Cooperative learning in Physical Education: the state of the question and intervention proposal

Over the last few years several studies have emphasized the advantages of cooperative learning to promote motor and social learning in Physical Education. However, what teachers do when they implement this pedagogical model in their Physical Education classes is rarely described. This paper presents an exploratory study aimed at answering this question. One hundred and ninety-eight Spanish Physical Education teachers completed a questionnaire designed to find out how cooperative learning is conceived and applied practically in Primary and Secondary school classes. The results of the study reveal that cooperative learning is still underutilized in Physical Education. Teachers conceive cooperative learning from a perspective close to cooperative play. A new pedagogical approach, called coopedagogy, is then proposed to facilitate teachers in developing an intervention process that allows students to learn how to cooperate and how to use the cooperation as a resource of learning in Physical Education classes.