The place of knowledge in the representation of professional competence held by PE teachers

The purpose of this study was to locate the place of knowledge in the representation of professional competence held by PE teachers. We interviewed 30 PE teachers about their understanding of competence, using a semi-structured open-ended interview. Interpretative content analysis procedures were applied. The analytical framework based on nuclear categories defined in the Cheetham and Chivers’ (1996, 1998) Model of Professional Competence: knowledge/cognitive competence; functional competence; personal/behavioural competence; values/ethical competence. Data showed that the ethical component was the most important. The subcategory specialized knowledge proved to be the most valued followed by tacit-practical knowledge and knowledge application.

• to discriminate the factors that PE teachers value in their conception of competence and situate the importance of knowledge among these nuclear components; • to identify the types of knowledge PE teachers value in their conception of competence; • to represent the "idea" of competence held by PE teachers.

1. Sample
The sample was composed of 30 PE teachers of both genders (16 men and 14 women).
The age of participants and their working experience as PE teachers averaged respectively 39,03 years and 15,77 years. Twenty two of them were multiple job holders.
Participation of all teachers in the study was voluntary.

Data collection
An interview protocol was built in order to identify the "idea of competence" held by PE teachers. The protocol adopted a semi-structured approach with six open-ended questions. This format was particularly useful to study the participants' beliefs, perceptions or accounts on a particular topic in detail. The semi-structured format was used in order to facilitate rapport and empathy, and to allow a greater flexibility of coverage and openness to the unexpected (Smith, 1995).
The interview script was evaluated by two senior researchers in sport pedagogy who have substantial experience with interview methods. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the clarity, adequacy, and relevance of the interview questions for the target sample.
Questions that composed the script are presented below in Table 1. Q6 -Think about teachers that you know or knew and select one (or more) that you consider a model(s) of a competent teacher.

eJRIEPS 24 juillet 2011
After having explained the aim of the study, clarifying the conditions of participation, and obtaining the free and informed consent, each teacher was interviewed in a quiet and safe environment, without the interference of others. The interviews were recorded on audio tape and lasted between 25 and 90 minutes.

3. Data analysis
The records of the interviews were transcribed verbatim and subsequently introduced in the qualitative data analysis software QSR Nvivo, version 7.0. Each teacher was identified with an alphanumeric code (e.g., PE1). Data were analysed using content analysis procedures. The analytical framework was built upon the Chivers' (1996, 1998) Model of Professional Competence. Figure 1 provides a detailed portrait of the categories of the main components of competence included in the model, namely a) knowledge/cognitive competence, b) functional competence, c) personal/behaviour competence, d) values/ethical competence, e) professional competence, f) reflection, and g) meta-competencies/trans-competencies. An extra category, appearance, which emerged from the data, was added to the list of the predefined components of competence. The physical and mental categories of the functional component were aggregated. The analysis was structured into two main stages: the first stage took on an iterative process of classification by using the predefined categories as the starting point.
The second stage included two steps: (1) determining the frequency and relative frequency of each core component and its related components; (2) in-depth analysis of the data coded in each category and subcategory trying to map out the conception of competence conveyed by the participant PE teachers.  (Cheetham & Chivers, 1998, p.275) (Reprinted with the permission of the authors)

4. Reliability
Coding reliability was assured by assessing the inter observer and intra observer's agreement. Reliability tests included four interviews. Cohen's Kappa was calculated to eliminate the agreement by chance. The values for the agreement of two independent observers ranged from 85% to 90%, and intra observer consistency ranged from 84% to 89%. Since Fleiss (1981) considers an agreement greater than a score of 75% as strong, we concluded that our data were reliable enough to be used.

