Jim is a 43 year old, male PE teacher. He graduated from the PE department of the
National Defence University and served in the military until his voluntary retirement in 1998. Jim completed his teacher certificate and a Master’s degree while working as
a substitute PE teacher in a private senior high school. He then entered a junior high school in Taipei City in 2001 where he has worked since. Jim was involved in the
editing of HPELA textbooks between 2002 and 2005, and engaged in the Advisory Group between 2006 and 2008.
4.4.2 Personal background and pre-service teacher training
For Jim, Chinese Literature and PE were both his favourite school subjects. Jim used to join sports clubs, though he mainly focused on academic learning when he studied
at elementary and high schools. Within the university entrance exam, while Jim failed to gain grades to enter the department of Literature, he did reach the standard for entry
to the PE department of the Normal University. However, Jim’s father was opposed to him studying PE, so he took the entrance exam for the National Defence University
instead. However, even there Jim was again allocated to the PE department. He then conducted his study into PE without informing his father.
Teaching was a stable career… but, perhaps… (Sigh)… PE… PE teacher… wasn’t considered as a proper job (by my father). (IJi-1-13)
The training in the Defence University was comprehensive and strict. As well as
modern sports, there was also military training. In addition, the training approach was always undertaken using a command style. During the process, Jim was attracted by
the work of PE officers and also wished to engage in work related to physical training after he graduated. Importantly, this training experience appeared to provide Jim with
clear values for PE and a specific image.
After he graduated in 1990, Jim started to conduct administrative work in the military. Despite several applications, Jim was unable to transfer to be a PE officer due to his
educational background and outstanding performance in administration. Jim was unhappy with this situation. Therefore, in 1997, when the retirement policy changed,
Jim decided to retire from the military in order to work as a PE teacher instead. (The regulated age for a military officer’s retirement had been 45 years old. However, a
change of policy enabled the application for retirement to take place after eight-years service). Notably, Jim was very active in pursuing his second career. Within the
period in which he worked as a substitute PE teacher in a private senior high school, he completed a part-time teacher education programme in the first year, and did a
Masters degree in the second and third year.
Jim’s experience of PE teaching in the initial months, however, appeared to conflict with his personal values about PE.
In my mind, PE should be like training or coaching… I’d find fulfilment when I saw progress in students’ skill performance… However, they [the students] couldn’t achieve this target… (IJi-1-39)
After the first months teaching, I told my wife I… I didn’t want to teach PE anymore… At that time, I felt that…they didn’t even need a professional PE teacher to deliver PE! …I was very frustrated. (IJi-1-36)
The reality Jim perceived kept challenging his previous thoughts. Moreover, the necessity of having a job seemed to force him to reconsider the task of school PE and
adapt himself to this work. Meanwhile, Jim also reported that working in a private school was stressful due to the administrator’s frequent evaluations of staff, which
appeared to influence the teachers’ commitment to teaching and additional duties. Afterwards, due to the influence of his colleagues, Jim found fulfilment in inventing
new PE teaching programmes to increase students’ participation, instead of mainly focusing on developing pupils’ skill performance.
4.4.3 Career and professional development
In 2001, Jim found a full-time position in his second school, and has been working there since. In the first year, he was surprised to see that the older teachers did not
teach but merely supervised lessons. In the second year, new PE teachers joined, following the retirement of some of the older teachers. As Jim became the most senior
person in the PE group, he volunteered for the role of Section Chief of PE and started to lead other PE teachers in developing and implementing PE programmes and
activities in the school. However, although the PE programme was still running well, Jim indicated that the group was not as united as during the initial years.
The situation used to be… a programme implemented by all of the PE teachers… but, in recent years, it’s implemented independently… If you’d like to try new stuff, you’d do it in your own class; if not, you just followed the previous programme (IJi-1-40).
To compare with his previous experience in the private school, Jim thought that the
public school provided teachers with more autonomy but no proper evaluation, so that the running of school events or even personal teaching would be very much dependent
on each teacher’s own decision. It is worth noting that this perspective was also employed to explain teachers’ attitudes toward CPD and the implementation of
governmental policy.
Whether a policy was compulsory… I’d make an assessment in my mind first. If it’s useless, the door would be shut right away; whereas, if it’s useful, I’d learn as much as I could. That’s the way it is. (IJi-2-31)
In addition, motive and purpose appeared to be the most influential factors for
engaging in CPD activity. From 2003 to 2007, Jim engaged in self-study and published a number of journal articles about PE teaching. He admitted that his initial
motive was to improve his reference for applying for a doctoral course; and pursuing a PhD was his preparation for – possibly – another career change. When he gave up the
idea of doing a doctoral course, Jim moved to apply some of his studies to teaching, and presented the results to other PE teachers while being coordinator in the Advisory
Group. In an attempt to understand Jim’s efforts in learning and working, it seemed that he had a deep motive to gain the respect of his colleagues:
For a long time, people always thought that PE teachers… PE people just had a ‘developed body, but an undeveloped brain’… these words were hurtful…I wanted to prove that I wasn’t like this! (IJi-96)
This negative impression was not necessarily gained directly from his colleagues; instead it was perceived through his interpretation of school policies and school
culture. Moreover, such impression may generate from his personal judgement about certain PE teachers he had met, or even from his father’s preconceptions about PE.
