Exploring Categories of Self-Development of Novice Physical Education Teachers through Teacher Learning Community Activities (2024)

1. Introduction

Supervision has long been used as a core methodology in the development of professionalism and self-development in Korea. However, supervision tends to precipitate hierarchical relationships in which senior teachers criticize junior teachers, thereby exerting psychological pressure on the latter. In this situation, senior teachers in charge of supervision try to solve problems faced by new teachers from their perspectives, leading to superficial solutions. Most teacher education is conducted in a lecture and unilateral delivery format, which is inefficient and makes teachers more passive [1]. Therefore, supervision cannot comply with its original goal in schools and is ignored by teachers.

The limitations of supervision can be overcome through the concept of community, which highlights partnership among teachers (peers). In this system created by teachers, those who wish to improve the curriculum and enhance diverse professional expertise form horizontal relationships with fellow teachers to support each other. This is known as a teacher learning community, which, in recent times, has been established and in active operation in numerous schools. It reflects the meaning of a community wherein teachers practice cooperative learning by sharing constructive criticism on teaching practices, reviewing their experience and knowledge about identifying problems, and discussing their reflections [2]. Physical education teachers in South Korea have attempted to create effective lessons by forming teacher learning communities that help teachers experience diverse professional experiences by supporting each other. In particular, several novice physical education teachers, who lack the experience of reasonably resolving classroom issues, need help from their colleagues. By participating in a teacher learning community, these novice teachers can share their difficulties and try to resolve them with their colleagues’ assistance. Therefore, experience in data sharing, conversation, and collaboration with fellow teachers through teacher learning community activities is crucial for novice physical education teachers—in terms of their continuous learning and self-development.

A teacher learning community is a space for cooperation among teachers, which supports new teachers’ self-development to grow their experience and expertise. Currently, a teacher learning community is regarded as a useful approach to solve problems that cannot be solved through traditional supervision and training. Furthermore, it enhances teachers-driven voluntary improvement of teaching expertise and supports teacher socialization, which aids their self-development. Fessler and Christensen [3] introduced an integrated and cyclical model with seven stages of a teacher’s professional cycle. New teachers, having recently begun their professional careers, undergo negative experiences, such as shock, frustration, and failure. However, new teachers experience constant changes with respect to their knowledge, teaching functions, actions, and attitudes. Therefore, the duration and frequency of each stage differ for each person [3]. Therefore, new teachers need opportunities to transform negative experiences into positive ones in their initial career stage. In particular, physical education subjects mainly cover dynamic outdoor physical activities; hence, receiving consistent advice from fellow teachers on coping appropriately with unexpected classroom situations has a great impact on the quality of classes and teachers’ growth.

A teacher learning community plays an important role in supporting novice physical education teachers to improve their teaching expertise and work on their self-development along with their colleagues. In education, a teacher learning network is a structural community network that operates to develop the expertise of new teachers [4]. By evaluating the socialization of physical education teachers, Bauer and Erdogan [5] highlighted the knowledge, function, and attitude required for individual teachers to grow as members of the teaching community. Moreover, Blasé [6] analyzed universal teaching scenarios and concluded that social expectations and teaching environments influence them. Scholarship regarding physical education teachers has been consistently attending to their difficulties and conflicts, the stress and demands experienced by them, and the process of overcoming these issues [4,7,8,9,10].

Notably, recent studies on teacher learning communities [11,12,13,14] have popularized the perception that teacher learning communities, regardless of the subject, enable teachers to have various experiences and serve as a tool for self-development. Additionally, it is important to support novice physical education teachers through varied teacher learning communities from the beginning of their teaching career—that is, in the initial phase of their professional development [4]. As previous studies argue, despite lengthy discussions on the importance of continuous teacher learning community activities, no attempt has been made to view novice physical education teachers’ experience of these activities from the perspective of the “continuity” of self-development and professional development.

Novice physical education teachers aspire to grow into independent instructors with expertise through participation in a teacher learning community. In other words, in the early stages of a teacher learning community, they experience growth through assistance from their colleagues. However, they intend to undergo self-development gradually. In addition, after experiencing a teacher learning community and becoming senior teachers, they reinforce a positive cycle of helping other new teachers. Participation in a teacher learning community influences lifelong and overall professional development [15,16,17]. As such, exploring the types of self-development experienced by novice physical education teachers through teacher learning community activities is necessary to discuss their re-education from the perspective of continuity. Therefore, this study aims to identify the types of self-development experienced by novice physical education teachers through teacher learning community activities and discuss their sustainable re-education.

