New Publication: Engaging in a Social Learning Space as Physical Education Teacher Educators

A new publication by Professor Ann MacPhail, Dr Antonio Calderón and Dr Elaine Murtagh, alongside their co-authors, explores how social learning spaces can support professional learning among physical education teacher educators working across institutional and national boundaries.

Reference

Scanlon, D., MacPhail, A., Calderón, A., Davidson, M., & Murtagh, E. (2026). Engaging in a social learning space as physical education teacher educators: lessons learned for cross-border endeavours. Sport, Education and Society, 1–14.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2026.2729827

Research Focus

The research examines the experiences of physical education teacher educators from the North and South of Ireland who engaged in sustained collaborative inquiry within a social learning space.

The study demonstrates how intentionally created social learning spaces can support meaningful professional learning across institutional and national boundaries, moving beyond short-term networking or knowledge exchange.

Key Findings

The research highlights the importance of building trusting relationships, engaging openly with uncertainty, recognising differences between educational contexts, and creating structured opportunities for reflection and shared learning.

The findings also suggest that contextual differences can become valuable resources for questioning assumptions, developing professional identities and improving teacher education practice, rather than acting as barriers to collaboration.

The research provides practical lessons for universities, teacher education programmes and professional networks seeking to develop sustainable cross-border and international collaborations for teacher educators.

Read the Publication

Read the full article in Sport, Education and Society:

https://doi.org/10.1080/13573322.2026.2729827

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