Conformación, Nombramiento y Cese

Hank described himself as a chubby boy, with good academic performance yet a keen desire to avoid study. When he was at junior high school, a new PE teacher arrived

and tried to make up a rugby team by recruiting disaffected students. The drill on the school playground was fascinating to Hank. He managed to gain his parents’

permission to join the rugby team. Hank had no serious intention to become a rugby player until he found great fulfilment through rugby competitions.

Hank’s coach in senior high school was an influential person in his life. The coach

advanced Hank’s rugby performance by using scientific training methods and influenced his attitude to ‘never put limits on your own development’ (IHa-1-08). In

his last year at senior high, Hank received scholarship offers from universities in Japan and New Zealand. However, he chose to study in the PE department of a

comprehensive university in Taiwan because he could not afford the tuition costs elsewhere.

In one of his first-year English lectures, Hank was shocked at the incompetence of the

other PE students’ academic performance. This incident made Hank re-consider the importance of academic learning and also influenced his position when teaching.

At that moment, I realized that I couldn’t keep hanging about…You couldn’t count on playing sport for your entire life…If you don’t even have the basic knowledge, what can you be doing in the future? (IHa-1-22)

Despite being aware of the importance of academic learning, Hank still struggled to pay much attention to it, because he was withdrawn from the university to engage in

training for the national rugby team for nearly two years. However, Hank appeared to be proud of his achievement in rugby and the positive outlook he had developed

through this sport. In addition, his rugby ‘character’ appeared have influenced his future career and commitment to teaching.

The character of rugby is… you’d be tackled down, but you climb up right away… whatever you do by yourself or with your team, you never give up…This kind of spirit has been even influencing my current... teaching. (IHa-1-12)

However, the final year at university was a turning point in Hank’s sports career. The

first shock was the death of his coach from senior high school, who was also one of the coaches of the national rugby team. After that, the rest of the coaches made

changes to the team strategy, with which Hank strongly disagreed. Shortly after, Hank quit the national team and the prize he could have been rewarded. It may be that

Hank’s persistence in protecting his personal belief helps to explain his marginalized position in the second school in which he works.

In 1998, Hank graduated from university and became a substitute PE teacher in a

junior high school in the countryside of Taipei County. In the first year of teaching, Hank was nervous due to his lack of previous training. He gradually developed his

professional skills through self-reflection and actively asking advice from other teachers. In the second year, he completed a part-time teacher education programme.

It was then that Hank started to investigate learning theories about teaching. Meanwhile, Hank was assigned to be Section Chief of Discipline and was much

appreciated by the head teacher for his work in this field. In the third year, Hank did his teaching practice in the same school and then gained his teacher certificate. It

should be noted that working in this school appeared to be influential in Hank’s later career:

It’s a school in a rural area, and teachers were all very supportive. (IHa-1-25) Whatever they do or even argue with, it’s based on a concern with student’s interest, but not their own benefit. (IHa-1-28)

4.3.3 Career and professional development

After he completed military service in 2002, Hank followed the move of the head

teacher who had supported him, and entered another junior high school in an urban area of Taipei County. Apart from PE teaching, Hank was assigned to be Section

Chief of Discipline for four years, followed by Director of Student Affairs for two years. Hank admitted that his PE teaching was often affected by administration work

due to lack of time for preparation.

Moreover, the atmosphere among teachers in the new school seemed to be less supportive than his previous school. While doing administration work, Hank was

surprised to discover that some teachers complained about the implementation of certain policies because they required additional time to prepare teaching materials.

This appeared to be in conflict with what Hank had experienced in his first school. In addition, Hank also encountered an ideological conflict between his teaching

approaches and those of the other PE teachers. For that reason, Hank seemed to intentionally reduce his connection with other PE teachers, taking a marginalized

position in the group.

For me, a PE person should demonstrate the values of PE… I can’t stand that others consider PE as a sub-subject that could be delivered by anyone. (IHa-1-43)

I rarely talk in my office… I am the person who likes and dislikes clearly… As long as I think it’s wrong, it’s a disgrace to PE, I don’t want to spend time with them. (IHa-1-45)

Hank indicated how the unsupportive environment and policies could be damaging to teachers’ commitment and CPD in teaching.