Global Picture about competence
The discourse of PE teachers revealed a great diversity in relation to the notion of competence, ranging from a narrow and particularistic aspect, like "to know the space where is the class", to a broad and rather unspecific aspect. Several excerpts of teachers' interviews serve to illustrate that proposition:   Looking more closely at each component of competence, it was possible to see the relevance of each sub-category inside the nuclear components of competence (Table 1).
Ethical competence emerged as the most relevant category, followed by knowledge. In contrast, the functional component was the least relevant.  I would begin by… first of all a competent teacher must be a responsible person. I think it is the most important, and developing this competence -being responsible encompasses everything -and students could see the teacher as a model; they could say something like: You know, this teacher requires me to be assiduous, to be punctual, but she is always the first to come into the classroom, she never arrives late, never after the second bell, pretending that she had not heard the bell ringing, Knowledge was seen as one of the requirements of competence. The theoretical/specialist knowledge, including academic and pedagogical knowledge, occupied a central place in professional preparation; however the non-linear relationship between theory and practice was also acknowledged. A clear difference between being a "good student" and being a "good teacher" emerged from the discourse.
… a lot of requirements in terms of knowledge, a proper academic education.
[PE15, paragraph 18] …to be a good university student does not mean to become a good teacher, but at least it is required to have a knowledgeable base. [PE30, paragraph 19] The amount of references to tacit-practical knowledge and knowledge application assumed relative relevance especially among the experienced teachers. The roots of tacitpractical knowledge were mainly linked to personal and shared professional experiences, and less to practical sport experiences. The teachers interviewed for this study seemed to embrace the idea of practical rationality, which is revealed in the way they think about eJRIEPS 24 juillet 2011 knowledge application, i.e., knowledge has no direct application in practice. It is necessary to transform and to adjust one's knowledge in order to adapt to the comprehension level of the students, to the situation and task constraints. This idea of knowledge transformation was conveyed in expressions like how to adjust, how to adapt, how to guide.
The teacher who is able to transform a theoretical project into a project that works.
[PE9, paragraph 9] The teacher who is able to adjust, to make changes, without losing the common core of the teaching activity, you know. But, at the same time, the one who is able to effectively transmit knowledge and wisdom, to provide cues, desirably in a guide discovering way instead of a full pre-established way, you know? Fostering thinking,

knowing… [PE9, paragraph 20]
A teacher who has extensive knowledge of the subject. Sometimes, rather than being an issue of subject matter knowledge, it is much more important to find out a way of getting students to know the contents for learning, of fine-tuning the level of objectives, or of making clear what is important for students to learn from that matter. [PE7, paragraph 12] The number of quotations on the contextual and procedural knowledge was very limited.
Among the references in these components, teachers with less experience produced more ideas about contextual knowledge, while the more experienced teachers quoted more often on procedural knowledge. Despite contextual knowledge being rarely mentioned, references to students were almost pervasive, either at the level of the individual student, or in relation to their social and family environments.
It is important to know that each student is a unique case; we should not treat students in a generic fashion. [PE25, paragraph 25] She must know her students, she must make an effort to know her students as a previous concern, who they are, where they come from; be acquainted with their social context, try to understand the family factors that may be important to acknowledge and may interfere with students' learning. [PE8, paragraph 18] The one who is sensitive to the specific characteristics of students and of the particular contexts they are embedded in; the one who is able to promote a certain kind of learning outcome. [PE1, paragraph 9]

1. Personal/behavioural component
In general, the idea which was most prevalent was that teachers believe that interpersonal skills offer the basis for the teaching and learning process. These skills were translated into aspects that contribute to a good relationship between teacher and students including the ability to communicate, to talk with them. Commitment and persistence were also listed as key features. The pedagogical qualification of teachers was accentuated. References to pedagogy pervaded not only on personal and behavioural components, but also in others components of competence. We believe that the pedagogical component should not be seen as a subsidiary component but as an overarching component of competence. … and she must try to apply knowledge in the best way, being rigorous with the methods she uses, the procedures she adopts, to impart knowledge, to introduce concepts and to assign tasks that were needed. [PEMD3, paragraph 9] One notorious result was the emphasis teachers put on knowing how to transmit, intimately related to knowing how to teach. Student learning appeared to be linked to the transmission of the subject matter. This link suggests that teachers understand the teaching process based on the process-product paradigm in which the students' learning gains are a direct result of teachers' behaviours in the instructional process. Teachers come to be understood as "engineers of education." The association I make is that a good teacher is the one who knows how to teach, who knows how to be in a classroom, and the kids like to attend his classes. Lately, I'm revolving around a theme, we teachers should be teaching engineers.
Therefore, we must have the ability to deal with 20 or more students in a class, and knowing that there are no two identical individuals, knowing that they could be sorted by levels, we must have the ability to reach all of them in some unique way.
This is what I mean by a competent person, the one who is able to transmit, if not for all, for as many students as possible that one has to teach. [PEMD26, paragraph

