The Facilitator's Role in Supporting Physical Education Teachers' Empowerment in a Learning Community

• In Event: Paper Session 3. Looking Forward in Physical Education Teacher Education and Teaching: New Visions and Changing Landscapes

Abstract

This study explored the actions of a facilitator in supporting physical education (PE) teachers’ empowerment in a professional learning community (PLC). Participatory action research framed this nine-month research project. Data sources included: daily observations, teacher interviews, reflections from weekly meetings with teachers and a critical friend. Three themes represented the attributes of a facilitator’s role in supporting teachers’ empowerment: (1) creating a horizontal relationship with teachers through dialogue; (2) understanding and respecting teachers’ context, and (3) struggling with teachers in their reality as an act of solidarity. Teachers’ empowerment provided the opportunity for teachers to not only improve their PE knowledge, but primarily for struggling for better professional condition and organizing themselves as a community seeking for social change.

Authors

• Luiza Lana Goncalves, University of São Paulo

• Melissa Parker, University of Limerick

• Carla Nascimento Luguetti, Victoria University - Melbourne

• Michele Viviene Carbinatto, University of São Paulo