Evaluating the effectiveness of using Peer-Dialogue Assessment (PDA) for improving pre-service teacher's perceived confidence and competence to teach physical education

Participants: Undergraduate students and Staff teaching in the EDUC2058 (Invasion Games) Phase 1 and EDUC2514 (Kinetics 1) Phase 2 courses in the BT(HPE / Primary)(Hons) program at the University of Newcastle will be recruited to participate (approximately 50 students Phase 1 and 100 students Phase 2). Those students with informed signed consent will complete assessments but all students in the course will complete the mandatory coursework in EDUC2058 and Educ2514. Design: Quasi-experimental (Phase 1), GroupRandomised Controlled Trial (Phase 2) PDA Program Phase 1:: EDUC2058 Invasion Games is a compulsory course in the BTHPE (Hons) program at the UoN and runs for 1 Semester 12 weeks (3 hours per week). During the first 8 weeks students will participate in a range of theoretical and practical tasks relating to the teaching of invasions games conducted by the usual University tutors (3 hours per week for one 12 week semester).. Students will be introduced to the concept of Peer Dialogue Assessment within tutorials and will be given the opportunity to develop their skills in stimulating dialogue to provide feedback on teaching performance throughout the course (ie learn to stimulate verbal discussion around the observed performance). The exposure to PDA will be embedded within 1-2 tutorial activities each week over the first 8 weeks of semester (approximately 15min per week). For example, the tutor will conduct a practical class activity and at the completion of the activity the tutor and students will discuss how they would conduct PDA and how to stimulate useful discussion for learning. In the final 4 weeks of the course, the students will be teaching invasion games in a local secondary school for 1.5 hours per week.. They will work in teams to teach and observe, and will be required to use PDA (all student are expected to complete approximately 10min) at the completion of each session to provide feedback to their team. PDA Program Phase 2: This study is a randomised controlled trial (RCT) conducted in EDUC2514 (Kinetics 1) at the University of Newcastle. This means that undergraduate students completing EDUC2514 will be randomized to the treatment condition (peer dialogue assessment (PDA)) or to the control condition (Written feedback (WF)). Participants in both treatment conditions will complete identical course work, learning activities and assessment tasks (as per the approved course outline) for one 12 week semester delivered by University tutors. Participants assigned to the PDA group will also be introduced to the concept of PDA within 1-2 teaching activities each week for the first 8 weeks, and will be given the opportunity to develop their skills in stimulating dialogue to provide feedback on teaching performance throughout the course. In the final 4 weeks of the course, participants will teach sport in a local primary school as a mandatory component of the EDUC2514 course. They will work in teams to teach and observe, and will be required to use either PDA or WF at the completion of each session to provide feedback to their team (all students will be expected to provide approximately 10min of PDA or written comments each week). Adherence will be monitored through the audio recordings and collected written documents. Measures: A purpose designed questionnaire will be completed by participants at baseline and at 3months. The A questionnaire will be designed based on previously published scales (adapted to suit the teaching of PE and Invasion games) to determine participants: 1. Competence to Teach PE (Morgan & Bourke, 2008) 2. Confidence to Teach Invasion Games (Hand, 2014) 3. Self-efficacy to teach (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001) Participants will be asked to audio record their peer dialogue sessions. Participants will also be asked to provide feedback regarding PDA as an assessment tool for use in the undergraduate HPE and Primary programs. Participation in this research is entirely the student's choice and only a student who has given her or his explicit written consent will be included in the study. If a student does not agree to participate, they will complete the EDUC2058 or educ2514 course as usual but will not complete any of the assessments associated with this study (questionnaires). Participants may also withdraw from the study at any time without giving a reason. A decision not to participate or discontinuation of involvement in the study will not jeopardise their relationship with the University of Newcastle or impact in any way on the progress in the course. Students will be given a face-to-face information session and a written information sheet explaining all of the details of the study (as per Newcastle University Ethics requirements)