Trading places: from physical education teachers to teacher educators

Abstract

Recently, there has been an increase in research on becoming teacher educators, yet little is known about becoming physical education teacher educators (PETE). Responding to concerns about the current state of doctoral PETE programs and inadequate preparation of novice teacher educators, this paper explores our transition from high school teaching to university-based PETE. Employing self-study methodologies we used ourselves as data gathering tools to improve our understandings of self and practice. Our analysis showed that we struggled with the transition from teacher to teacher educator, primarily in navigating the different pedagogies required in teacher education. Based on our high school and PETE experiences, we drew on different sources to shape our respective pedagogies of teacher education. Future PETEs may benefit from structured learning about teaching teachers where they can discover and explore teacher education theory and practice, or be provided with opportunities to observe experienced colleagues and engage in discussion about PETE programming and practice with mentors.