2. Contextual Background

A teacher learning community is an informal community of teachers formed voluntarily by those who want to improve their lessons [18]. Assuming that improvement of lessons is the core objective of a teacher’s professional development, a teacher learning community can be generally understood as a community for teachers’ professional development. A teacher learning community is rooted in the community approach for teachers’ professional development—facilitated through varied experiences. The concept of a teacher learning community has been welcomed in classrooms primarily because of the problems associated with the traditional method of supervision and mere one-off information delivery by external experts. Under the traditional process of supervision, teachers are passive entities who accept outcomes analyzed and evaluated by experts. They lack the opportunity to challenge themselves to solve problems professionally. In response, the contrasting approach—teacher learning communities—has gained traction. It is essential to provide opportunities for teachers to actively participate in meaningful discussions, curriculum planning, exercise, and the educational process [19]. As per this approach, teachers are “active learners” who create their own learning processes. In other words, this perspective challenges the word “development,” which implies that teachers are passive entities who need to be developed and argues that the professional development approach used for teachers requires change [20].

Inevitably and invariably, unexpected complications arise in the field of education. Teachers experience the process of facing, responding appropriately, and then resolving diverse and complicated problems. Such experiences are a learning process that transforms novice teachers into experts. The meaning and value of learning through a teacher’s experiences were demonstrated by Armour et al. [21], who acknowledged the complexity of learning and studied effective and sustainable professional development through John Dewey’s theory of “education as growth.” The framework for effective continuing professional development (CPD), developed by Armour et al. [21], adopts the “education as growth” theory, which provides the following suggestions for continuing professional development of physical education teachers: Focus on the complexity of learning processes; prioritize contemporary changes and the situations in which teachers generally find themselves; innovatively apply theoretical findings to the reality, and educate over a long period to facilitate physical education teachers’ growth. Gray et al. [22] emphasized that a teacher’s learning process involves obtaining knowledge from others and refers to personal growth enabled by a nurturing environment where learning is guided and actualized. In addition, Gray et al. [22] explained that one must focus on the content, reason, and approach with which teachers’ experiences become learning. Ultimately, concerning the learning process of teachers through their experiences, it is important to transform voluntary participatory experiences into learning, develop experiences into professional development, and educate them to participate in the professional development process over a long period.

Teachers’ learning process, experience sharing, and cooperation with fellow teachers or “others” are important throughout. In particular, professional development is more effective when teachers participate in a community learning environment in which they ask and reflect on teaching [23]. This is associated with teachers’ learning through experience—an educational philosophy approach given by John Dewey—and the concept of teachers as growing learners [19,21,22]. According to Oliver et al. [24], teachers learn more effectively when they are part of a teacher learning community. They become more willing to change their habits and learn by sharing, exploring, and reflecting on their experiences. Teachers engage in effective and sustainable professional development activities when they actively share individually-owned knowledge and experience by cooperating with other teachers. A cooperative learning community of teachers is related to the constructivist learning perspective [25], which assumes that knowledge, context, and activities cannot be separated within the process of knowledge development, and emphasizes that learning is a social process created through participation in the context derived from individual participation in a community [26]. A teacher learning community, formed as a small society, facilitates the process of socialization whereby knowledge is generated in a practical environment. Next, Wenger introduced the concept of communities of practice (CoP) [27]. Wenger argues that teachers’ situational learning is affected by changes in their participation patterns in learning. Parker et al. [26] introduced a definition of CoP, proposed by Kirk & Macdonald [28]: CoP is an aggregate or group of individuals contributing to sharing or publicizing a particular area of life. From the perspective of situational learning, CoP regards trust and respect among members as necessary elements that generate a supportive environment where “teachers as learners” take risks and face novel challenges [23].

A teacher learning community is a supportive environment that helps novice physical education teachers quickly adapt to the teaching community and plan and execute a suitable physical education curriculum in the first three years of their careers. The first three years of a teacher’s career are important for establishing one’s identity as a teacher and honing teaching skills [17]. Supporting novice physical education teachers’ participation in a teacher learning community is meaningful. It creates an internal and external support environment that prevents isolation or other serious predicaments that could turn teachers away from their job [7,14]. Accordingly, all experiences that a novice physical education teacher gains through a teacher learning community are important assets they acquire through the socialization process within human and material environments. Novice physical education teachers must understand that a teacher learning community—where they communicate with others within and outside the context of classrooms and exchange knowledge and experiences—is a foundation for effective and sustainable professional development activities and educational innovations [29]. Novice physical education teachers require a teacher learning community customized to each of their tendencies, contexts (situations), expertise, and career paths [4,30]. This is confirmed by the continued attention paid to the concept of a teacher learning community as an effective tool for the professional development of physical education teachers in classrooms [31], especially since Deglau and O’Sullivan [32] reported the effect of a physical education teacher learning community on professional development in a special issue in the Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, an academic journal in the United States specializing in sports education. The process of growth and development of beginning teachers into active learners was explained through the concept of “teacher mentoring” [33,34,35,36,37,38]. The precedent research explained the matching method of mentor-mentee teachers, mentor teachers’ expertise, the importance of formal mentoring relationships, and the substructure-superstructure in the mentoring course. In other words, the concept of mentoring creates situations wherein beginning, as well as more experienced teachers, learn mutually and thoroughly. This explains a teacher learning community’s structure that encourages beginning teachers to continuously participate in—and grow through—the learning process.