11]
The notions of planning and evaluation are seen as necessary conditions in order to promote the success of students' learning. Planning and evaluation were the key factors of evidence for seeing teaching as a rational, purposeful, and systematic activity. The common purpose of all teaching was students' education, and the teaching process was considered to have a real value if it can be shown to be meaningful and relevant to the learning outcome. In this sense, the absence of planning was interpreted as a sign of incompetence.
Namely, lesson planning, thinking about the characteristics of his students and according to that organise his teaching process, in a way that the subsequent learning process can be effective, and so, preparing his teaching activity, adjusting his/her teaching interventions according to students learning. There is also a set of planning demands that makes a teacher a good professional. A person who improvises, that goes to class without preparing the lessons, cannot be a good  Looking into meta-competencies, the aspects most mentioned were the decision-making capacity, the adaptation capacity, as well as creativity. It is important to note that adaptability held a double meaning. This capacity was seen both as assimilation of the situational constraints to the teachers perspectives, and in the opposite direction, as accommodation of the teachers' views to the demands of the context and situational constraints. Assimilation and accommodation constitute the known phases of Piagetian adaptation; however we believe that these perspectives may also illustrate two different conceptions of the act of teaching. Teachers that emphasised assimilation put themselves at the centre of the instructional process, while teachers that emphasised accommodation placed the focus on the particularities of pedagogical situations.
Creativity and innovation associated with the need to acquire knowledge is also an idea that transpired from the teachers' discourses. Despite the reduced number of remarks on reflection, teachers' statements were quite disparate. Some of them were confined to a single class, while other statements addressed broader social and educational issues, taking into account not only the immediate context but also the society as a whole. To some teachers, the challenge of social change appeared as a concern that could not be ignored. It is a person that works effectively through a guided discovery; and teaching people to search ways, or at least how to think if his way the correct path to follow is? This is a process of influence like others, but a process in which we are really active subjects… [PE28, paragraph 28] The references to self-perception and hetero-perception of professional competence (how competent I perceive myself and how competent the others perceive me) made two ideas apparent: self-confidence connected to educational results, and the visibility of the educational results. In both cases, results confirm students' success.
Not only the one who is confident in what he is teaching, but also the one who has confidence in oneself. [PE4, paragraph 12] A competent teacher is the one who makes teaching goals achievable and consequently brings out the best in his students. [PE8,paragraph 9] This one speaks; that one tells and does, and has results to show. [PE26, paragraph 42] But if you don't have a sound academic preparation, and particularly a pedagogical preparation, it will be very difficult for you to come in school and be effective. [PE18, paragraph 18] 3. 3. The "idea" of competence held by PE teachers.
The interpretation of the results suggests that the "idea" of competence held by PE teachers is based on issues of ethical, conceptual and relational nature, further consolidated by the influence of two strongly valued factors: the meta-competencies and motivation. In relation to the paradigmatic orientation underlying the notion of competence, while integrating different elements of the competence model used as reference for analysis, teacher behaviour and knowledge occupied the central place. The conception of competence held by teachers is associated with ability and knowledge. In this way, they are led to put the competence concept in an intermediate position between the rationalist and interpretive focus.
Data showed a composite of two perspectives: the functionalist and personalistic perspectives. Thus, it was possible to infer that the "idea" of competence was closer to functionalism (worker-oriented or work-oriented approach) rather than structuralism (integrated approach to both worker and work). In Figure 3 we can observe the representation of the "idea" of competence held by PE teachers. Figure 3. Representation of the "idea" of competence held by PE teachers

