Title:Physical education job security: saving our jobs and programs.
Author(s):Deborah Ann Stevens and Adelaide Carpenter.
Source:JOPERD--The Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance 69.n4 (April 1998): pp53(7). (5516 words)
Abstract:
Physical education teachers need to demonstrate that their field is part of the whole educational program and an important academic subject to gain credibility and preserve their jobs. This can be achieve by using instructionally and developmentally right approaches in teaching skills and enhancing learning. Moreover, more efforts should be made in training future physical education teachers.
Full Text :
We physical education teachers have struggled for years to prove to other educators, parents, and administrators that our subject is a viable academic discipline. Opinions about physical education and what it teaches primarily result from the experiences people have during their elementary school years. Often physical education and coaching are not equated with other, "true," academic subjects such as science or math. The reason for this assumption, in part, is our own fault. We have too many physical educators trained only to play games with their students, instead of teaching fundamentals inherent in skill development. Pangrazi and Dauer (1995) define physical education as "a part of the total educational program that contributes [,] primarily through movement, to the total growth and development of all children." If we want physical educators to be viewed as a part of this total program and an important academic subject, then we need to conduct our classes in a way that demonstrates to our colleagues that we truly have a viable academic focus.
Many teachers value the contribution that physical educators make to the enhancement of learning in every child, yet each year we find a number of physical educators seeking job security in other fields. We also find many physical education positions being delegated to non-credentialed individuals. The Shape of the Nation Report (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1993) determined that 36 states continued to permit classroom teachers to teach physical education at the elementary level. Year after year, it seems that we continue to struggle to demonstrate that credentialed physical education teachers are best equipped to teach in this specialized field. At the same time, physical educators will be the first to admit that we have not done a very thorough job of training teachers over the years. Some teachers rank coaching as their first priority and simply teach on the side. Only in the last few decades have we learned that we need teachers who make it their first priority to teach children about movement and physical activity.
Research about the present status of physical education reveals many of tim current problems in the field. Grineski (1994) summarized many of these inherent problems in a paper he presented at a conference on the future of physical education. He cited the National Children and Youth Fitness Study (McGinnis, 1985) as a prime source of information regarding more than just the status of children's fitness. This study revealed that the average physical education program lacks a variety of curricular content and contains mainly large group, competitive games and races. In highlighting the work of Placek (1983), Grineski examined the attitudes of teachers involved with inservice learning, who presumed that successful teaching in physical education simply consisted of keeping students "busy, happy and good." They failed to suggest that student learning, individualization, or a varied movement curriculum were necessary components in a valid physical education program. Grineski, using the work of Colby, Jenson, and Stier (1994), examined the teaching practices of physical educators and found that many physical education teachers do not think it is important to plan daily lessons, to use assessment techniques, to vary teaching styles to be more effective, or to provide for sufficient teaching and practicing of skills within a daily lesson. Grineski also highlighted Graham, Holt/Hale and Parker's (1987) research, which demonstrates that children are not acquiring motor skills in physical education. Skills must be taught sequentially, assessment and feedback must be provided, and time must be spent learning the fundamentals inherent in a game before playing or participating in the actual game.
This research reveals only the nature of the problem, however. The crucial question is one of action. We must ask, how can this unfavorable image be transformed into a favorable one - one that respects the value of physical education? The future of our programs and our jobs lies within the individual teacher and the type of program that he or she advocates. The teacher who administers only a games/activities program throughout the year must realize that this type of program fosters recreation, not physical education. On the other hand, the teacher who uses the instructionally and developmentally appropriate practices (Council on Physical Education for Children, 1992) to teach skills and enhance learning will find that others will begin to see physical education in a positive academic light. We have to admit that we are the source of our image problem and that the changes must begin with us. Grineski (1991) quotes Vicki Newman's summation of the problem by stating, "If you always do what you've always done, you will always get what you've always got."
Solutions to these problems can be achieved by hard work, perseverance, and determination. Toward that end, the following questions aim to enlighten and to focus attention on how we can address this area of job security in physical education.
How Do We Gain Support from Principals and Administrators?
Many schools are experiencing tremendous growth and absorbing a large number of students without a significant increase in material and financial resources, and this places a burden on a school system. When this happens, administrators tend to: (1) look for areas that can be cut, (2) reestablish priorities, and (3) examine different ways of delivering service. Principals are the ones primarily responsible for hiring "good" teachers; therefore, they must trust that the teachers they hire will build good programs that enable others to believe that all subjects (physical education, art, music) are part of the total education package needed to enhance each child's development. Unless this is done successfully, we should continue to worry about job security.
Our best means to ensure job security is to design, develop, and deliver outstanding programs and to make those programs visible to others. A developmentally appropriate program will ensure that skills are being taught in a sequential manner with a variety of approaches. When children are involved in different learning experiences that make an improvement in how they perform in the classroom, principals and classroom teachers will begin to take notice. When was the last time a principal walked into your class and said, "I think you're doing a great job." More important, when was the last time you put something on the front burner for a principal to see so that he or she could say, "You are doing a great job."