As such, a teacher learning community treats teachers as active learners instead of passive entities and pursues a method of professional development through their informal, voluntary participation in community activities [20]. As the experience of active participation in a complex education environment helps individual teachers’ growth, attention has been paid to generating and supporting a long-term professional development process [21,22]. Concerning teachers’ learning, it is important to provide a community learning environment—rooted in situational learning, as proposed by Lave and Wenger [25]—wherein teachers share and cooperate with their colleagues. This community is also rooted in the socialization process that teachers experience by participating in a community from the early phases of their teaching career [23,24]. Ultimately, such a teacher learning community can lead to effective and sustainable professional development when aligned with CoP (proposed by Wenger [27]), based on trust and respect among members.

3. Materials, Method, and Analysis

3.1. Setting and Participants

This study used a qualitative research method—specifically, in-depth interviews—to analyze the experiences of the research participants: six physical education teachers from six middle schools located in the capital metropolitan area of South Korea (Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon). The study began in March 2019 and lasted for a year. First, research participant recommendations of twenty candidates were accepted from professor colleagues and current physical education teachers; among these, six candidates were selected using the purposive sampling method (Table 1). Inclusion criteria were as follows: (a) teachers with less than four years of teaching experience who did not hold a first-degree teaching certificate, (b) participation in a teacher learning community within a school or a region for more than two years (more than an average of four times per year), (c) the purpose of participation in a teacher learning community: self-development, curriculum improvement, or professional development, and (d) consent to participate in this research: a physical education teacher who has voluntarily agreed to participate in this study after being explained the study’s purpose. The inclusion criteria above, particularly the first criterion, were determined by synthesizing the opinions of experts based on the teacher training system in South Korea. In the case of South Korea, four years of university education and a grade 2 regular teacher’s certificate are acquired (grant the qualification of appearing for the state examination to appoint teachers). After passing the teacher’s qualification examination, teachers require 4–5 years of work experience to qualify to join the obligated training to acquire a grade 1 regular teacher’s certificate. In addition, they can acquire the grade 1 regular teacher’s certificate based on their participation in training and their exam scores. Therefore, in South Korea, both experienced and novice teachers are classified by whether they hold a grade 1 regular teacher’s certificate. This study also used this classification to determine the inclusion criteria of beginning physical education teachers. Environmental factors—such as gender, the school’s size, and graduate school diploma—were not considered. The names, schools, and all other personal information of the research participants remained anonymous; each participant was assigned an alias.

3.2. Data Collection

The primary data-collection method of this research was in-depth individual interviews. Secondary information included various documents and social media conversations shared or generated by research participants while participating in teacher learning communities with their colleagues, memos produced by researchers during in-depth interviews, and the content of email exchanges between researchers and participants.

First, individual in-depth interviews were conducted in-person using interview questionnaires developed by an expert group comprising two physical education teachers and two professors with majors in physical education. All participant interviews were recorded. Each interview lasted approximately 55–86 min. In the first round of individual interviews, open-ended questions were used to acquire participants’ personal information (teaching experience, current assignment, etc.) and general information about the objective and types of activities of the teacher learning community that each of them was a part of. In the second round of interviews, specific questions were asked concerning the following aspects of their experiences with teacher learning communities: community activities’ main content; the extent of each participant’s changes through—and their experiences of—these community activities; and relationships with their colleagues (seniors). Each of the second interviews lasted approximately 110–135 min. In the third round of interviews, participants were asked specific questions about the quality and characteristics of the self-development that they experienced while participating in teacher learning communities. Each interview lasted approximately 100–115 min. During the first round of interviews, participants were asked to provide secondary information, including documents they generated and their conversations with their colleagues on social media sites while participating in teacher learning communities. Secondary information was collected during the second and third interviews. The memos and emails written by the researchers during the interviews were collected, dated, organized, and archived in a tabular format.