In a manner of speaking, people all tend to take the easy way. Within the current system, whether you work casually or work very hard, you get the same pay. In this case, would you like to give more effort? (IHa-2-14) I sometime felt it a little bit unfair. I wonder…I’ve made so much effort, but what have I got? (IHa-2-15)

Despite feeling unsatisfied about his PE colleagues, Hank also claimed ‘It’s unfair to

only blame on PE teachers, because the whole environment [working condition] was problematic as well’ (IHa-1-59). He explained that PE teachers were often assigned to

do additional duties without extra rewards. It is not surprised that teachers would put

in effort based on their judgements about what work was worth doing and what could be avoided.

Besides his personal teaching philosophy and students’ feedback, the other factor underpinning Hank’s persistence in teaching was his four-year old son. Hank affirmed

‘if I don’t want my son to be taught by this kind of teacher, how could I become one of them?’ (IHa-1-48)

With regard to Hank’s CPD in teaching, he tended to design teaching programs by

self-reflection and integrating the interesting elements he had experienced in his previous rugby training. He then adjusted and refined these elements through practice.

Hank’s involvement in a postgraduate degree appeared to be a significant influence to his CPD. This is discussed next.

4.3.4 Beliefs about PE and reaction to the Grade 1-9 Curriculum

Although Hank’s career started with the introduction and implementation of the Grade 1-9 Curriculum, it seemed to have little impact on his initial teaching.

The in-service training began with the introduction of theoretical stuff… there’re very general… and even empty to us. They’re only concepts, but no specific indications about what to do. (IHa-3-39)

During the first year of the implementation, Hank was doing military service. He returned to work after the argument about Integrative Teaching had stabilized.

Therefore, Hank needed to prepare for PE teaching only.

Instead of the new curriculum guidelines, Hank’s involvement in a postgraduate degree seemed to be a turning point for his teaching. While Hank liked to try new

ideas to make his PE lessons more interesting, his priority was still developing pupils’ sports skills and performance. However, after he completed a postgraduate degree and

learnt about a variety of theory-based PE teaching models, Hank began to realize that PE could be more than just skill learning. He also discovered that some of his previous

ideas matched the theories that he had learnt. In the meantime, Hank was assigned to conduct action research by the administrator. He designed a project to examine

students’ fitness levels before and after summer vacation, and found out that his students rarely engaged in physical activities when they were not at school. This

convinced Hank that promoting pupils’ interest in sports participation would be more valuable in the long term than focussing on sports skill development. Moreover, he

also valued the use of fitness tests because they could provide statistical data to demonstrate the effectiveness of PE. It is interesting to note how Hank, as an

ex-professional rugby player, shifted his focus from skill learning to active participation in physical activities. It could be argued that Hank rapidly changed his

values because his involvement in PE teaching was relatively short. Moreover, it should also be noted that the acquisition of new knowledge seemed to provide Hank

with not only the confidence, but also the methods to change.

According to Hank’s understanding, one key intention of the educational reform was to initiate teacher collaboration. However, in his school, ‘the curriculum plan was

always written by a certain person instead of being discussed by all teachers’. (IHa-1-51) Although this situation might refer only to the atmosphere in Hank’s

school, the curriculum guidelines were a lower priority in Hank’s personal practice. While planning PE teaching programmes, Hank usually ‘wrote down the teaching

plan first, and then tried to match the guidelines with the written plan’. (IHa-3-02)

Hank was invited to join the Advisory Group due to his outstanding presentation about his action research (that was recognised by some coordinators, including Fiona).

In helping to organise in-service training courses and sharing personal experiences with PE teachers in Taipei County, he encountered an interesting dilemma in

employing CPD course leaders. On the one hand, lectures delivered by ‘professors’ seemed to be less appreciated because they provided general or theoretical content; on

the other hand, practical experiences delivered by ‘school teachers’ appeared to hold less value because they were delivered by people of similar level as the participants.

Hank argued that in CPD providers should try to make the new topics relevant to teachers’ lives; and that teachers themselves should also maintain an open attitude to

different approaches. According to Hank’s experience, ‘only when you try to

understand and transfer the knowledge, will the learning occur’. (IHa-2-24)

In an attempt to plan CPD courses that could meet teachers’ needs, Hank proposed

several topics that addressed the practical difficulties of PE teaching, including: how to deliver PE lessons in a crowded playground, and how to use natural surroundings

in planning PE lessons. Although these courses received positive feedback, the number of participants was fewer then he had anticipated.

The Requirement of CPD Hours should be about learning… However, as far as I know, the meeting in TLA was counted as a part of the requirement in many schools. (IHa-1-58)

Therefore, since the requirement could be easily achieved, teachers could have been less willing to attend specific CPD courses.

4.3.5 Summary: the influence of personal experiences