My experience of using the Teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR) model

My first experience of using the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model:

My first experience of the teaching personal and social responsibility model came when my lecturer took us through a practical lesson following the structure of TPSR, with us starting on the first level (respect for the rights and feelings of others) progressing up to the final level (transfer for outside of PE) (Hellison, 2011; Metzler, 2017). However, this seems to be uncommon for preservice teachers to experience a practical example of the TPSR model as many lack knowledge, experience and understanding of the model (Martinek and Lee, 2012; Stran et al., 2012; Nieves et al., 2021). After this practical example, we then went into a lecture where I learnt about the basic structure and components that underpin the TPSR model, which is similar to most preservice teachers as research shows that everyone goes through basic training in the model before being required to deliver lessons using TPSR (Nieves et al., 2021). Having been taught using the TPSR model during the practical lesson and being informed about the theory behind the model, I started to feel like I had a good understanding of TPSR. The study completed by Nieves et al. (2012), suggests that many preservice teachers had similar feelings as many preservice teachers in this study felt more prepared to plan and deliver after the basic training.

For more information on this model check out this video:

(Johnson, 2020)

My experience of planning a session using the TPSR model:

During the next lesson, I was required to plan a session using the Teaching personal and social responsibility model with a small group of peers, whilst also being under the supervision of our lecturer, which is a common experience during initial attempts at planning sessions using TPSR (Romar et al., 2015; Nieves et al., 2021). Before starting to plan our session, I had mixed emotions as I felt a little anxious based on the fact, I had no prior experiences with planning TPSR sessions, but I also felt I had a good fundamental knowledge of the structure I needed to follow based upon the basic training I had received. Researchers have found that many preservice teachers describe similar feelings of anxiety when asked to plan sessions based upon models that they have not experienced using before (Martinek and Lee, 2012; Stran et al., 2012). As a group the first thing we did when planning our session using TPSR was identify the level of responsibility we were going to focus on, and we chose developmental stage one which uses levels one and two of responsibility (Hellison, 2011). The first activity we planned was an awareness talk where we planned to split the learners into small groups and get them to come up with a definition of respect, self-control, and good attitude before then getting them back into one big group and discussing what they came up with, to then form class definitions of respect, self-control, and good attitude. Research suggests that this is a similar activity to those planned by preservice teachers in the study done by Nieves et al. (2021). The next activity we planned to do was play multiple small-sided games of Spikeball using the inclusion teaching strategy, this meant that we made the two teams playing against each other set the rules and point scoring system they were going to enforce while playing. The guidelines we gave them where that all rules and point scoring system need to be agreed upon by both teams, there was to be no ridiculing of either teams suggestions, and the rules must give the lowest ability level player a fair chance of scoring points. Metzler (2017) suggested that using the inclusion teaching strategy was useful when teaching TPSR level one and this made me feel a lot more confident about this activity following the TPSR structure as it had been suggested to use this strategy by research. The final activities we planned to do were a group discussion where the learners could voice what they thought about the session when being prompted by questions such as how did you find having the responsibility of setting the rules and scoring system of your games?, how did you manage conflicts when they arose?, how respectful did you find your classmates?. After having then discussed this we planned to give the learners an individual reflection sheet where they could score themselves out of 10 in the categories of respect, self-control, and having a good attitude. This matches the structure suggested by research for a TPSR lesson focused on the first developmental stage which again helped to boost my confidence in the plan and my ability and understanding of using the TPSR model (Metzler, 2017; Nieves et al., 2021). 

Some examples of how to implement the TPSR models are shown in the image below:

(Evans,2024)

My experience of delivering a TPSR session:

Before delivering my session using the teaching personal and social responsibility model, I felt quite confident in my plan however I was still slightly anxious about delivering as I was unsure of how it would transfer over from the plan to reality as I lack experience of using the model. The literature conforms with this as many teachers have a lack of experience in using this model and that is why the model is absent for the most part in PE lessons in schools (Toivonen et al., 2021). When delivering my session, that was based upon the first level of responsibility which is respecting others’ feelings and rights, I found that the learners were understanding the concept of being fair and understanding of others’ feelings through the activities planned (Hellison, 2011). This made me feel confident in my ability to use this model effectively as the learners were understanding the concept and showing the correct behaviours for the level of responsibility they were at, which conflicts with the literature as one study found that 78% of preservice teachers found it hard to promote respect and get their learners to show the right behaviours (Nieves et al., 2021). When evaluating my session using TPSR, I believe that the use of this model will be vital in my future teaching as I believe that as a preservice teacher, I should try to provide the learners opportunities to improve their life skills while in the safe space that is school. This is also reflected in the literature as many of the studies suggest that there have been positive results come from using TPSR in physical education settings and preservice teachers see the model as a useful tool for their future teaching experiences (Nieves et al., 2021; Toivonen et al., 2021; Richards et al., 2019). From a learner's perspective looking back on my experience with TPSR, I found that I was more likely to focus on the positive behaviours that are associated with the model than I was to focus solely on the outcome like I would in ‘traditional’ physical education, which is similar to the reported responses of the learners in some of the interventions that I looked at (Nieves et al., 2021). 

To see an example of a session delivery using the teaching personal and social responsibility model check out this video:

(Crust, 2015)

References:

CRUST, L., 2015. TPSR Lesson: Video 2. YouTube [online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxsg2SXyuIg [Accessed 2 Jan 2025].

EVANS, E., 2024. Teaching physical education - PEdagogical Model: Teaching personal and social responsibility (TPSR). PE Scholar [online]. Available from: https://www.pescholar.com/resource/teaching-physical-education-pedagogical-model-teaching-personal-and-social-responsibility-tpsr/.

HELLISON, D.R., 2011. Teaching personal and social responsibility through physical activity. Champaign, Ill. [U.A.] Human Kinetics.

JOHNSON, I., 2020. TPSR. YouTube [online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOcJVqm5SHI [Accessed 2 Jan 2025].

MARTINEK, T. and LEE, O., 2012. From community gyms to classrooms: A framework for values-transfer in schools. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 83(1), pp.33-51.

MELTZER, M.W., 2011. Instructional models in physical education. Routledge.

NIEVES, A.M., ESTRADA OLIVER, L., and VARGAS, A., 2021. Preservice Physical Education Teachers’ Experiences Implementing the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility Model. The Physical Educator. 78 (2).

RICHARDS, K.A.R., JACOBS, J.M., IVY, V.N., and LAWSON, M.A., 2019. Preservice teachers perspectives and experiences teaching personal and social responsibility. Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy. 25 (2), pp. 188–200.

ROMAR, J.-E., HAAG, E., and DYSON, B., 2015. Teachers’ experiences of the TPSR (Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility) model in Physical Education. Agora para la educación física y el deporte. 17 (3), pp. 202–219.

STRAN, M., SINELNIKOV, O., and WOODRUFF, E., 2012. Pre-service teachers’ experiences implementing a hybrid curriculum. European Physical Education Review. 18 (3), pp. 287–308.

TOIVONEN, H.-M., WRIGHT, P.M., HASSANDRA, M., HAGGER, M.S., HANKONEN, N., HIRVENSALO, M., TALVIO, M., GOULD, D., KALAJA, S., TAMMELIN, T., LAINE, K., and LINTUNEN, T., 2019. Training programme for novice physical activity instructors using Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model: A programme development and protocol. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 19 (2), pp. 1–20.