Japanese elementary teachers' development experiences in relation to teaching physical education

The purpose of this study was to describe and explain Japanese elementary teacher development experiences in teaching physical education (PE). Participants were eight elementary classroom teachers (six males and two females) (within their first five years of teaching) teaching PE for the first time in Japanese elementary schools. Data sources included semi-structured face-to-face interviews, lesson plans, and classroom duty charts. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) prevention of classroom collapse in PE, (b) avoiding a competitive learning climate, (c) using classroom duties as PE lesson sources, and (d) lesson study community. The findings suggest that school districts need to develop a series of professional experiences with prefecture public school partnerships to help elementary teachers when necessary, overcome challenges in teaching students in PE settings.