3.3. Data Analysis

Collected data were analyzed and interpreted simultaneously in a hermeneutic and interpretive frame to accurately understand novice physical education teachers’ experience with teacher learning communities. This study adopted a topical analysis methodology to establish a theme while analyzing data over multiple stages of the hermeneutic circle. The structure of a hermeneutic circle—to establish a topic in qualitative analysis—reveals the relationship among topics and is used to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding of a phenomenon by maintaining the characteristics of individual topics [39]. Outlined below is the procedure of topic analysis over a hermeneutic circle of experience, the meaning thereof, and the categories of self-development that follow:

(a) The transcription of the content of individual in-depth interviews: to transcribe and number all recorded content such that the original materials can be easily accessed throughout the analysis process. (b) Repetitive reading: to highlight the important parts—so that the key to each question can stand out from the vast quantity of transcribed materials—and to understand and remember such parts. (c) The segmentation of transcribed materials: to segment the transcribed materials, assign codes, and summarize and shorten them by sorting the key points. After ensuring sufficient time to read the transcribed materials, we performed a cross-check in this process. (d) Coding: to assign codes to extract research topics and key points from the transcribed materials and to create a codebook. The coding process in this study was performed in four stages: line-by-line coding, designating code names, creating a codebook, and team coding. (e) The first round of categorization created categories by grouping similar codes in the codebook and assigning category names. (f) The second round of categorization created upper-level categories that encompassed the first-round category names and assigned the second-round category names. (g) Topic setting: to generate a final category table and to set a topic for each category. (h) To understand the relationships among the final topics and the relationship between in-depth interview materials and secondary materials, and to explain these relationships with in-depth techniques (Figure 1).

3.4. Trustworthiness

To establish credibility, this study adopted the following measures: (1) triangular examination. This study obtained credibility for generated topics by comparing the transcribed materials of in-depth interviews with novice physical education teachers, various documents generated by the participants, and memos generated by the researchers. (2) Review of members: This study confirmed with the participants whether the codebook, category names, and final topics generated during analysis and the explanation thereon complied with their intentions. (3) Consultation with colleagues: Professors of sports education and current physical education teachers with a doctorate were consulted for the research procedure, results, and ethical issues involved throughout the process—from selecting research participants to the interpretation of results.

4. Findings and Discussions

Teacher learning [21], due to its complicated nature, occurs in a unique, complex, and non-linear manner [22]. Furthermore, various environmental factors act as constitutive elements and impact the process of teacher learning. This section examines the experience of novice physical education teachers in participating in teacher learning communities and explores the types of self-development that they undergo based on such experience.

4.1. “Following” by Introducing New Things to Me

Among the participants, Teachers A and B, who aspired to gain knowledge on new topics by participating in teacher learning communities, knew that they lacked the experience of preparing and executing a physical education curriculum. Therefore, they wanted to meet—and learn from—senior teachers. They highlighted the following reasons for wanting to participate in teacher learning communities:

“I studied hard to be a physical education teacher, but I did not know what lessons I should prepare and deliver to students. Therefore, I wanted to learn things that I could only acquire in practice while learning from senior teachers. That is why I joined a teacher learning community.”
(Teacher A during the first-round interview)

“I can learn a lot from senior colleagues working at the same school; however, I wanted to learn more things from even more colleagues. That is why I decided to participate in a teacher learning community. I hoped to learn a lot of new things there.”
(Teacher B during the first-time interview)

Teachers A and B expected to learn “new things” through their participation in teacher learning communities. This expectation is the objective of community participation. However, as a specific tool to gain knowledge on new things within the community, they chose to follow their fellow physical education teachers. In other words, they believed that the following was required to be learned.

“I decided to participate in community activities to follow other teachers that I could meet there. Since they work very hard at everything they do, I would learn new things by just following in their footsteps. I thought to follow them as much as possible is a starting point for developing myself.”
(Teacher B during the second-round interview)

“I thought it would be difficult for me to develop new lessons right away. If I absorb what senior teachers do in class, I would soon be able to do something uniquely mine. My biggest motivation was to follow what I saw and heard during my participation in community activities.”
(Teacher A during the third-round interview)

For novice physical education teachers, “to follow” requires exerting considerable effort to develop systematic and professional expertise from a stage where they are unfamiliar with planning and executing a physical education curriculum. However, “to follow” is not the only way to attain effectiveness in teacher learning and professional expertise. This is a fundamental learning experience through which novice physical education teachers can benefit through participation in teacher learning communities. The teacher learning experience must be delivered professionally and effectively to enhance the understanding of teaching content, methodology, and students’ understanding [40]. In addition, “to follow” is a somewhat passive form of learning, similar to the “potential learning style,” which is one of the three learning styles introduced by You et al. [4]. Novice physical education teachers with this learning style prefer to learn with a limited scope of fellow physical education teachers and participate passively.

However, the experience of ‘to follow’ is meaningful in that novice physical education teachers begin attaining self-development through participation in teacher learning communities by facilitating continuous intrinsic growth [4] and establishing positive learning communities through positive personal relationships [14]. There is a greater possibility of participation in professional learning processes when teachers focus their learning on their conviction and practice [21]. In this study, two novice physical education teachers were interested in various lessons practiced by other teachers that they met through teacher learning communities and believed that following them would be helpful for their self-development. Novice teachers have shown self-development where they created their professional development paths by acquiring new things through their participation in teacher learning communities.

