
integrate into other class and subject activities. Any future PDP would require that the 
various types of learners would be catered for more appropriately and that the principle 
of personalisation of support continue to be adhered to. This approach may not be 
sustainable as presented in this study, however further investigation into an in-school 
mentoring scheme, where identified teachers support new teachers as they enter the 
school is required. Collegial support through established teacher collaboration at the 
different class levels is also an option, where an experienced teacher models activities 
and supports new teachers as necessary. This would allow for support to be self 
sustaining within a school provided the organisational structures were established to 
facilitate the support.