Overview of David’s Journey and Current Role
The guest for Episode 75 is David Redfern, who currently works as a Senior Lecturer at Birmingham City University. In this role, David supports both BA and PGCE PE students who are specialising in physical education.
David’s career background before moving into higher education included leading PE in a school setting. Outside of teaching, David was greatly impacted by his parent, who was also a PE teacher and lived and breathed PE. David spent many weekends and summer holidays helping his parent at sports events, which positively influenced him and instilled a desire to pursue a similar career path.
While leading PE in school, David focused heavily on networking and providing students with broad experiences beyond just the physical element of the subject. He organised numerous trips, including visits to St. George’s Park, football stadium tours and the Velodrome in Manchester, because he wanted children to experience all aspects of the larger world related to sport.
Approach to Initial Teacher Education (ITE)
In his work with pre-service teachers, particularly primary teachers who specialise in PE, David acknowledges the significant variation within his cohorts. His groups can number up to 300 students, encompassing a wide range of experience: some students are already very competent and confident in teaching PE, having previous experience as PE coaches, while others have very limited experience.
David adapts his pedagogy to this varied group by prioritising experiential learning. He believes in putting theory directly into context so that when his associate teachers enter schools to teach, they can draw upon these experiences. This preparation ensures that they are not encountering certain challenging circumstances for the first time.
In the learning sessions, David heavily utilises the theory of social constructivism, promoting constant learning and reflection among the trainees. To effectively lead these large groups, David stresses the importance of making the process personable. This involves taking the time to understand the associate teachers’ backgrounds, individual wants and professional desires.
Trainee Motivation and the “Trauma Trend”
A key element of David’s initial engagement is asking trainees about their prior experiences of PE. He notes that these stories usually fall into two defining categories:
- Positive Acculturation: They had an incredibly positive experience that led them to be driven to become teachers, often aspiring to emulate a former inspiring teacher.
- Negative Acculturation: They had a negative experience that motivates them to be the opposite of what they encountered, driving them to change PE for the better.
David is a strong believer that teachers must be passionate about what they do, as this enthusiasm is “quite infectious”. He and his colleagues deliberately “live and breathe PE,” hoping this dedication shines through and positively influences trainees.
David also focuses on helping trainees overcome subject-specific anxiety, drawing a parallel to “maths anxiety”. He teaches them to overcome this barrier by breaking down complex skills into “small, manageable, achievable chunks” so that they can see a clear path for progression.
Drawing on the work of Carol Dweck, David advocates for a growth mindset, emphasising that everyone has the opportunity to improve regardless of their prior background. David expressed frustration regarding the common parental perspective of projecting personal failure onto children (“I was rubbish at PE… so my little Jimmy is going to be rubbish as well”). He views this closed mindset as a self-fulfilling prophecy that is “disabling for the child”.
David recalled an incident where a school leader reacted to a struggling pupil by saying, “Good luck to you, because little Jimmy doesn’t like PE”. David felt this approach was unhelpful and fueled the pupil’s negative identity. He refers to this cycle as the “trauma trend”. David imparts crucial advice to trainees, often sharing the wisdom passed down from his parent: teachers must think of themselves as “actors”. Regardless of a teacher’s personal opinions or past negative experiences with a subject, they must perform positively on stage (in the classroom or gym). This performance needs to be “positive, uplifting, nurturing and encouraging” to maximise children’s potential and successfully break the trauma trend.
Practical Strategies and Physical Literacy
David provides practical strategies for trainees to nurture a growth mindset in young people:
- Modeling: This is crucial. Teachers cannot simply ask a child to perform something; they must demonstrate what it looks like.
- Peer Modeling: Grouping children intentionally, perhaps with a strong performer, so that the strong peer can model the skill.
- Visual Aids: Utilising visual resources (like “Kiddo’s visual videos”) that break skills into incremental, bite-sized chunks, labeled as “emerging,” “developing,” or “acquired.” This is particularly helpful for children with English as an additional language.
- Role Modeling: Teachers should role model a growth mindset by willingly approaching tasks outside their comfort zone (like demonstrating dance or gymnastics), thereby showing children they are willing to “have a go, learn, reflect, listen to feedback”.
David shows a keen interest in physical literacy (PL), which he views as a “huge umbrella” concept often open to misinterpretation. He notes the common misconception, even among trainees, that PL is solely defined by fundamental movement skills (FMS), such as running, jumping and catching. While FMS are a key part, David emphasises PL’s broader holistic scope: helping children take charge of their own health, support and lead others, and adopting the “move, think, feel, connect” framework.
To address the gap between school and home, David emphasises maximising opportunities for movement beyond the gym. He used PE funding to create a novel solution: a “bag” containing equipment (like a ball, bean bags and a skipping rope) and a journal. A selected child took the bag home each weekend, developed their own game and presented how they used the equipment, often showing photos with family members. This initiative was designed to facilitate physical movement activity beyond school boundaries and positively change the perspective of parents at home.
Quickfire Insights
David shared several key non-negotiables and pieces of advice:
- Non-Negotiables for Positive Experiences: Lessons must have personal relevance and be engaging. He emphasised the importance of creating a safe environment where children are not afraid to try new things. He gave the example of successfully incorporating Quidditch into the curriculum to achieve personal relevance, novelty and fun.
- What to Remove from PE: David would remove judgment that creates unnecessary barriers to participation. He would also remove the mindset that likens children to “popcorn”—where teachers expect them to “pop” (or be ready) at the same time and rate. He argued that teachers must understand that kernels pop at different times and pressures and the same applies to children.
- Golden Nugget of Advice: He advises new teachers to remember: “You’re not a coach”. He believes the word “teacher” is dated and prefers the term “facilitator of learning”. He warns against the practice of manual guidance (doing the task for the student), emphasising the importance of letting students learn independently.
- One Word for PE: Enlightening. He believes PE should be so positive that children ask, “When are we doing this next?” and that it helps them understand their own desires and interests.
This episode is a conversation with David Redfern who is a Senior Lecturer in Primary Education at Birmingham City University.
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