4.2. “Critiquing” by Creating My Own Thing through Comparison and Analysis

Since having decided to participate in a teacher learning community, teacher C has met a diversity of physical education teachers who had their own educational philosophy and teaching style and hoped to create their own unique curriculum. The experience of comparing and evaluating lessons by fellow physical education teachers helps one form an expectation of their ability to create a curriculum of their choice. Teacher C described his motivations for participating in a teacher learning community as follows.

“When I went to college, a physical education teacher who participated in a teacher learning community came for a lecture in our department. In a teacher learning community, I learned that a diversity of teachers would come to share their curriculum, evaluate the pros and cons of each, and create their lessons. That is why I decided to participate.”
(Teacher C during the first-round interview)

The reason for teacher C’s participation in a teacher learning community is slightly different from that of teachers A and B. Teacher C did not simply follow the curriculum of senior teachers but also made a judgment through comparison and analysis. In particular, teacher C tried to find the pros and cons of the curriculum of senior teachers. Ultimately, teacher C tried to find and create a suitable teaching style for him.

“Since I do not have much experience as a teacher, I do not think it is helpful to find weaknesses. That doesn’t mean that I thought all that is done by others is good because I lack experience. I was trying to find out a teaching style that works for me and create my lessons.”
(Teacher C during the second-round interview)

For teacher C, a teacher learning community is an opportunity for comparing and analyzing various lessons. Teacher C explains his experience with a teacher learning community and its significance as follows:

“It has been about two and a half years since I started participating in this community when I received my new appointment. It has not been a long time, but I have gained confidence and felt my growth since I started participating in this community. I have learned how to approach a physical education class, what I want, and how I could create it.”
(Teacher C during the third-round interview)

Comparing and analyzing other teachers’ lessons—like teacher C—is an initial stage for a novice physical education teacher to find his or her unique teaching style. Teacher C’s approach to self-reflection is more comprehensive than the previous two teachers. This shows the substantial efforts that a novice physical education teacher exerted to create their “unique curriculum” while working with others in a teacher learning community. Teacher C attempted to focus on his aspirations, develop his knowledge, and improve confidence through his participation in a teacher learning community—with the help of “outside experts” [41]. Teacher C’s participation in a teacher learning community is an effort for self-development to create a unique lesson by comparing and analyzing various lessons. This type of learning is based on the support and help of fellow physical education teachers, forming positive relationships, and mutual comparison and analysis of teaching expertise. Specifically, this type has two meanings: first, the significance of the connection between learning by novice physical education teachers and their experience in a teacher learning community [41]; second, how they transform their collective learning experience with fellow physical education teachers into their self-development. This is in line with Lave and Wenger’s conclusion [25] that mutual trust and respect—enabled by the consistent social participation of individual teachers—stimulate greater efforts and encourage teachers to pursue additional learning. In other words, teacher C’s experience with trust and respect gained through his social participation in a teacher community has functioned as an important mechanism for interpersonal relationships. This has extended into teacher C’s self-development. As a result, this type demonstrates that the social context of teacher communities and experiences of interacting with others and their lessons provide an important learning process for self-development, which is meaningful for the novice physical education teachers’ consistent professional development processes. This could also lead to further discussions on the role and responsibility of fellow teachers in teacher learning communities who support and help novice teachers.

4.3. “Sharing” by Establishing “Ours” through Interchanging

Among the research participants, teachers D and E started to realize that they should attempt new changes to their previous teaching experience while participating in teacher learning communities. The previous experience includes their own teaching experience in the early stages of their careers and their experience with their past physical education teachers in their middle and high school years.

“It seems that what I have learned from a fellow teacher in my first year has stayed with me until today. My colleague taught me a lot of things. Significantly, everything I did in my first year is what I learned from that colleague.”
(Teacher D during the second-round interview)

“I had many mock lessons while preparing for the teacher qualification exam, but everything felt different from what I practiced once I was appointed a teacher. I was barely coping through my first year of teaching, and I suddenly realized that I was copying what my physical education teachers from my middle and high school did.”
(Teacher E during the second-round interview)

However, they wanted to overcome their reliance on past experiences. Seemingly, teachers D and E thought it was undesirable to merely rely on their experience of delivering lessons to their students. Importantly, they attempted to change by sharing their physical education lessons with their colleagues (in teacher learning communities), who watched their lessons and sometimes shared their own, thereby implementing changes together. However, they said that it was embarrassing to share their lessons in the beginning because it felt like they were revealing their “weaknesses” to others. This is in line with Gray et al.’s research [22] which created “teaching opportunities for positive and democratic forms of reaction” by highlighting the experience of initial discomfort while performing a certain action.

