Context/background Physical Education (PE) has holistic benefits for all in physical, social and cognitive domains. In the interest of the holistic development of young children, generalist primary school teachers teach all subjects of the curriculum in many countries while other countries have specialists PE teachers or both. Literature highlights the challenges teachers experience teaching PE, particularly as non-specialist teachers. Therefore, adequate PE teacher education (PETE) programmes (initial teacher education; induction; CPD/in-service education) preparing for the delivery of quality PE (QPE) are of highest importance. The project partners recognise that one issue for PETE curriculum formulation is what constitutes a PE teacher and that current diverse European-wide practices need to be taken into account. Thus, not all teachers in charge of primary PE are specialist PE teachers, in order that when the terms “PE teacher” or “PETE (PE teacher education)” are used in the context of this project, it is referred to any teacher teaching PE adhering to one of the three profiles described above. In consequence, the project partners are seeking for a general approach focusing on PE teacher education, allowing an adaptation to national/regional contexts and/or different phases of teacher education (initial teacher education; induction; CPD/in-service education). Because of the diverse accreditation practices of well-established and legally constituted national PETE frameworks across Europe, the need for flexibility in PETE provision has to be recognized. Objectives - to bring together European HEI and other stakeholders active in Primary PETE and to foster their cooperation in PETE and mobility exchange - to provide an overview of Primary PETE in Europe - to inform and facilitate the formulation of a profile of a primary PE teacher and a modular curriculum for Primary PETE based on this profile and core principles - to make this modular curriculum available for any interested stakeholders - to foster the delivery of QPE in primary education by strengthening the primary PE teacher profession Number and profile of participants The consortium consists of the main partners University of Luxembourg (project coordinator), University of Sevilla, University of Lisbon, Free University of Bolzano, University of Trnava, Dublin City University, and the European Physical Education Association (EUPEA). The project partners will be represented in total by 19 teacher educators and/or researches. They all have a strong confirmed expertise in primary PETE. Furthermore, 14 associated partners are going to contribute to the project. Description of activities Through this strategic partnership, the consortium proposes to develop an open resource platform providing relevant resources for Primary PETE in Europe. During the project lifetime, five transnational meetings, 5 learning, training and teaching activities and seven multiplier events will be organized, in order to develop and disseminate ten intellectual outputs. Methodology The project coordinator will use the methodology adopted by the University of Luxembourg (UL), therefore agile project management will be used throughout the project execution. The UL project leader will be responsible for overseeing the execution of the project plan, through its various activities and the management of their execution. Quarterly reports will be drafted by all partners and sent to the project coordinator, who will use these reports to monitor the project activities and use of budget according to the project description. A short description of the results An open resource platform will be developed, including as a main a modular primary PETE programme consisting of course modules and micro-module, developed based on recommendations on Primary PETE, a primary PE teacher profile and a respective theoretical and methodological framework. In addition, several intangible results are expected for the different group of project participants, e.g. knowledge and experience in Primary PETE and increased teaching skills for teacher educators. Impact envisaged The development of a free open educational resource platform will be beneficial to teacher educators in PETE, as well as to PETE curriculum developers and political or any other stakeholders in charge of PETE. Further on, the project will lead to the further development of an existing transnational working and expert group for Primary PETE in Europe. Longer term benefits In long term, it is expected that a large pool of teacher educators will benefit from these resources. They will have at their use resources that they can use in initial teacher education, induction phase or in-service training to enhance student teachers’ or teachers’ knowledge, skills and attitudes when it comes to the implementation of QPE, thus raising the quality of primary PE in Europe.
The general objectives of PRIME PETE were: - to bring together European HEI and other stakeholders active in Primary PETE and to foster their cooperation in PETE and mobility exchange - to provide an overview of Primary PETE in Europe - to inform and facilitate the formulation of a profile of a primary PE teacher and a modular curriculum for Primary PETE based on this profile and core principles - to make this modular curriculum available for any interested stakeholders - to foster the delivery of QPE in primary education by strengthening the primary PE teacher profession Now, after the end of the project, it can be summarized that the practical aim of the PRIME PETE Erasmus+ project was to develop a primary PETE programme that can be implemented by any Higher Education Institution (HEI) in Europe, cognisant of the diverse settings for teaching primary Physical Education (PE) in the different countries and jurisdictions. The PRIME PETE programme is a modular programme consisting of course modules and micro-modules (discussed below) based on the theoretical and methodological framework for primary PETE (IO#4) and is available for download on an open online course platform (IO#9) under a respective license.
The contribution of physical education (PE) to holistic development relates to both the physical, the social and cognitive domains. While in some countries, in the spirit of this holistic development of young children, general education elementary school teachers teach PE, in other countries specific PE teachers or both are trained. The literature points to the challenges teachers face teaching PE, especially as non-specialist teachers. Therefore, adequate PE teacher education programs (initial, induction, CPD and in-service) that prepare teachers to deliver quality PE (QPE) are necessary. To provide QPE in primary schools, subject-related knowledge, skills, and competencies are required from every teacher teaching PE. To our knowledge, no precise common profile for Primary PE teachers exists in Europe. As the situation regarding the implementation of Primary PE in Europe is very diverse, the definition of a common, reliable profile is challenging. Nevertheless, a profile with core competency requirements (core of the curriculum) for the implementation of QPE in primary schools is necessary and would be helpful to orientate Primary PETE curriculum development in general.