An evaluation of a continuing professional development programme for community football coaches delivering Physical Education lessons in primary schools

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to evaluate a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme for football coaches working in Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) time in schools. PPA time was introduced for all teachers in 2005 as part of a seven stage response to the 2003 workload remodelling act and aimed to support the dual aims of addressing teacher workload and raising educational standards (DfES, 2003). To do this coaches’ were required to work against the definition of specified work. Specified work is defined as specified by Baalpe (2005: 4) as: “Planning and preparing lessons and courses for pupils. Delivering lessons to pupils – including distance learning or computer-aided techniques. Assessing the development, progress and attainment of pupils. Reporting on the development, progress and attainment of pupils.” The evaluation adopts a realist case study methodology which aims to understand the relationship between the initial context, mechanism for change and the initial outcomes of the CPD programme (Pawson and Tiley, 1997; Pawson, 2003; Pawson, 2006). The delivery of the CPD programme was underpinned by constructed and situated theories of learning (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Kirk and Macdonald; 1998, Wenger, 1998) that emphasised the synergy of new and old knowledge encouraging the coaches to develop both practical and ontological knowledge, skill and understanding. These intended outcomes were supported by the CPD programme being delivered through a critical pedagogical perspective (Kirk, 2000) that challenged the coaches to consider knowledge, either accepting or rejecting the knowledge being presented by the programme. The initial context findings showed that the coaches did not have the necessary knowledge, skill and understanding to work against the definition of specified work in PPA time. The initial mechanism for change highlighted that there were positive relationships between initial context and the mechanisms used in the CPD programme, which included practical coaching sessions, DVD analysis and working with other coaches. The initial outcomes further supported the mechanism of change and showed that for some of the coaches knowledge, skill and understanding had developed but also identified some mechanistic blocks that prevented the coaches from developing their knowledge, skill and understanding in relation to working in PPA time and operating against the definition of specified work; these included the coaches’ relationship with schools and the support the Community Sports Trust managers provided the coaches. The study concludes that future CPD should concentrate on how schools and Community Sports Trusts can raise the standards of Physical Education lessons covered by external coaches and how this can be developed, as opposed to focussing more narrowly on what knowledge sports coaches require to deliver specified work and how can this best be developed. The thesis proposes that the CPD should be multi-agency and multi-structure and include schools, teachers, Community Sports Trust managers and coaches and aim to develop an ontological perspective which develops and refines the practical skills that will allow coaches to work against the definition of specified work.