“I do not think I can keep copying my experience. It has been a long time, and that is not my curriculum. Maybe that is the way I tried to change my lessons while participating in this community. If I want to change my curriculum, I have to share it first. It becomes very hard when I think about that.”
(Teacher D during the second-round interview)

“Teacher Y told me that an advantage of a teacher learning community is that it is very natural for everyone to share their classes. I understood that, but once it became my turn to introduce my class, I felt embarrassed and uncomfortable at the thought that I had to expose my facts. But since everyone just shared their class like it was nothing, just like what teacher Y said, I felt encouraged.”
(Teacher E during the second-round interview)

Teachers familiar with teacher learning communities show the process of pursuing better lessons by uninhibitedly sharing and critiquing their lessons. These senior teachers are staunch supporters of change through sharing with novice physical education teachers. The interview with teacher E reveals the source of a novice teacher’s courage. Sharing is an easy and approachable way for them to watch and talk about their lesson and other teachers’ lessons. Teachers form a teacher learning community within a common area depending on their shared teaching experience and education necessity, and acknowledge that cooperation among colleagues is based on horizontal relationships [42]. Meanwhile, teacher D mentioned that they learned that open classes meant sharing from the teacher learning community. Sharing what they heard about from their senior colleagues reflects their trust and respect toward their colleagues in the community. This shows that the teacher learning community has truly become a CoP environment for novice physical education teachers. In other words, through trust and respect among members, a novice physical education teacher has grown into a teacher as an active learner, and a supportive environment enabling one to take risks and take on new challenges has been formed [23].

“Teacher S from the community told me that an open class is a form of sharing. People share both good and bad things. Similar to the old saying “many hands make light work”, I thought that I must continue this activity and that everyone here is so great that people change while watching and thinking about each other’s lessons.”
(Teacher D during the third-round interview)

It seems that teacher S, a colleague of teacher D, has contributed to understanding the necessity for a novice physical education teacher to participate in a teacher learning community and the stimulation of motivation for participation by conveying the meaning of sharing in open classes in the community. This is an example of how fellow teachers naturally share their classes and give advice to one another has demonstrated the value of sharing in the pursuit of changes to novice physical education teachers. Teacher E explained that they realized the kind and extent of effort they had to exert to develop expertise by looking at their colleagues.

“There is no need for physical education teachers to quibble over what is yours and mine when preparing and delivering lessons. What is important is to share the thinking that we are preparing and exercising altogether. I am grateful that I realized that to experience this process is to develop myself.”
(Teacher E during the third-round interview)

In this study, novice physical education teachers came to understand that making their classes public through teacher learning community activities is “putting sharing into practice” through “sharing.” They have a clear understanding of the importance of regional teacher learning communities and are passionate about participating despite their busy schedules [4]. The physical education teachers examined in this study demonstrate that it is the role and responsibility of a teacher learning community to make novice physical education teachers transform all experiences into sharing. This is because it is as difficult to change one’s teaching style as it is to get rid of it and make another attempt [43]. This is also because changes may be gradual due to mistrust and uncertainty derived from the barriers to resolving classroom problems [22]. Ultimately, novice physical education teachers need to share these problems and their solutions with fellow teachers and realize that sharing what is “ours” is the path toward sustainable self-development and growth.

4.4. “Creating” by Forming a Customized Community

Teacher F said that she sometimes felt frustrated because she could not find a clear answer to problems encountered in physical education lessons or her professional expertise, even after having participated in a teacher learning community for four years. She said that she had been a passionate participant in the teacher learning community for the first two years. Nonetheless, recently she has been eager for a deeper and broader learning experience. Then, she remembered that one of her fellow members of the teacher learning community and college classmates had attended graduate school; after hearing about his experience, she decided to attend graduate school as well.

“I cannot get rid of the feeling that something is lingering unresolved. I click with some members of the teacher learning community, but not with others. I felt frustrated and decided to meet and speak with a college upper-classmate who went to graduate school and would be graduating soon. After hearing about his experience, I decided to go to graduate school.”
(Teacher F during the first-round interview)

Teacher F’s experience with the teacher learning community is quite different from that of the five previous teachers. Teacher F’s experience is unique as it eventually led to a different type of learning experience—namely, enrollment at a graduate school. The motivation of teacher F in deciding to attend graduate school is as follows:

“Within the teacher learning community, I felt like I was simply told whatever senior teachers did until I became an experienced teacher. I wanted to find people who share and empathize with my complicated curiosity. I believe there would be opportunities to share these thoughts if I go to graduate school where professors from whom I had learned a lot since my undergraduate years and adjunct lecturers are also leading community activities.”
(Teacher F during the second-round interview)