Discussion
The present study attempts to gain a better understanding of PE teachers' conceptions about the place of knowledge in relation to competence. Data showed that PE teachers have a poorly defined professional identity and give to knowledge and ethical issues a central role in professional competence. The ill-defined professional identity can be related to the fact that a majority (22/30) of PE teachers of this study have multiple jobs, and to the fact that their second job is related to fitness or coaching. But even if the sample was made up of teachers with a single job, the control of all the variables, to ensure uniformity, would almost be impossible. In the same line of thought, Feiman-Nemser and Floden (1986) state that the assumption of cultural uniformity of teaching is untenable. Teachers differ in age, experience, social and cultural background, gender, marital status, subject matter wisdom, and ability. The schools in which they work also differ in many ways, as do the groups of students whom they teach. All these differences may lead to differences in teaching culture. (p. 507).
The ethical aspects appear to be associated with responsibility, understood as a routine accomplishment and professionalism, as is usually the case in different professions.
Discourses were marked by the notion of value transmissions and by the necessity of teacher authority, i.e., an acceptable authority. This type of authority is designed by Estrela (1997) as moral authority. The author says "(…) being an educator requires a particular way of being a moral authority" (p.164).
Knowledge is perceived by most teachers as a key component of competence; similarly, different authors argue that knowledge play a central role to the activity of teaching.
According to Graça (1999, p. 167) education is a complex activity which requires that teachers have expertise knowledge in several areas. Crum (2001) says that "the training within the educational content is definitely a key competence for PE teachers" (p.67).
The necessity to know subject matter appears closely linked to the ability to transmit it.
These teachers report that it is not enough to simply have knowledge, but it is necessary to know how to transmit it. This idea is supported by Le Boterf (1984), for whom the ability to mobilize the knowledge that each one has is crucial. Among the referenced types of knowledge, the most relevant was the content domain and its transmission. These types of knowledge are referred to by Grossman (1990) as subject matter knowledge (knowledge of vocational education) and pedagogical content knowledge (how to make the subject matter content into forms more comprehensible for students). Shulman (1986) introduced the concept of pedagogical knowledge (PCK) as a distinctive body of knowledge for teaching.
Between the different kinds of knowledge, specialized knowledge, described as academic and teaching knowledge, occupies the central place. Tacit knowledge and application of knowledge was mentioned more by the experienced teachers. In relation to the application of knowledge, the discourse was positioned in practical rationality. Similarity (Schön (1983) believes that knowledge has no direct application in practice, it is necessary to change it, to adjust it in order to make it understandable to the students. Despite the marked differences between different types of knowledge, it cannot be said that one type of knowledge is more important than the other; each one play an important role. It is widely accepted that teachers' knowledge is an integrated system and it is very difficult to isolate each part. Parry (1996) states that different areas of knowledge have an interconnected nature. Despite the importance of identifying the different types of knowledge, the attempt to distinguish different areas of knowledge tends to be arbitrary and artificial because they interact.
The idea of knowing how to be competent is largely expressed. Knowing how to plan, how to do and how to evaluate is mentioned with respect to a common goal: the success of students. This idea was already taken up in 1993 by Crum, when he claimed for initial training of PETE curricula based on the concept of teaching and learning.
Teachers' concentration on pedagogical issues was noticeable again in the personal component of competence. In general, the idea was that teachers think that the interpersonal relationships are the base for everything, so teachers must be empathic to students and maintain good relationships. It is necessary to have the capacity to communicate, to dialogue and to like being with people. Pedagogical issues cannot be seen as a subsidiary component of competence, but more as a fundamental component, and therefore must be integrated in all sectors of initial training.
Although the context factor was referred to by just a few teachers, those who mentioned it were fairly consistent. The need to contextualize the intervention was associated with the idea of how to improve educational performance. The ecology of the classroom advocated by Doyle (1990) thus takes form.
Strangely, only eight teachers valued reflection, despite literature indicating that this is a fundamental aspect of professional competence (Argyris & Schön, 1974;Schön, 1984).
The factors perceived as the most important for competence were motivation and metacompetencies. The factors that motivate teachers to the profession are having the vocation and liking the profession. The capacity for adaptation and creativity was also seen as a fundamental aspect of the teachers' activity. Contextual factors, although rarely mentioned, point out that it's very important to know the students, either as part of a group, or as individuals, and to avoid the mistake of working with everyone in the same way.
Teachers valued the results of their work, but the perception of results by the others is more important than the self-perception.

Conclusion
The attempt to capture the place of knowledge in the representation of competence held by PE teachers put in evidence a set of data which is not always easy to interpret.
Regardless of the impossibility of taking a straightforward reading of the data, it is possible to synthesise some aspects which were consistent through-out the analysis. The teachers of this study revealed a great diversity of ways to express the notion of competence.
Whatever the diversity, the central idea which that emerged was that the teacher is an educator and must therefore commit his/her actions to an ethical dimension. The need for pedagogical training was quite obvious in the teachers' statements, and was interpreted not only as a simple utilitarian element, but also as a key to competence that must to be integrated in teacher education.
Ethical and knowledge components of competence are the ones most valued by PE teachers. Interpersonal relationships, belonging to the personal component, are considered fundamental to the central activity of the teacher and the teaching-learning process.
Knowledge was referenced as one of the requirements of competence. The theoretical/specialist knowledge, embodied in academic and pedagogical knowledge, occupies the central place. However, all types of knowledge are important in the conception of competence held by PE teachers. In relation to the ethical component, the idea that the teacher must be guided, in his conduct, by ethical criteria is an idea that is well expressed.
Concerning the functional component, teachers also pointed out the ability to make it as a central aspect of the teacher activity. Aspects like planning, intervention and evaluation were mentioned in different ways: there was either an emphasis on the need to individualize and mould the subject matter or there was a focus on the need for a regular and systematic intervention.
In relation to the other factors of competence, the factors meta-competencies and motivation were the most valued. In meta-competencies the capacity for adaptation and creativity are listed as critical tools for professional practice because they allow teachers to deal with the unexpected that characterizes the teaching process. Liking the profession was viewed as the "engine" that triggers and maintains the development of competence.
Finally, the perspective of competence carried out is closer to functionalism (workeroriented or work-oriented approach) than to structuralism (integrated approach to both worker and work). Thus, in the assumption of competence, is not only the ability to obtain resources (competence as resources), but also to mobilize them in action (competence as integration of abilities).
It is then thought that to improve professional competence and the progressive integration of theory and practice (i.e., the goals and content of sport education programs) attention must be given to one's professional experience, ranging from poor perspectives to more complete perspectives. We believe that the PE teacher education curriculum needs to explore new knowledge and ways of thinking, and this process must begin with the awareness of the education institutions to capture the perceptions of professionals about competence, trying to understand why and how their professional subjectivity has been constructed.