The focus of this article is to offer tips for physical education teachers to develop and grow professionally. The six tips provided are not listed in order of importance, nor are they meant to be an exhaustive list. Instead, tips for enhancing professional development practices within the physical education profession are categorized based on…

With no universal educational requirements to coach at the collegiate level (Schempp et al., 2006), a coach may be hired based on past playing experience (Morris et al., 2014), who they know (McCullick et al., 2016), or by demonstrating a strong work ethic (Van Mullem & Croft, 2015). Thus, in reality a coach may be unprepared to lead an…

"A strong K-12 physical education program is usually backed up by a strong leader" (Franck, 2007, p. 7). Strong and persistent leadership is especially important in today's reality of undervalued physical education. Despite the obesity epidemic and the many health problems facing youth, physical education is viewed as a low-status…

This article is intended to provide coaches, parents/guardians and school administrators with specific guidelines that identify coaching practices that are in the best interests of the adolescent female athlete (appropriate) and those that are counterproductive or even harmful (inappropriate). These guidelines can be used as a self-assessment for…

By the year 2030, it is predicted that culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners will comprise approximately half of the public school population in the United States. Unfortunately, many pre-service educators enter the teaching field each year lacking knowledge of the experiences and needs of these students. This trend has particular…

Defining the quantifiable elements of a highly qualified physical education teacher is challenging. For the past two years, a task force of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) has worked on describing characteristics associated with highly qualified physical education teachers. Highly qualified teachers are needed to…

Transitioning into a new role can be difficult in any walk of life, and this is no different for physical educators entering a new teaching environment. In a new setting, a physical educator may go through a socialization process where beliefs, attitudes, behaviors, and teaching philosophies are influenced. Teacher socialization research suggests…

Student motivation is a critical issue within all educational fields, including physical education. In regard to physical education, the term motivation is commonly defined as the "ability to energize behavior." Energizing behavior is imperative as student participation and engagement is deemed a critical component to the overall learning and…

NASPE recently published the newly revised Appropriate Practices documents (elementary, middle and high school), intending to clearly distinguish between teaching practices that "should" and "should not" occur in physical education classes. Good physical education teachers incorporate appropriate practices into their teaching. However, there are…

A portfolio is a well-organized document containing critical analyses and evidence related to a coach's background, context(s) of coaching, approach to coaching, coaching accomplishments, and goals for further development. Here, the authors describe different types of coaching portfolios as well as strategies for developing a coaching portfolio.…

According to Lori Benson, Director of Fitness & Physical Education for the New York City Department of Education, findings from a 2003 study conducted on students in New York City elementary schools were so telling, that education and health administrators were prompted to make major changes to improve physical education and fight the…

Maintaining a high-quality professional portfolio is important for both preservice and inservice physical educators because a portfolio serves as a comprehensive representation of an individual and his or her accomplishments as a professional. For this reason, it is important that physical educators take an active role in updating and maintaining…

Soon after formal education became the norm, those in leadership talked about making improvements to the process. However, decades after, educators still use some practices that are contraindicated by research findings. As such, physical educators are required to play a more active role in educational reform. In this article, the author presents a…

As an alternative method of coaching education, with a focus on situated learning, mentoring has the potential to encourage "communities of practice," which are groups of people who share a common interest and engage in a process of collective learning that creates bonds between them. In addition, mentoring has the potential to overcome the…