Teaching and learning about teaching physical education: exploring one way of translating conflicting theories into transformative practice

Background: In physical education teacher education (PETE), rich descriptions of pedagogical processes for translating theory into practice, or of pedagogical approaches informed by sound theory, are limited. These descriptions are even more uncommon when both processes and approaches are informed by an integration of conflicting theories. Purpose: In this paper, we describe one way of translating an integrative theoretical framework (the double-pyramid approach) into practice by exploring the journey of a teacher educator and a group of preservice teachers (PSTs) while they respectively navigate their journey of teaching about teaching and learning about teaching physical education in a PETE setting. The following research question informed the study: what is the practical reality for a teacher educator and a group of PSTs of enacting and experiencing a framework which merges traditionally conflicting paradigms and pedagogies (e.g. behaviourism and critical inquiry), in a PETE context? Methods: Phenomenology was selected as the analytical approach as it captures the embodied lived experiences of both the teacher educator and the PSTs, during a whole semester, and it offers rich, detailed insights of the enactment process. Multiple data sources were gathered, including the teacher educator’s reflective diary, PSTs’ focus groups, and various artefacts. These artefacts included, but were not limited to, teacher educator’s instructional materials (e.g. lesson plans, and teaching slides) and PSTs’ weekly submissions (e.g. lesson plans, responses to the ticket-to-class, reflections on teaching episodes). Additionally, a critical friend observed all the lessons (12 tutorials and 12 labs) and kept reflective field notes from each one. An amalgamation of inductive and deductive data analysis was made of two sets of data (i.e. primary and secondary). Findings: A climbing-a-mountain metaphor was selected to (re-)present the reality for the teacher educator and the PSTs navigating the pedagogical experience. Three main themes, each one related to a stage of this journey, were generated after the analysis of the extensive data sets: (1) On the road to integration: reconciling conflicting theories in pedagogical practice; (2) Walking through spirals of knowing: collectively transitioning towards critical approaches; and (3) Summiting: starting (new) journeys informed by integrative approaches. As captured on PSTs’ own words, the whole pedagogical learning to teach approach (involving planning, teaching, observing teaching episodes, participate in prompted discussions and reflections, related readings, etc.), promoted a transformative impact and, indeed, might be the start of (new) teaching journeys. Conclusion: Learning theory through practice, and applying the theory to real-world settings, is not only good practice in the context of PETE but can also prevent PSTs of viewing theory as abstract or a utopia. This article provides one example to challenge narrow conceptions of behaviour analytic approaches of teaching and learning about teaching and pedagogical content knowledge, through a pedagogical approach built based on an integration of conflicting paradigms. It should be seen as both inspiration and encouragement for teacher educators for designing pedagogical approaches informed by established or emerging theories and share those rich journeys with the PETE community.