Abstract
We conducted a questionnaire survey on 202 elementary school teachers who played a leading role in PE, to clarify at what stage of their carriers and by what experience they improved their professional abilities in PE. We analyzed the data of the questionnaire aiming to examine the contextual factors that facilitated their professional development and the timing at which these factors worked effectively.
This analysis revealed the following three points. 1) Leading teachers learned from senior teachers and the PE chief until the fifth year of their carrier, and they learned through guiding young teachers from the 16th year onward. 2) It was important to observe senior teachers’ PE classes until the fifth year, to carry out experimental classes on a prefectural, regional, and/or national scale until the 15th year, and to present their lesson studies in teachers’ conference from the 11th year onward. 3) Leading teachers often became PE chiefs by the fifth year, and had many opportunities to learn outside their own schools by being part of external PE organizations from the sixth year onward. They developed their carriers in the local networks by becoming school principals or supervisors in local governments from the 21st year onward.