Teacher F wanted a different way toward professional development and sustained learning. Notably, in prior studies, continuing professional development (CPD) of teachers has been a concept that emphasizes the importance of teacher learning [21]. However, CPD for teachers traditionally encompasses the one-off process “delivered” primarily by outside experts; hence, teachers’ learning experience has been fragmentary, inconsistent, and far from the practical issues encountered in professional settings [22]. Therefore, radical changes to physical education teachers’ CPD have long been demanded [20]. As such, the experience of teacher F with the teacher learning community has become a basis for her conception of a “new learning environment,” where she could pursue sustained learning. Meanwhile, it is worth noting that teacher F mentioned two “new supporters” while explaining her motivations for enrolling in graduate school. These supporters included a professor, whom she trusted since college, and a senior physical education teacher, who is also a member of her teacher learning community. Teacher F trusts and respects these two supporters. Moreover, a senior physical education teacher seems to sustain teacher F’s desire for professional self-development.

“I met this professor when I was in the second year of college. Since then, we have been in contact, and I talk to the professor about my concerns about my class and my relationships with other teachers. Since the professor used to be a physical education teacher, I asked him many things that I could not resolve through the community. Since I enrolled in graduate school, I frequently met this professor after deciding on a paper topic on physical education teachers.”
(Teacher F during the second-round interview)

“Teacher Y is not only a physical education teacher, but also a doctorate holder and a university lecturer. I took teacher Y’s class when I was in college. As soon as I became a teacher, teacher Y introduced me to a teacher learning community. When I was there, I usually talked a lot with teacher Y, who I met with a lot, even outside school.”
(Teacher F during the second-round interview)

CPD requires a long process in a teacher’s career and should be included in their usual professional tasks, at least partially [44]. In other words, exercise and training through supervision and mock lessons are not enough for a teacher’s professional development. Like teacher F, one must participate in a teacher learning community, receive informal education, and perform various developmental activities by establishing supportive relationships. Tannehill et al. [45] argued that it is helpful for physical education teachers’ CPD to regularly participate in workshops and annual professional conferences, read professional journals and literature and pursue degree programs. Furthermore, they must sustain professional interaction with other schools and local communities. Teacher F pursued an advanced degree by going to graduate school and included supporters who were different from the community members in her pursuit of professional development learning. She actively expanded the scope of her learning community.

“I will continue to participate in the teacher learning community. I will keep meeting with my two supporters. They are people who share my concerns in the most practical way. I can keep growing if I establish relationships with people who could give me the best advice and sustain these relationships.”
(Teacher F during the third-round interview)

Jayaram, Moffit, and Scott [46], in a McKinsey report titled “Breaking the habit of ineffective professional development for teachers,” introduced five strategies required for effective and sustained professional development of teachers. One should pay attention to professional development strategies to provide effective teaching to individuals or groups who could receive help from teacher communities and request feedback. This is because selective professional development activities, where novice physical education teachers could request the most needed content and methods, could lead to effective and sustained professional development. Given that teachers often face various pressures and barriers from sources other than their school and curriculum, such that they cannot participate in professional learning [47], selective professional development activities have a lot to offer. Eventually, teacher F expanded the scope of her teacher learning community by forming a community that was customized and most suitable to her. This is a new category of self-development in which a novice physical education teacher creates a customized learning process. Research on teacher learning communities of novice physical education teachers should focus on this category of self-development as it significantly impacts their lifelong professional development and teaching career [15,16,17].

