Characteristics of Korean Secondary Female PE Teachers’ Voluntary Professional Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of Korean female secondary PE teachers’ voluntary professional development(PD) activity participation in relation to female PE teachers’ perceived professional identity. Data were collected from online questionnaires (n=107) and in-depth interviews (n=15) with female secondary PE teachers. Findings revealed that female PE teachers’ voluntary professional development activities were characterized as: (a) prevalence in sport skill development activities in order to overcome relatively a low level of sport skills than that of male PE teachers, (b) dominance of self-directed learning activities with the Internet search or reading, and (c) seeking ideal mix of theory and practice by participating in teacher learning communities. Female PE teachers’ voluntary PD participation was related to their notion of PE subject as sport skills-centered subject, relatively weak professional identity due to lack of sport skills compared with male teachers, and perceiving teacher learning community as a viable learning context to support their everyday pedagogical PE practice.