The practicum in times of Covid-19: Knowledge developed by future physical education teachers in virtual modality

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has put enormous pressure on the educational system in all its teaching and learning activities, and in the specific case of the practical training of teachers. This study seeks to investigate through qualitative research with a comprehensive interpretive approach, the training of the practicum of Physical Education teachers in Chile, considering the knowledge and experiences, in the context of virtual classrooms during the Covid-19 pandemic. Semi-structured interviews and focus groups were used to collect the data; and were analyzed with the content analysis technique. As result, it can be observed that the students manifest diverse experiences in their practicum process, with difficulties inherent to the remote work condition, such as difficulty in communication with students and school teachers, problems in didactic and evaluation processes, and adaptation to context. It is necessary to discuss the access of students and teachers to technologies, as well as the training of physical education teachers in areas of didactic and assessment in contexts where face-to-face is difficult.