While existence of persons with disabilities was not denied, the Soviet system of higher education did not encompass preparation of specialists in adapted physical education. In the post-Soviet society, Lybisheva (1993) posited the necessity of critical and creative reform in physical education teacher education programs to include adapted physical education. Shortly thereafter a new profession, “adapted physical educator,” was sanctioned by the State Committee of Higher Education of Russia in 1996 (Goskomvyz, 1996). This sanction authorized universities to offer a new major and begin preparation of professionals in adapted PE.
Given the relative newness of the field in Russia, the purpose of the study was to examine what knowledge sources Russian adapted pre-service physical education teachers perceive as helpful. Shulman's (1987) theoretical framework on teacher's knowledge and sources of teacher's knowledge guided the study.
Method
Twenty four students (13 men and 11 women, mean age = 20.5 years) participated in the study. The participants were a cohort of adapted physical education students completing their forth year of study at the mid-major university located in central part of Russia. The university instituted the adapted physical education major in 2002.
The following data sources informed the study: semi-structured group interviews, content analysis of study plans, stimulated recall interviews, and Q-Sort rankings. All students were interviewed in small groups (2-3), with each interview lasting about 90 minutes. They were asked about background, coursework, relevant experiences, and teaching experiences with students with disabilities. Next time, students were asked to sort and rank eleven different knowledge source for teachers (Shulman, 1987) then interviewed again and asked to explain their rank ordering.
Analysis/Results
The data were analyzed using thematic analysis (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003) and Q-sort rankings were calculated.
The following themes were identified: incongruence between coursework and perception of students' main source of knowledge – teaching experience, deficiency of learning from other teachers, and lack of appropriate resources.
Conclusions
The results of the study indicated that courses of study for adapted physical educators included a number of specialized courses that reflected strong medical foci (e.g., “general pathology and therapy,” “rehabilitation of patients and invalids”). However, similar to previous research (Harding, 2005) Russian students identified teaching experience as their main source of knowledge. This finding underscored the incongruence between the required coursework and students' perception of their main source of knowledge in adapted physical education. The inclusion of pedagogical courses into the university's adapted curriculum is recommended.