THE EPISTEMIC JUDGEMENT CHAIN TO SUPPORT HOLISTIC PHYSICAL EDUCATION TEACHER DEVELOPMENT- AN INITIAL STUDY

Problem Statement Teacher professional development is criticised for not being effective in respect to changes in pedagogy and practice. Epistemology is a valuable lens by which teachers can plan, deliver and reflect upon holistic physical education activities. Little is known however about how to maximise a deeper knowledge and understanding of epistemology and its application. Approach A pilot study with 16 trainee Physical Education teachers followed their final year 18 week teaching internship. Teachers were introduced to the Epistemic Judgement Chain (EJC) and mentored in its use. Participants reflected upon the EJC’s structure, content and utility. Reflective Thematic Analysis was then applied. Results All participants provided positive feedback about the EJC’s merit, value and constructs. Two storybook themes were generated; Learning what is out there, and Playing the promotion game. Findings provide evidence that the EJC is an asset in teacher training that makes philosophy to practice and alignment explicit. The trainee teachers were however unaware of many professional and organizational stressors, educational policy constraints, and other hidden influences on the actual PE teaching world. Future studies that evaluate the EJC with diverse PE teaching cohorts is therefore required. The EJC would seem to function as an effective means to shine a light and delve below the surface to improve key PE practices. Conclusions The EJC provides a valuable scaffold by which teachers can reflect on their views, experiences, and future plans for implementing a holistic approach to Physical Education. Findings supported the EJC’s ability to facilitate teachers’ critical awareness of environmental influences on teaching practice. Additionally, the EJC helped teachers navigate a path that was well aligned to their own values and beliefs about teaching and learning. Follow up studies are now needed to investigate the impact of the EJC professional development process on both teacher and student behaviours.