Background/Purpose Service learning is a credit-bearing experience for students which is focused on community needs. Scholars agree that service learning is beneficial to both the student and the community, yet research on service learning in physical education is limited. The purpose of this study was to examine pre-service teachers' experiences of taking a part in service learning.
Method Ten pre-service physical education teachers delivered individual health and fitness instruction to ten young adults with disabilities for a total of 120 75-minute sessions. All young adults had varying degrees of intellectual delay ranging from mild-to-moderate learning disabilities to autism and some had physical disabilities such as those associated with Down syndrome. Data were collected through individual interviews, informal interviews, critical incident reports, document analysis and direct observation.
Analysis/Results Thematic analysis was used to analyze all data. The following themes relating to pre-service teachers' experiences were identified: (a) initial frustration and communication challenges, (b) evidence of effective teaching skills, (c) early use of PE ‘shared technical language', (d) increased teaching confidence, and (e) a sense of learner accomplishment.
Conclusions The results of this study suggest that pre-service teachers utilized their early pedagogical content knowledge which enabled them to plan for, using effective teaching strategies and lesson modifications, and meet the challenges presented by the young adults with disabilities. Similar to previous research in education, pre-service physical education teachers viewed their service learning as a positive experience which contributed to their own growth as teachers and was beneficial to the community.
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