The nature of professional learning for secondary school health and physical education teachers: an ethnographic study

Professional learning is critical for teachers to enhance teaching quality and student learning and deal with uncertainty and challenges in modern education environments. Recently, the complexity of teacher professional learning has attracted the attention of many scholars, which has stimulated a rethinking of the nature of teacher professional learning. However, there is a shortage of empirical research focused on the complexity of professional learning for health and physical education (HPE) teachers. Thus, this study explores the nature of professional learning for HPE teachers by examining the professional learning journeys of two HPE teachers from a secondary school in New Zealand. Using an ethnographic approach, the lead researcher collected data through participant observations over 20 weeks, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of relevant artefacts and documents about teacher learning. Data analysis via thematic analysis was conducted during and after the data collection. Informed by complexity thinking as a theoretical framework, the findings suggest that professional learning for HPE teachers can occur in different spaces that afford them various professional learning opportunities and possibilities. In addition, participants' learning experiences reveal that the professional learning of HPE teachers is non-linear, unpredictable, multifaceted, and self-organised due to individual experiences, roles, needs, preferences, backgrounds, and people and environments they interact with. This study provides empirical evidence to understand the nuanced and complex nature of professional learning for HPE teachers.