Pretest postest

Position Graduation

Year

Qualifications Years employment at setting

HPE teacher 2012 Bach. Ed. (PE) 2 years

Before I went into the conversation with Aaron, I was made aware through incidental discussions with other staff members that he was an early career teacher. My expectations and assumptions included a consideration that Aaron

would be knowledgeable with relation to the discussion area, having just graduated from his tertiary studies. I thought that the matters under discussion would have been addressed most recently during his studies and he would be able to speak at some length and depth. This, unfortunately, did not turn out to be the case. Aaron’s conversation was short and lacking in depth. It was ‘hard work’ to get any conversation flowing.

Aaron commenced his teaching career at St David’s College. This was Aaron’s second year of full-time teaching, having graduated in 2012 with a Bachelor of Education (Physical Education). From his late secondary school years, Aaron always had a desire to be a PE teacher. From this perspective, Aaron fulfils the ‘ideal’ of a young sportsman attracted to a career in HPE teaching. During his transition from university to a full-time teaching career, Aaron worked as a casual relief teacher for a year (2013) to obtain experience in the field and to acquire an income. His casual relief work led to part-time work at St David’s, then to full-time employment in 2014. Aaron does not live locally but travels 50 minutes to work every day.

Being an early career teacher, Aaron admitted to being focused on his teaching duties and the establishment of his own career. Aaron began the conversation by explaining his background experience. When asked about his knowledge of the historical background of physical education in Australia, he identified that his knowledge was limited and that he had difficulty in recollecting any of the significant milestones within the discipline. He did venture an opinion that obesity was a noteworthy issue for consideration.

An enquiry led Aaron to comment on his lack of involvement in curriculum development. However, he felt this was due to his position as an early career teacher and so time and circumstances had prevailed upon him from being able to participate in any meaningful opportunities. When asked as to the types of curriculum models that he was familiar with, Aaron spoke briefly on his understanding and use of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (VELS) curriculum model.

I then approached the subject of educational change and Aaron’s attitude towards it. Aaron commented that educational change was annoying and it was frustrating to have to learn new things:

Aaron – It’s annoying, ’cause you have to learn new things and always double check and make sure you’re doing the right things to start with. Yeah. That’s the main one. It’s just frustrating, I suppose, when they change it. If it’s a lot different, it’s very frustrating.

He volunteered that his interest levels were low in relation to the AC:HPE Curriculum and that he would address the AC:HPE Curriculum only when it became necessary to do so. When asked if he was aware of any opportunity that he may have had to have had input into the AC:HPE Curriculum, Aaron replied that he was not aware, and even if he was, he would not have taken up the opportunity. I asked why he felt that way and he explained that he considered that he had not been teaching long enough to be able to make a meaningful contribution to the discussion.

I then proceeded to discuss with Aaron his knowledge of the AC:HPE Curriculum. Aaron again highlighted his lack of interest in the national curriculum. He deemed it to be not easily accessible and he was unable to describe the AC:HPE Curriculum in any detail. Aaron did venture an opinion in that he thought it would mean the same curriculum across the nation. The matter of having enough time in which to manage the change was a concern for Aaron.

In concluding the conversation, Aaron felt that the AC:HPE Curriculum would have little impact upon his teaching. He did not expect the curriculum to change significantly because he thought that the issue for him at the school level was about student participant in the subject. The only change he expected to see was in regard to the theory content of the subject.

Aaron - Might change a little bit how I teach, just with – if it's more specific, I suppose, teaching to those sorts of standards. I don't

think it will impact me that much. I don't reckon it would change a whole heap. Unless I was doing theory-based PE classes I don't think it will change a lot the way I teach.

Upon reflection, what I took away from this conversation was a sense of power and who controls the power during these conversations. There was an obvious age gap between Aaron and myself, and I felt that this gap played a significant part in the power game. I could not help but feel that as the conversation progressed, Aaron viewed me as the ‘expert’ in the field and therefore he was not really telling me anything I did not know already. Unfortunately, in this context, the reasons for this were simple. First, he had recently graduated from college whereas I had been teaching for a significant number of years. Second, I was obviously conducting some sort of research and he was assisting me in my inquiries. So while I was doing my best to make him feel comfortable and at ease to get the conversation flowing, circumstances were working against me.