The project investigates how core reflection and Bildung can be used to promote professional development in Physical Education Teacher Education (PETE).
The project explores how core reflection (Korthagen, 2022), grounded in a Bildung perspective inspired by Klafki (2007), can strengthen professional development in physical education teacher education.
The project seeks to address the theory–practice gap through using reflective processes that integrate personal experiences, theory, and practice.
These reflections open up for critical examination of values, patterns of action, and the normative frameworks of education and support the development of a more reflective and socially oriented professional identity among preservice teachers.
More about the project
Reflection is central to teacher education. Nevertheless, research in physical education teacher education (PETE) shows that students’ reflections often remain at a technical level, focusing on methods and immediate teaching outcomes (Standal et al., 2014). There is a notable lack of forms of reflection that address the social, ethical, and political dimensions of teaching.
At the same time, international research points to a persistent theory–practice gap, where students struggle to create meaningful connections between academic knowledge and practical experience.
The aim of this project is to strengthen professional development in PETE within existing frameworks by developing reflective practices that go beyond the technical level.
The project addresses a fundamental challenge in teacher education: how reflective work can be designed so that it is not limited to technical evaluations, but also enables critical and value-oriented processing of practical experiences.
By further developing core reflection (Korthagen & Nuijten, 2022) within a Bildung perspective (Klafki, 2007), preservice teachers are provided with tools to explore the relationship between their own experiences, professional ideals, and pedagogical choices. In this way, the project supports the development of a more reflective, responsible, and socially aware and socially critical professional identity.
Method
The project is designed as an intervention study with a longitudinal perspective. It combines qualitative studies of students’ experiences with the theoretical–analytical development of a conceptual framework, as well as a questionnaire to trace the development of students’ Bildung over time.