4.5. Overall Discussion

Two perspectives clearly explain the reasons for the existence of teacher learning communities. One perspective is that teachers are not passive beings but active learners who participate in discussions, curriculum planning, and execution [19]. The other perspective is that changes are needed to improve teachers’ professional development methodologies [20]. In particular, the educational philosophy of John Dewey, who emphasized “education as growth,” has given rise to Armour et al.’s framework [21] for effective and sustained professional development for teachers as “growing learners.” In addition, there are key concepts that explain the importance of teacher learning communities, such as situational learning [25], practicing communities [27], and cooperative learning communities [23]. Ever since attention has been paid to the effect of professional development on the physical education teacher learning community [32], studies have examined the categories of novice physical education teacher learning communities [4]. Gray et al. [22] provided opportunities to explore the role and significance of teacher learning communities, including creating and supporting physical education teachers’ professional development. Building upon such perspectives, in this study, the teacher learning community activities experienced by novice physical education teachers included the active and continuous learning process experienced in the “situation” of the community. Among the study’s findings, the first category, the “copier” type of novice physical education teachers, accepted as many new things as possible but showed a somewhat passive and compliant attitude within a limited range. However, given that they are passionate about learning and absorbing new things, “to follow” is a starting point for self-development, eventually leading to systematic professional development. The second category of self-development is “to critique,” which means novice physical education teachers compare and analyze their colleagues’ lessons and then create their own. Teachers in this category do not just attend to the results of comparison and analysis of other people’s lessons but also create their lessons through cooperation with other community members; this process is one of self-development through social participation. Novice physical education teachers in the third category, “to share,” value the process of transforming what is mine into what is ours through sharing with fellow teachers. Sharing is a process of self-development in which people grow as individuals and as a group. Finally, in the category of ‘to create,’ teachers actively request information and feedback from new community members by expanding the scope of their community. This is a new learning style in which one creates a customized learning community by expanding the scope of supporters from colleagues to university professors. The implications of these research findings can be discussed again through previous studies on “teacher mentoring.” This means that beginning teachers need programs where they can get support from competent and passionate “mentor teachers” who can support their growth and development. [38]. Mentors who help beginning teachers should be experts with abundant knowledge and experience [34] and must also demonstrate their competency as educators to provide beginning teachers with abundant opportunities to practice [35]. Moreover, it is important to form school-based mentoring and official mentoring relationships in the learning environment of beginning teachers [36]. In particular, restructuring the substructure-superstructure during the teacher mentoring process can optimize the relationships among teachers, roles and responsibilities, interior and exterior supportive environments, and the mentoring effect [33]. Understanding the complex and non-linear nature of teacher mentoring and elements for the continued participation of beginning teachers can provide insight into the re-education of teachers [37].

Finally, the research findings and previous research on mentoring verify a few universal characteristics found in numerous countries (e.g., Turkey, England, Germany, America) as well as in South Korea: beginning teachers as “active learners,” the importance of the mentor aiming for “changes” as a method to help beginning teachers to learn and grow, and a supportive environment to facilitate the professional learning process of beginning teachers. However, this study is meaningful as it discovered cases that highlighted how beginning teachers search for “mentors” and then autonomously form mentoring relationships and self-learning environments.

The expertise of physical education teachers must naturally carry over from university education until shortly before re-education, and it must continuously unfold depending on the teachers’ developmental cycle. For physical education teachers to continuously be re-educated, they must get support to grow from their colleagues—starting from the earlier stage (i.e., beginning teacher)—and create an environment where they can learn and grow independently. Therefore, this study exceeded mentoring with colleagues, verified the possibility of actualizing re-education for physical education teachers through mentoring by oneself, and confirmed the importance of long-term “sustainable physical education teacher re-education.”

5. Conclusions

In this study, the four categories of self-development demonstrate the process of self-development undergone by novice physical education teachers through their participation in teacher learning communities. Given that South Korean education does not provide a favorable working environment to novice teachers [4], learning communities provide an attractive opportunity for teachers to engage in actual “learning” [21] continuously. Such findings suggest that the cooperative learning experiences of novice physical education teachers in the learning community help support the practice of continuous professional self-development. Another implication is that the teacher learning community activities of novice physical education teachers can be an environment for re-education that supports the practice of continuous professional development activities.

In conclusion, we would like to suggest future research directions, which should be expanded based on the significance of this study. First, this study suggests further research on the methodology of professional development derived from the growth path of experienced teachers and the exploration of self-development categories depending on the size of the teacher learning community and the relationship of members thereof. Therefore, future studies should follow up on individual/cooperative professional development that follows as novice physical education teachers’ expertise and experience level grow. Second, this study proposed that additional studies should be conducted on the changes in the self-development patterns of novice physical education teachers according to the size of the physical education teacher learning community or the relationships with members and the continuity of re-education. Such future studies would become a basis for developing continuing education programs for physical education teachers at various stages in their career from the perspective of “teachers as learners.” The significant findings from this study will contribute to expanding the global scope of research in the physical education teacher learning community through comparative studies on the effectiveness and sustainability of the program.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, methodology, and writing-original draft preparation, M.K.; Conceptualization, writing-review and editing, and project administration, Y.C. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Funding

This research received no external funding.

Institutional Review Board Statement

Not applicable.

Informed Consent Statement

Not applicable.

Data Availability Statement

Data is not publicly available, though the data may be made available on request from the corresdponding author.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Figure 1.The process of data analysis.

Table 1.Participants’ demographic information.

Teacher	Level of the School	Years of Experience Teaching	Years of Experience TLC	Professional Role in the School	Region
A	Middle school	2	2	Student guidance	Seoul
B	Middle school	2	2	Student-athlete supervision	Seoul
C	Middle school	3	2	School sports club administration	Kyeonggi
D	Middle school	4	3	Student guidance	Kyeonggi
E	Middle school	3	3	Student-athlete supervision	Incheon
F	Middle school	4	4	Physical education class management	Incheon

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