Research Impact: Preparing physical education this academic year is very different from any other year due to COVID-19 and its impact on Universities. It now appears that countries have their own strategies for higher education and therefore a small consortium of researchers from Ireland, England, Finland Greece, and Portugal came together to carry out a Strength Weakness Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis of COVID-19 and teacher preparation in physical education. Physical Education has the physical element to it and it may be difficult to carry out well within the physical and social distancing recommendations. Common strengths from the institutions involved were the staff, programme and students, whereas common weakness were the pedagogy, mainly influenced by the removal of face-to-face teaching. Key opportunities were the way to improve the pedagogy through diverse means and there is a threat that the student teachers do not get the opportunities to go on school teaching placement, an aspect that is considered a vital part of teaching degrees. The findings of this paper demonstrate the similar issues are faced across universities in Europe in terms of the provision for physical education teacher education, and some strategies at national and international level is needed to bring a community of practice more connected through the technology and internet. Physical education may look slightly different from now on.
O’Brien, W., Adamakis, M., O’Brien, N., Onofre, M., Martins, J., Dania, A., Makopoulou, K., Herold, F., Ng, K. and Costa, J., 2020. Implications for European Physical Education Teacher Education during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-institutional SWOT analysis. European Journal of Teacher Education, pp.1-20.DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2020.1823963
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