Background: During the pandemic, Italian school teachers quickly shifted from face-to-face to online teaching. Starting from the first lockdown in 2020, and the following two school years, teachers faced many challenges in delivering teaching through in-person, online, and hybrid teaching modes. Purpose: This study is aimed to explore Physical Education (PE) teaching strategies and practices in primary school, in-person and online teaching. Materials and methods: Fifty-six Italian teachers (M=4, F=52; Mage=52.27; SD=7.19) from 4 primary schools were involved. A cross-sectional online survey and a mixed-method approach were used to collect data among Italian Primary School teachers. Participants filled in an online questionnaire composed of two sections: 1) socio-demographic and professional information and 2) two subscales of the MESI Questionnaire, to assess teaching strategies and teaching practices in distance education instructional delivery and in the face-to-face classroom. Results: In online teaching, 94.64% of teachers adapted teaching strategies to distance learning technologies. PE formally continued to be taught by teachers without the support of external PE specialists, suspended during the lockdown. However, only 13 teachers performed online PE activities. Discussion and conclusions: From the 2022-23 school year, PE staff teachers were included in the final grade of primary schools and progressively, over the years, in the other grades. Efforts in pre-service and in-service teacher training programs should focus on strengthening PE online teaching methods, as well as the use of distance learning technologies, teaching methods and practices in interdisciplinary teaching, and teaching methods supported by cooperative networking. Furthermore, in order to promote full inclusion in digital and real learning environments, it seems crucial to focus on improving students' communication and interpersonal skills.
Physical education teaching strategies in Italian primary school: reflections for the post-pandemic era
Nicolosi S.
Investigation
;
2023-01-01
Abstract
Background: During the pandemic, Italian school teachers quickly shifted from face-to-face to online teaching. Starting from the first lockdown in 2020, and the following two school years, teachers faced many challenges in delivering teaching through in-person, online, and hybrid teaching modes. Purpose: This study is aimed to explore Physical Education (PE) teaching strategies and practices in primary school, in-person and online teaching. Materials and methods: Fifty-six Italian teachers (M=4, F=52; Mage=52.27; SD=7.19) from 4 primary schools were involved. A cross-sectional online survey and a mixed-method approach were used to collect data among Italian Primary School teachers. Participants filled in an online questionnaire composed of two sections: 1) socio-demographic and professional information and 2) two subscales of the MESI Questionnaire, to assess teaching strategies and teaching practices in distance education instructional delivery and in the face-to-face classroom. Results: In online teaching, 94.64% of teachers adapted teaching strategies to distance learning technologies. PE formally continued to be taught by teachers without the support of external PE specialists, suspended during the lockdown. However, only 13 teachers performed online PE activities. Discussion and conclusions: From the 2022-23 school year, PE staff teachers were included in the final grade of primary schools and progressively, over the years, in the other grades. Efforts in pre-service and in-service teacher training programs should focus on strengthening PE online teaching methods, as well as the use of distance learning technologies, teaching methods and practices in interdisciplinary teaching, and teaching methods supported by cooperative networking. Furthermore, in order to promote full inclusion in digital and real learning environments, it seems crucial to focus on improving students' communication and interpersonal skills.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
