How Do Specialist Teachers Practice Safety Lessons? Exploring the Aspects of Physical Education Safety Lessons in Elementary Schools

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate elementary PE specialist teachers’ assessments of safety risk factors in PE class, risk management, and difficulties in risk management. Five elementary PE specialist teachers who had at least five years of teaching experience participated in this study. Data were collected from non-participant class observations, in-depth interviews, and documents. Data were analyzed through the inductive categorical analysis. The results of this study are as follows: First, PE specialist teachers perceived that safe PE classes can be achieved by dealing with risks embedded within PE classes such as subject-innate, facility, environmental, and managerial components. Second, PE spe-cialist teachers implemented safety classes by: (a) intentional class activities with detailed lesson plans, (b) reconstructing curriculum, and (c) making safety as a habit not as information acquisition. Third, participants had difficulty in teaching safety in PE classes due to: (a) outcome-ori-ented safety-first policy, (b) breach of safety codes between teacher and administrator, (c) limited contact with students, and (d) different level of sensitivity to safety issues. The findings suggest that teaching safety in PE classes are complex pedagogical activities that goes beyond teach-ing CPR or first aids and teacher education program should conceptualize safety issues from a pedagogical perspective.

Keywords

• Physical education
• specialist teacher
• safety
• safety classes