The purpose of this study was to examine the professional learning of individual teacher educators scaffolded within a developing PLC. The learning focus was the pedagogical area of communication. The researchers were interested in how this professional learning might then influence our individual pedagogical practices with pre-service teachers. Insight into both the aspects of professional learning that teacher educators implement in their teacher education practices (what) and the influence of the professional learning process on individual approaches (how) can contribute to our understanding of features of effective professional learning for teacher educators. Understanding how we as teacher educators develop our practices to enhance student learning in physical education teacher education (PETE) can inform the design of future professional learning programmes for teacher educators.
Specific research questions were:
- What are physical education teacher educator experiences of professional learning within a community focused on communication? and
- How do physical education teacher educators perceive the influence of this professional learning on their pedagogical approaches with pre-service teachers?