The role of content knowledge in enhancing adaptive teaching among primary physical education teachers of varying teaching experience

Adaptive teaching in primary physical education (PE) requires teachers to adjust their instructions to address the diverse needs of students. Content knowledge (CK), including common content knowledge (CCK) and specialized content knowledge (SCK), is recognized as a key factor in supporting such adaptivity. However, research has focused on pre-service teachers and longer-term instructional adaptations (macro-adaptivity), leaving open the question of whether CK can impact experienced in-service teachers’ real-time, in-lesson adjustments (micro-adaptivity). This quasi-experimental field study examined whether participation in a targeted CK workshop was associated with enhanced micro- and macro-adaptive teaching among primary PE teachers with varying levels of experience: one pre-service teacher and two in-service teachers with 5 and 30 years of experience. Six classes of third- and fourth-grade children in Germany participated, with each teacher delivering a teaching unit on the squat vault before and after a workshop focused on CCK and SCK. Data included CK tests, lesson plans, video-based diagnostics tests, and social validity questionnaires. Micro-adaptivity was assessed using a combination of machine learning and manual coding from lesson recordings, focusing on the type of teacher responses and the extent to which teacher responses addressed actual movement errors. Student performance outcomes were assessed. All teachers demonstrated gains in CK and diagnostic accuracy, and the proportion of targeted instructional responses increased post-workshop. Lesson plans showed improvements in task sequencing, and student performance in the squat vault also increased. Teachers at all experience levels rated the workshop as valuable. These results suggest that CK is a refinable aspect of teacher expertise.