Cooperating teachers as facilitators of preservice teachers’ immersion in the educational community: A physical education teacher education case study

In physical education teacher education (PETE), supporting preservice teachers’ (PSTs') immersion into school communities is critical to fostering their professional learning. However, this socially situated process, where PSTs must gain legitimacy, engage with institutional practices, and navigate professional identities, remains underexplored in the PETE literature. Drawing on social learning theories, this representative case study investigated how experienced cooperating teachers (CTs) enacted facilitation strategies to mediate PSTs’ immersion into the educational community. The study was framed by the concepts of legitimate peripheral participation, landscapes of practice, and the developmental stages of communities of practice (CoPs), including the PSTs-CT CoP and other CoPs within the broader school landscape. Participants included 15 PSTs placed in five schools, five CTs, one university supervisor, and one participant-observer. Data were collected over a full academic year through focus group interviews, the university supervisor's yearlong log, and field notes from the participant-observer. Findings suggest that CTs employed a phased and intentional approach to facilitation, aligned with the evolution of CoPs. Key strategies included (i) presenting the landscape, (ii) legitimising participation and creating perceived value, (iii) gradually expanding leadership roles, and (iv) supporting contributions that ‘give back’ to the school community. This study highlights how CTs’ facilitation supported not only immersion but also the development of PSTs’ knowledgeability (i.e. their capacity to be recognised across multiple professional contexts), thus reinforcing the CoP's role and visibility within the educational community.