Moving from ‘things to do on Monday’ to student learning: physical education professional development facilitators' views of success

Background: Facilitation within successful professional development (PD) requires individuals working with a cadre of teachers to examine and reframe their practices, navigating the complexities associated with educational reform initiatives. Although much has been written about the magnitude of the shift required of teachers within current reform, little is known about the changes necessary of facilitators as they make their practice more responsive to the demands of the current reform era. Purpose: The overall purpose of this research project was to examine an international group of facilitators' collective knowledge and experience with ongoing physical education PD. The research question guiding this study was: what constitutes successful PD from the perspective of program facilitators? Theoretical framework: Teacher change theory was used to examine facilitators' conceptions of successful PD. Participants and setting: Participants included 13 experienced PD facilitators chosen because of their experience as a lead facilitator of at least one long-term PD project with clearly articulated pedagogical objectives, and with documented achievement of those objectives. Data sources: Data sources included formal semi-structured and informal conversational interviews, and participants' curriculum vitas. Data analysis: Data were analyzed using two distinct yet overlapping processes derived from grounded theory: open and axial coding. Findings: Results indicated that facilitators viewed success as going beyond the acquisition of knowledge and skills, focusing on teacher capacity building. Facilitators described long-term views of success in several ways. Initially, facilitators desired for teachers to view themselves as learners, transforming from recipients of information to active seekers of knowledge. Next, as an indicator of success facilitators identified empowering teachers in the process of self-improvement, enabling them to share their voice and take ownership of PD. Finally, student learning was described as an ultimate measure of successful PD, indicating teachers' capacity to see beyond themselves to focus on learner's needs. Conclusions: Adhering to a multidimensional perspective of change, successful PD from the viewpoint of facilitators reflected their intent to achieve what Sparkes terms as ‘real’ or ‘deep level’ changes. Ultimately, these facilitators defined success as being tied to supporting teachers to engage as learning professionals throughout their careers. Their views of success involved changing the way teachers viewed themselves, and the ultimate focus of their instruction; representing real change with the potential to change school physical education. In the end, facilitators' views of success were remarkably similar, emphasizing multiple aspects of teacher capacity building, leading to what many refer to as the highest level of evidence regarding the success of PD programs, student learning. Results indicate a picture of PD requiring facilitators to adopt more encompassing goals and take greater responsibility for the outcomes of their efforts.