4.4.4 Beliefs about PE and reaction to the Grade 1-9 Curriculum
Jim’s initial values and approach about PE stemmed from his educational training in
the military. However, they appeared to change through his interaction with students and colleagues, and were further influenced by the Grade 1-9 Curriculum. Besides
attending CPD courses, Jim’s involvement in editing HPELA textbooks also enhanced his understanding about the current curriculum guidelines. Jim argued that ‘the
current curriculum guidelines were interpretable and dependent on each teacher’s decision’ (IJi-2-93).
Jim pointed out that PE could be focussed on: learning skills, experiencing different
sports experiences, understanding the knowledge of sports, promoting physical activity and developing interests in sports. Accordingly, teaching approaches should
vary where priorities were different. While the ultimate goal in HPELA was ‘to
develop a habit of life-long exercise’ (IJi-2-33), Jim thought that the achievement of
such a goal would be difficult to demonstrate. Whereas ‘the type of life-long exercise
exercise habits were mostly developed through group sports and the influence of friendships. Thus, with a concern about students’ interests, Jim felt that, the most
tenable position in PE teaching would be to ensure that students were ‘trying different
sports events, but with basic skills instruction only (IJi-3-06). This was to enable
pupils to understand and enjoy sports and thereby, hopefully, continue to engage in physical activity after leaving school.
While Jim did change his approach to PE teaching, he seemed to be unable to give up
completely his earlier values about PE.
In terms of PE teaching, I couldn’t find fulfilment… I don’t feel that their improvement is because of me… On the other hand, I might be sort of proud of myself because… my PE lesson is comprehensive… is different from the traditional type, and, I could give students more stuff than other teachers could. It’s not, not… an achievement, but a feeling that… at least… I’m doing my job properly. (IJi-1-95)
Although the curriculum change appeared to influence Jim’s emphasis in PE, the curriculum guidelines did not lead his teaching practice. Instead, Jim claimed that
teachers’ concerns about an actual teaching programme usually began with: what was available in school and what was achievable and needed by students? This situation
seemed to imply an inconsistency between the theoretical framework of the HPELA curriculum guidelines and the logic PE teachers used when planning teaching
programmes.
Although… the curriculum seemed to be formed through discussion between scholars, the public and school teachers… in fact, it’s all dominated by the professors. It’s all from their theory! (IJi-2-98)
Furthermore, in attempting to integrate PE with HE while he edited the HPELA
textbook, Jim argued that ‘there was nothing except fitness and sports injury that
could be connected’ (IJi-2-82) between these two specialized subjects. Similarly, in
PE teaching, health appeared to be a concept designed to promote PE, but to not have much impact upon it.
In an attempt to review the implementation of the Grade 1-9 Curriculum, Jim recalled
that the publishing of the policy, ‘Integrative Teaching’ and ‘Team Teaching’, seemed to be opposed by not only PE teachers but also teachers of other subjects. Despite the
oppositional voice from schools and teachers, the Government maintained their position and tried to convince teachers by launching more in-service training courses.
When the policy was launched, Jim’s school decided not to follow it because it seemed to be so problematic in practice. Integrative Teaching seemed to be
challenging for many teachers; and Team Teaching appeared to be nearly impossible for the school administrators to arrange.
Two years after the initial curriculum implementation, the MOE called a review
meeting, and made Integrative Teaching and Team Teaching optional instead of compulsory. Therefore, although Jim was assigned to teach some HE lessons due to a
lack of sufficient HE teachers, PE teachers usually delivered only PE. While delivering the HE lessons of HPELA, Jim tended to depend on the textbook.
It’s quite hard to prepare, because… it’s not my strength.... It’s even more difficult when it comes to the eighth and ninth grade… So, when there’s nothing more that can be delivered, I would… bring them out for PE instead.
(IJi-1-107) Sometimes, it [HE lesson] could also be an alternative when it’s raining during PE lessons. (IJi-1-108)
As the teaching approach, the teaching hours and the content of PE teaching remained
the same as before the educational reform, it could be argued that ‘there’s no change’
(IJi-2-82).
4.4.5 Summary: the influence of personal experiences In short, Jim’s life history reveals:
(1) how Jim’s father’s beliefs influenced his awareness about the status of PE and,
presumably, his subsequent fight-for-status actions;
(2) how military experiences influenced Jim’s beliefs and preferences about PE;
(3) how the pressure of having a job influenced Jim’s professional development; and (4) how Jim’s work experience in the private school influenced his evaluation of his
colleagues and the school culture in public schools.
4.5 Malone’s Life History