Physical Education Teacher Education in a Global Policy Space

Book excerpt: This book seeks to focus attention on physical education teacher education (PETE) by building the knowledge base and broadening the geographical, theoretical, and innovative writing about PETE, PETE teacher educators, and those who shape and experience PETE. Teacher competence is a major factor in influencing student learning. Teacher educator competence is also a key factor in preparing high-quality teachers for schools. Therefore, there is a high value in focussing on who teacher educators are and which knowledge bases can inform careful program design as well as pedagogical and assessment strategies around the intended processes of teacher learning. Developed around a framework for studying teacher education, insights into two key elements of teacher education are used to structure the content of this book. Five of the six chapters focus on pedagogies of teacher education, while the last chapter explores the lives of an international cohort of teacher educators and their motives for engagement in research. Based on elements presented and those provided in the framework an agenda exploring pressing issues for teacher education is posed. This book was originally published as a special issue of Curriculum Studies in Health and Physical Education.