Background/Purpose . Professional development is often viewed as something done to teachers; not for and with them (Amour & Yelling, 2004). Thus results have been, in many cases, ineffective and fragmented; not serving teachers or their students. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of teachers engaged in participant-centered physical education professional development programs. Specifically, characteristics of professional development that were perceived as positively contributing to teacher learning were explored.
Method . Participants included 103 teachers representing nine on-going international professional development projects. Data sources included 14 focus group interviews over a two-year period. Data were analyzed using open and axial coding (Corbin & Strauss, 2008).
Analysis/Results . Five themes defined teachers' perceptions of contributors to their learning: 1) active engagement, 2) ownership, 3) relevance, 4) sustained over time, and 5) facilitated with care. Active learning included both physical and cognitive engagement to acquire and apply new knowledge. Ownership incorporated teachers driving both the form and content of learning activities. Relevance referred to discipline specific professional development focused on meaningful content facilitated by subject matter specialists. Sustained professional development meant ongoing and recurring learning experiences, with frequent feedback. Finally, facilitation with care was characterized by creating a non-judgmental environment where teachers were challenged, yet felt safe.
Conclusions . Overall these results provide insight into teachers' views of the pedagogy of professional development and the context in which it is most successful. Findings further discount the notion that “one size fits all”, one shot professional development is beneficial to teachers.