Teacher candidate perceptions of the edTPA in physical and health education

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory case study was to investigate physical and health education teacher candidate’s perceptions of factors influencing effective implementation of edTPA at one teacher preparation program in the Southeastern United States. The participants were six physical and health education teacher candidates who had recently completed the edTPA portfolio. In line with the principles of case study methodology data were collected through the application of a Qualtrics survey, followed by focus group and one-on-one interviews. NVivo 11 Pro software package was employed to analyse data using analytic induction and constant comparison techniques. The analysis revealed that the factors that influenced participant experiences of the edTPA fell into four themes: (a) tandem cooperating teachers and teacher candidates’ edTPA learning, (b) essential faculty support, (c) boot camp workshop support, and (d) effective mock submissions. The study reveals that there are a number of strategic interventions that can improve the effectiveness of edTPA programs. These include, but are not limited to, targeted training for cooperating teachers, involving physical and health education faculty in boot camp workshops, and assigning mock edTPA assignments during methods courses.