perspectives of pre-service physical education student teachers towards inquiry learning in school placement

Inquiry learning (IL) is a core concept in school placement. In physical education teacher education (PETE), IL in school placement challenges relating theory, practice and the self. The study examines understandings, perspectives and meanings pre-service PE college students express about IL in school placement. In a mixed-methods study, 221 PE students were surveyed before and after school placement (preliminary study), 15 PE students took part in interviews after school placement, 12 of them took part in follow-up interviews. The questionnaire and interview studies show that understandings of IL remain incomplete after school placement and become more diffuse in the long term. Perspectives and attributions of meaning become significantly more sceptical. The interviews show that negative perspectives are based on the complexity of requirements and time pressure. They remain stable in the long term. The importance that respondents attribute to IL for their professionalisation remains rather low. The studies show the need to introduce IL in depth in PETE and to critically examine IL in school placement.