Authors: Chad Killian, Emily Jones, Jen Krause, & Kevin Richards
The purpose of this blog is twofold.
· First, we aim to summarize the conversation that occurred during the PETE Collaborative virtual meeting that occurred on November 10, 2022, entitled Developing Future Faculty to Ensure a Favorable Future for PETE.
· Second, we aim to outline key challenges, practical solutions and helpful advice shared by the panelists and participants related to their doctoral training and induction into faculty roles.
All PETE Collaborative calls are recorded and uploaded as podcast episodes of the Playing with Research in Health and Physical Education Podcast. Those interested in listening back to this call, visit https://t.co/c4Sq4Eanh5 and find Episode #253.
This PETE Collaborative session included a panel of early career PETE faculty who completed their PhD program within the past five years. They shared practical perspectives on their preparation to engage in high-quality teaching, knowledge generation through research and creative activities, and service in their current positions. The discussion fostered a rich understanding of the realities of their workplace culture and professional expectations and the extent to which their doctoral programs prepared them for success. It also provided numerous considerations for developing and supporting future faculty (and our future colleagues) to promote a favorable future for PETE.
The following sections are organized around the three parts of the session, each of which focused on one of the pillars of faculty work- Teaching, Research and Service. The following includes opening remarks made by Kevin Richards, which served to set the conversation.
Broadly, the purpose of doctoral education relates to preparation for disciplinary stewardship. Faculty members are stewards of their respective disciplines as they advance the disciplines through research and preparation of future in-service practitioners. Faculty roles are generally constructed around the three areas of teaching, research, and service, but expectations vary across institutions
PETE doctoral education varies widely in the U.S. With no national guidelines or standards, curricula are related more to local imperatives and the perspectives and values of doctoral faculty members. At some doctoral institutions, there is a strong emphasis on learning how to conduct and publish research, whereas others provide a more balanced perspective that includes educating more broadly for the faculty role. Concerns have been raised relative to this apparent lack of consensus
Faculty mentors are central in the doctoral education process. They hold an imbalance of power that needs to be actively monitored, discussed, and interrogated for clearer communication. Good doctoral mentors can help students jump start their careers and position them for success in academia. Not all doctoral students have positive experiences, which emphasizes the importance of finding a faculty mentor that suits one’s preference and style.
Similar to pre-service teachers, doctoral students report feeling underprepared for the sociopolitical side of their work once they join faculty. This emphasizes the importance of having honest and open conversations about the realities of academic life. Strategies for managing different elements of one’s personal and professional life should be taught and modeled.
The landscape of doctoral education in the U.S. is a bit uncertain at the moment as undergraduate program closures at once prominent doctoral institutions have raised questions about the long term viability of doctoral programming in those places. It should be added that as programs have closed, some new programs have opened with new faculty members assuming roles as doctoral educators.
The effectiveness of any educational intervention is best found in the years following said intervention. In the case of doctoral education, it is in the transition into faculty roles and assumption of the roles and responsibilities of a teacher educator. Our goal in putting together this PETE collaborative panel was to invite faculty members at the beginning of their careers to speak about their preparation for the faculty roles of teaching, research, and service. We will ask them to both acknowledge some of the strengths of their doctoral programs in relation to this preparation and consider areas in which they felt underprepared to make the transition. By listening to the experiences of these emerging scholars, and others on this meeting of the PETE collaborative, we can better interrogate and seek to improve PETE doctoral education.
Teaching
Teaching is at the core of PETE, and ensuring doctoral students are prepared to deliver high-quality instruction is essential. While many come with K-12 teaching experience, doctoral programs should provide opportunities for developing knowledge and skills around teaching undergraduate and/or graduate courses, establishing and facilitating field experiences, and program coordination duties through observation, guest lectures, field supervision, co-teaching, and independent teaching opportunities. Additionally, for those doctoral students with limited K-12 physical education teaching experience, additional opportunities for growth should be considered. Faculty members may share details on or more formally involve doctoral students in program coordination duties.
Supports Experienced during Doctoral Training that have Translated to Faculty Life
· Teaching a variety of courses during doctoral training was valuable, particularly higher-level pedagogical methods courses, since most PETE faculty positions involve teaching similar content. This helped candidates develop and demonstrate broad expertise in preparing for faculty job searches.
· Supervising undergraduate students during field experiences was perceived beneficial.
· Apprenticing courses taught by other faculty was helpful to progress teaching skills without stress of also having to develop content.
· Observing and shadowing effective teachers before leading assigned courses.
· Opportunities to observe K-12 physical education teachers deliver instruction enhanced experiences and understanding of teaching and learning environments, particularly for doctoral students limited K-12 experience.
· Engaging in summer programs and after school programs offered enriching opportunities to gain experiences working with children.
· Sharing and collaboratively analyzing course syllabi.
· Autonomy to explore innovative pedagogical strategies while having faculty advisor as a support.
· Shadowing faculty teaching graduate courses provided opportunities to gain experience teaching higher-level and graduate courses.
Challenges that have Translated to Faculty Life
· Learning how to streamline planning in preparation for variances in workload across a semester, with particular emphasis regarding advising.
