Physical Education Teachers′ Action Research on Teaching Games for Understanding

Abstract The aim of the present article is to report on a study undertaken to inquire two physical education (PE) teachers′ effort to learn and implement the student-centered pedagogy of the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach, by using the Action Research (AR) framework as a research methodology. Two in-service PE teachers, each being responsible for a different class of Grade three and four students, from a primary school in Athens, Greece, participated in the study. During a period of two months, the two teachers used an AR cyclical process of planning, applying, observing and reflecting on the TGfU approach, with the purpose of bringing change in their professional practice and in their students’ learning. Data was generated through the use reflective journals, survey questions, document analyses and non-participant observations. An inductive analysis and a constant comparative method (Denzin & Lincoln 1994) were used for data analysis and three major themes emerged: teaching PE with TGfU, student learning within TGfU, and teacher’s acting and researching on TGfU. From the results, it was found that AR, although initially a difficult undertaking, is an appropriate framework for enhancing PE teachers’ capacity to design non-hierarchical lesson activities that are dedicated to students’ understanding and development, as the ones suggested by the TGfU approach.