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Pre-service teacher perceptions of teaching health education online

journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-21, 00:18 authored by Vaughan CruickshankVaughan Cruickshank, Casey MainsbridgeCasey Mainsbridge
Purpose – The forced shift to online teaching delivery during COVID-19 suppression measures in 2020 was a complex challenge for Australian teachers. Teachers were given very little time to prepare online content and very little professional development to teach online. Their experiences prompted discussion about the abilities of pre-service teachers (PST) to adapt content to online delivery if another pandemic occurred while they were teaching in the future.

Design/methodology/approach – PST majoring in Health and Physical Education were required to adapt a 4-weeks high school health education unit for online delivery. This study analysed data from PST personal reflections and focus groups to gain a better understanding of their perceptions about teaching health education online and their confidence to adapt tasks and activities from face-to-face delivery or develop unique online tasks.

Findings – PST reported varied confidence and competence to plan for and engage in online health education teaching. PST were concerned about student learning and engagement online, and unsure how to best differentiate activities to ensure all student could meet the intended outcomes.

Originality/value – Little is known about the confidence and competence of PST to deliver fully online school health education. It is important to know more about this phenomenon to inform teacher education and teacher professional development to ensure teachers are better prepared for online delivery in the future.

History

Publication title

Health Education

Volume

122

Pagination

5-17

ISSN

0965-4283

Department/School

Faculty of Education

Publisher

Emerald Publishing Limited

Place of publication

United Kingdom

Rights statement

Copyright 2021 Emerald Publishing Limited

Repository Status

  • Restricted

Socio-economic Objectives

Teacher and instructor development; Health education and promotion