Models-based practice: great white hope or white elephant?

By A. Casey. 2014

224 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Background: Many critical curriculum theorists in physical education have advocated a model- or models-based approach to teaching in the subject. This paper explores the literature base around models-based practice (MBP) and asks if this multi-models approach to curriculum planning has the potential to be the great white hope of pedagogical change or, if in fact, it is a white elephant that should be reconsidered or abandoned. Purpose: To review the literature around pedagogical and curricular change in physical education that relates to teachers experience of models-based practice. This review of research on teachers’ perceptions and use of MBP was undertaken in an effort to ascertain the ways in which practitioners’ interpreted this type of change in practice. Data collection: Papers were selected by searching EBSCO databases with the identifiers “Instructional Models”, “Sport Education”, “Teaching Games for Understanding” and their hybrids, “Cooperative learning”, “Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility”, “Personalised System of Instruction” “Peer Teaching Model” and “Inquiry Teaching.” These were chosen as they match the seven innovative models in Metzler's (2010) compendium of instructional models. Further articles were obtained through the citations and references in the original documents. Data analysis: Analysis of the 45 papers followed a systematic process of inductive analysis and constant comparison. The categories, which emerged from the analysis, were based upon the researcher's perceptions of findings and revealed five key findings/themes; (i) change for teachers, (ii) difficultly and time, (iii) diversification in the teacher's role, (iv) evidence of effectiveness and (iv) university/teacher collaboration. Findings: While changes in attitude, positive feelings, efficacy, enthusiasm and vigour were reported by teachers, there was also an acknowledgement that they lacked experience in using MBP which made them feel like they were ‘beginning teachers’ again. For some the conceptual shift was too much and they deliberately returned to their old pedagogies. For others, the change occurred slowly but gradually over the course of the intervention. When professional learning was part of the relationship between the teachers and researchers, then these returns to old practices was not reported. However, it was acknowledged that to engage with MBP required greater effort on behalf of the teacher and that to feel comfortable could take upwards of two years. Change was a difficult undertaking, but when ‘evidence’ of success was used to support the teachers’ learning then they felt more confident in their decisions. The biggest factor in engendering change was the sustained support offered through collaborative partnerships between schools and universities. These supportive relationships allowed the teachers to continually reconsider their practice with the help of experienced colleagues. Conclusions: While MBP has begun to help practitioners to change and develop their pedagogies and curriculum, we are still a way away from understanding the impact of changing to a models-based approach. Research needs to be focused beyond the initial use of the model(s) and one needs to explore the longitudinal impact of adopting a multi-model curriculum. Furthermore, advocates of MBP need to explore the pedagogical and curricular ramifications on teachers of the long-term adoption of a models-based approach.

Subfields: Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation, Social Psychology, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/69952c962ac2b490cdd330933dfc20928dc2c92d

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Citations in the corpus

Can Cooperative Learning Achieve the Four Learning Outcomes of Physical Education? A Review of Literature (2015, background): “3 Games for Understanding were constructed and developed in the 1980s by researchers in the field of physical education and sport pedagogy, Cooperative Learning only began to gain momentum in physical education during the early part of the 21st Century and emerged from its use in other curriculum su”
“I’m a Facilitator of Learning!” Understanding What Teachers and Students Do Within Student-Centered Physical Education Models (2015, background): “Moreover, and similar to Hastie and Casey (2014) discussions around fidelity, if we are to be confident that a student-centered approach has been used, there is a need to describe teacher action and how learning has been supported. While it is acknowledged that any definition cannot be legitimized u”
Towards an activist approach to research and advocacy for girls and physical education (2016, background): “Kirk (2013) and Casey (2014) have developed a case for a ‘models-based’ approach to physical education building on the work of Metzler (2005) on ‘instructional models’ and Jewett et al. (1995) on ‘curriculum models’.”
A Review of the Game-Based Approaches to Coaching Literature in Competitive Team Sport Settings (2018, methodology): “The difficulties highlighted in this review could be explained by previous research (Casey, 2014; Goodyear & Dudley, 2015) that suggest teachers/coaches may be reluctant to use player-centered approaches due to limited understanding on how to interact when repositioning to the role of a facilitator.”
Adopting a models-based approach to teaching physical education (2018, methodology): “However, accompanying such instances, and in keeping with previous research (Casey 2014), the teacher noted a high level of frustration in enacting appropriate roles and responsibilities due to his previous preferred practice of maintaining a high level of teacher involvement in classes rather than…”
Impact of a sustained Cooperative Learning intervention on student motivation (2017, background): “Researchers agree that it takes several units for the students to become skilled at learning under a new pedagogical model, and Cooperative Learning is no different (Casey 2011, 2014; Goodyear 2013; Goodyear and Casey 2015).”
Hybridizing pedagogical models: A systematic review (2018, background): “Keywords Hybridizations, models-based practice, pedagogical approach, instructional models, physical education Introduction All over the world, models-based practice in physical education (PE) has become a leading trend for practitioners and researchers alike (Casey, 2014; Fernández-Rı́o, 2017).”