Teachers as agents of change: teachers’ constructions of curricular change: a qualitative analysis of the STEPS PD Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) programme in Northern Ireland primary schools
type: CreativeWork
description: Educational change has been a dominant feature of the educational landscape nationally and internationally whereby schools have been ‘subjected to constant and ubiquitous pressures to innovate’ (Priestley, 2011). Whilst the key objective is to enhance educational provision and to ensure more efficient and effective outcomes it is the strategic positioning of teachers as agents of change that is deemed to be integral to the success of innovation and its enactment in practice. Physical Education (PE) has not evaded this reform agenda as evidenced by the growing trend towards the adoption of movement orientated programmes. In Northern Ireland (NI) the implementation of one such programme, Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) (STEPS Professional Development) provides the backdrop for this study and a platform through which to interrogate educational change within the context of primary Physical Education. The study explores the ways in which teachers enact and engage with a specific PE movement initiative, the FMS programme (STEPS PD) and utilises the lenses of change agentry (Fullan, 1993a) and Priestley et al.’s (2015a) ecological conception of teacher agency to provide insight into ‘the dynamic process through which change and continuity occurs in educational settings’(Priestley et al., 2012b, p193). The study specifically examines the influence of the macro level environment on how schools respond to educational change, how the school context shapes teachers’ agency and the factors that influence teacher agency at an individual level in the enactment of the FMS programme. A qualitative, interpretivist research methodology was employed as a means of understanding the experiences and multiple realities of teachers as they enacted curricular change in their own schools. Qualitative data were gathered by interviewing principals, PE co-ordinators and teachers in three primary schools involved in the piloting and subsequent implementation of the STEPS PD FMS programme. A spe…
abstract: Educational change has been a dominant feature of the educational landscape nationally and internationally whereby schools have been ‘subjected to constant and ubiquitous pressures to innovate’ (Priestley, 2011). Whilst the key objective is to enhance educational provision and to ensure more efficient and effective outcomes it is the strategic positioning of teachers as agents of change that is deemed to be integral to the success of innovation and its enactment in practice. Physical Education (PE) has not evaded this reform agenda as evidenced by the growing trend towards the adoption of movement orientated programmes. In Northern Ireland (NI) the implementation of one such programme, Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) (STEPS Professional Development) provides the backdrop for this study and a platform through which to interrogate educational change within the context of primary Physical Education. The study explores the ways in which teachers enact and engage with a specific PE movement initiative, the FMS programme (STEPS PD) and utilises the lenses of change agentry (Fullan, 1993a) and Priestley et al.’s (2015a) ecological conception of teacher agency to provide insight into ‘the dynamic process through which change and continuity occurs in educational settings’(Priestley et al., 2012b, p193). The study specifically examines the influence of the macro level environment on how schools respond to educational change, how the school context shapes teachers’ agency and the factors that influence teacher agency at an individual level in the enactment of the FMS programme. A qualitative, interpretivist research methodology was employed as a means of understanding the experiences and multiple realities of teachers as they enacted curricular change in their own schools. Qualitative data were gathered by interviewing principals, PE co-ordinators and teachers in three primary schools involved in the piloting and subsequent implementation of the STEPS PD FMS programme. A spe…
author: Gardiner, Joanne
language: eng
date published: 2020-7
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:55:18Z
provider: Queen's University Belfast
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Queen's University Belfast