Research
One of the main purposes of PhD training is for students to develop the capacity to generate new and hopefully useful knowledge in the field as independent, but increasingly collaborative or interdisciplinary scholars. Obviously, that involves working to expand content knowledge, developing deep philosophical and theoretical knowledge, refining problem setting skills and acquiring problem solving or research skills to tackle them. As many of us well know, this is very different from our lives and work as physical education teachers. Being a researcher requires these fundamental skills yet presents an array of different and expanded capacities. Doctoral students who are former practitioners, may not possess the same research backgrounds as students entering doctoral training in other fields. Even for students who trained in research oriented Master’s programs, transitioning to full-time PhD training may be difficult.
Supports Experienced during Doctoral Training that have Translated to Faculty Life
· Environments that facilitated opportunities to read, discuss, and ask research-related questions to other doctoral students and faculty.
· Working on various aspects of the research process under the supervision of more experienced or senior faculty members. This included assuming varied roles in the research process – leading, following, supporting, and learning.
· Adhering to advice that certain aspects of the research process can be controlled, and others cannot. Specifically, learning to be concerned with things that can be controlled (i.e., use time wisely).
· Encouragement to examine the range of cognate areas that can supplement and support one’s research agenda and expand skills and knowledge. For example, pursuing cognate areas in research methodology that may be perceived as PE-adjacent.
· Utilizing Google and other web-based resources that translate research methodology and analysis techniques for novice and beginning researchers.
· Transparency surrounding the process of applying to doctoral training, what doctoral training actually involves, and the sociopolitical factors that are inherent to higher education.
· Physical lab space that facilities collaborative work environments among other doctoral students – encouraging a community of learners and scholars.
· Advisor supported accountability strategies.
· Advisor modeled collaboration with working research groups and community partners.
· Experiencing PETE-specific research methods courses that are applicable to broader content areas and contexts.
Challenges Experienced during Doctoral Training that have Translated to Faculty Life
· Environmental or self-imposed pressure to be “productive,” in some cases without even knowing what that meant.
· Comparing and (perceived) competition between graduate students related to research productivity and scholarly output.
· Finding and embracing your identity as a researcher and scholar as a doctoral student and junior faculty member.
· Balancing coursework, teaching assistant responsibilities, research assistant responsibilities and charting an independent line of research.
· Miscalculating or misunderstanding the expectations for doctoral training at a research university and the (primary) role researching plays over teaching and service.
· Reading primarily academic literature and developing an understanding for its technical language and structure.
· Feeling advisors are accessible or available to provide support.
Panelists offered advice for future doctoral candidates and current doctoral training programs in relation to preparing future faculty to engage in research and creative activities.
Advice
· Think about who you want to be and where you want to go as a scholar. However, be reminded that you will evolve and grow as an individual and researcher over time.
· Recognize that personal and professional journeys are individual. Be careful to not compare yourself to other doctoral candidates or faculty in ways that degrade your own growth and progress, hence devaluing your journey.
· Be cognizant that different seasons of your program (and even across a single semester) will ebb and flow with increased expectations related to teaching, research, and service workload. Strive to prioritize what needs to be first at different times – attempting to balance all equally will be difficult, but managing each can be possible.
· Always ask questions, think critically, and be willing to adapt your thinking and skills.
· Engage with faculty and graduate students from other discipline areas and social sectors (e.g., different professions).
· Seek mentorship or conversation from model scholars.
· Give and receive credit for progress, no matter how small.
· Be curious and rely on/support your friends
Service
In addition to research and teaching, service makes up an important component of faculty work. Whether it be serving on departmental or institutional committees, engaging with local schools and other community entities, or getting involved in professional service for state or national organizations, service is an important part of faculty members’ daily lives. Accordingly, it is critical that doctoral students be given the opportunity to observe and engage in service activities. Often, this can mirror the type of service faculty members do as most institutions seek to engage doctoral students in committee and working groups, and professional organizations are often explicit in seeking input from doctoral students as members of councils and taskforces, although engagement in such activities is often on a competitive basis. In addition to helping doctoral students engage in service activities, faculty advisors may consider discussing the importance of service and its role in a well-rounded faculty career. This may involve the service in which they have engaged and their reasons for engaging, as well as when and how it can be appropriate to decline service opportunities.
Supports Experienced during Doctoral Training that have Translated to Faculty Life
· Exposure and encouragement to engage/network at national/international conferences.
· Getting involved in organizational service alongside advisors and mentors as a start.
· Committee service as a requirement during doctoral training.
· Aligning service experiences with students’ career goals and evolving as goals change.
· Selectively pursuing service opportunities to ensure a balanced workload.
· Using service to observe cross-disciplinary faculty interactions and build relationships.
· Having more discussions about different service opportunities/possibilities.
· Invitations into service from faculty mentors and more senior graduate students.
Challenges Experienced during Doctoral Training that have Translated to Faculty Life
· Current conceptualizations of service may be limited to more traditional service tasks when professional social media, educational podcasting, and decentralized professional development are becoming more common, time-intensive, and valuable service-oriented endeavors for faculty.
Panelists also offered advice for future doctoral candidates and current doctoral training programs in relation to preparing future faculty to engage in service activities.
Advice
· Work to align teaching, research, and service in line with the teacher-scholar model.
· Adapt your thinking to view service as a benefit to self-development personally and professionally, not a burden.
· Diversify service across different levels including university, state, national, and international.