The Council on Physical Education for Children (1999) has given us some substantiated information to unite us as physical educators. This should enable us to design positive instructional programs that are of value to the total school environment.
Ask your superintendent and school board members to give physical education teachers a chance to use this material to demonstrate what physical education can do for your school.
The involvement of physical educators in program development is imperative. When other teachers come together, they do so to represent their discipline. If no one speaks for physical education, how will that be interpreted?
A great deal of legislative action occurs within each state, and much of this legislation is causing a decentralization of power. As this decentralization continues to develop, we will see others (such as principals, administrators, etc.) making the decisions on whether physical education will continue to survive in the schools. If the public is not being shown that we are a viable component of the educational process, then physical education, health education, art, and musical education are going to lose.
We are unique. No one else offers what we offer, yet we are not selling that uniqueness. We are trying to survive on "this is the way it was done" or "this is the way it should be done."
You have to publicize the quality of your program. Often so many other matters require administrative attention that physical education is viewed as a low priority. One of the ways to do this and to help establish priorities is to have an advocate for physical education. Ask your principal for time to set up a physical education steering committee in your district, with representatives from each school. These representatives can strive to make administrators, school board members, and parents aware of the importance of physical education. All the people who make decisions about allocation of resources need to be informed, so that everyone becomes aware of the importance of fitness, good health, and activities that can promote physical education.
Volunteer for any committee work that even remotely influences physical education. Let the appropriate personnel in your school know that you want to be involved in establishing what is best for children in all areas. Many physical educators resign themselves to staying in the background and waiting for someone else to do the work. When this occurs, someone without knowledge of your speciality will make decisions that can be counterproductive to your purpose.
Ask those in charge of staff development to hold inservice programs that address the necessity of training physical educators in new practices and positive programs. Physical educators need to meet as a group and discuss ways to hold one another accountable as professionals. AS a result, administrators will feel confident about physical education's value and its role in enhancing the learning of each and every child.
How Can Physical Educators Gain Support and Be Involved in the Total School Program?
Physical educators in all schools need to play a part in the total school program by taking on leadership roles. Physical education teachers need to be curriculum leaders in the school. They must be professionally aware of the different types of programs taught in elementary physical education so that a total integrated approach can be used. When classroom teachers realize that physical education can provide them with alternative teaching techniques, such as "learning by doing," then these teachers become interested in the benefits of physical education. Physical educators and classroom teachers need to cooperate in planning daily lessons. The classroom teacher is often responsible for physical education two to four days a week. If the physical educator can make suggestions about what the classroom teacher should teach during this time, then a more coherent and productive program will result. This will also enable collaboration between all disciplines.
Physical educators need to interact with the people who make decisions and emphasize the indispensable carryover value that physical education has for the classroom. For example, when children learn to move in space in the physical education environment, they also learn the simple forces and spatial relationships involved in physics and mathematics. Conducting collaborative workshops for the classroom teacher can show them how to integrate physical education with academic subjects in the classroom.
As physical educators, we have to "sell" our programs to all those involved with influencing the decisionmaking process. Once we have done this, many of the concerns about job security will diminish.
It is important to have pride in your program. Change your program every year and do not become complacent with what you teach. Be creative - if equipment is not available, make your own. Administrators often solicit the advice of parents when they begin to look at program elimination, and if the parents have heard about and seen a program that is making a difference in the lives of children, they will fight to maintain it.
School advisory boards and the community all have input into district decisions. Administer activities within the community, that will advertise your program to the media. Get students actively involved by organizing fundraisers (e.g., Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart) that show people within the school that the program is important. Take your students on community fiend trips to the skating rink or to perform at half-time at the university basketball game. If you are involved with the community, they will be involved with you.
It is critical for the physical education teacher to expect the school to get involved with the program, as well. Opportunities for the administration and classroom teachers to get involved in the physical education program are vital. PTA programs and gym shows are great interactive events. Administrators and parents need to see the good things that are going on in the gym, and this is best achieved when they are involved with a production or program. Other teachers need to be directly involved with the physical education program, for example, by assisting with gym programs or displaying integrated units.
Support from other educators will also be gained when physical educators adhere to standards of accountability. for what they teach. When what we teach can be assessed, then respect and support for physical education as an academic area will be enhanced. The national standards document (National Association for Sport and Physical Education, 1995) has established consistent standards for physical education that can be used as a guide to the administration and assessment of individual programs. Physical educators have to know how to assess students to understand where they are developmentally. It is important to know whether certain developmental criteria are being met and if they are not, to be able to say why. You have to establish this kind of quality in your program so that the administrators and other teachers will listen and value the contribution that physical education can make.