From ‘Pool Noodle Tag’ to Building Snow Forts: Experiential Outdoor Education as Pedagogical job Crafting During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic significantly impacted education systems across the world. Physical education teachers were particularly affected by public health mandates, as many were displaced to teach in virtual and/or outdoor contexts while their gymnasiums were co-opted to become classroom learning spaces.

Purpose

Our research objective was to explore how physical education teachers engaged in job crafting via their pedagogical practices to accommodate public health mandates throughout the pandemic.

Method

Through semistructured interviews, ten (n = 10) Canadian physical education teachers unpacked their professional experiences. Interview discussions were textually transcribed and analyzed via coding and reflexive thematic analysis approaches.

Findings

We conceptualized these teachers’ pivoting to experiential education approaches as a form of pedagogical job crafting, efforts to not only support their students’ learning and engagement, but also to sustain their own occupational flourishing and sense of meaningfulness. By adapting their pedagogical practices, these teachers were able to circumvent various occupational stressors, supported their students’ learning and engagement, and demonstrated attitudinal developments regarding their own occupational roles and identities within the school system.

Implications

These findings may provide insight for future researchers to explore and better understand how pedagogical job crafting may support and sustain teachers’ practices, particularly during strenuous circumstances.

Significance of the Research Statement

This study explored the experiences of physical education teachers’ adaptative pedagogies to conform to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic protocols in Canadian public schools. The findings generated from our inquiry provide significant insight into the intersections of job crafting and job crafting, specifically via experiential educative approaches to circumvent strenuous teaching conditions.

Our public education systems continue to stabilize after the enormous impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic had on students, teachers, and entire communities. Abrupt changes in public health regulations and school policies affected the pedagogical practices of educators and students’ engagement in learning experiences (Dolighan & Owen, 2021; Hilger et al., 2021; Schwartz et al., 2021). During these extenuating circumstances, teachers and students embarked upon learning experiences in unprecedented school environments, including virtual classrooms, hybrid formats (e.g., blending online and in-person situations), and school-based learning with classroom modifications to accommodate public health protocols (Herman et al., 2021; Pattison et al., 2021; Soncini et al., 2021). In the Canadian context, provincial governments implemented procedures to mitigate the prospective risk of transmitting the COVID-19 virus in schools, mandating the adherence to two-meter physical distancing, mask wearing, increased sanitation and ventilation, repurposing classrooms and school spaces, among other protocols (Manitoba Government, 2020).

Physical education programs were uniquely disrupted by pandemic-related health protocols. Across Canada, gymnasiums and music rooms were co-opted, being repurposed as classrooms to reduce class sizes and ensure compliance with physical distancing mandates, consequently displacing many physical educators to teach in outdoor contexts (Laidlaw, 2023; PHEC, 2021). As physical education programs were impacted by evolving pandemic regulations, (PHEC, 2021) released the statement: “Teaching outdoors has become the ‘new normal’ for many physical and health teachers. In fact, more than 80 percent of our members shared that they are teaching exclusively outdoors” (p. 3). In the Canadian province of Manitoba, the provincial government overtly recommended that physical education programs adapt to outdoor learning spaces to reduce the risk of virus transmission (Manitoba Government, 2020). While there has been an abundance of inquiry into exploring how physical and health education teachers adapted to online teaching strategies (e.g., Centeio et al., 2021; Foye & Grenier, 2021; Korcz et al., 2021), we identified a gap in the literature on investigating how this specific grouping of teachers implemented outdoor learning experiences to circumvent pandemic-related mandates and sustain their professional practices. This led to our generation of the research question: How did physical education teachers engage in job crafting through their pedagogical practices during the COVID-19 pandemic? The conceptual framework informing our data collection and analysis of this inquiry was through an experiential education and job crafting interpretive lens.

Experiential Education

Experiential education lacks a universal definition and is not necessarily considered a generalizable theory (Fenwick, 2000; Seaman, 2022). While many ideas associated with experiential learning have been espoused throughout millennia by various thinkers, including philosophers Plato and Aristotle, John Dewey is often credited with modernizing the concept through his development of pragmatism and his advocacy for modern public educational systems to implement experiential learning models to support learners’ development (Allison & Seaman, 2017; Quay, 2013; Seaman, 2022). Dewey (2015) argued that “anything which can be called a study … must be derived from materials which at the outset fall within the scope of ordinary life-experience” (p. 33). The development of experiential learning theory is largely premised on constructivist psychology, drawing on ideas from eminent psychologists Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky (Kolb et al., 2014; Moseley et al., 2020). Experiential educational approaches generally emphasize the importance of students’ engagement in a diverse range of learning activities, often via interactions outside the classroom and relevant to everyday life experiences (Allison & Seaman, 2017; Dewey, 2015). Allison and Seaman (2017) define experiential educational approaches as those “that emphasize first-hand participation by learners in a diverse range of activities typically occurring outside of a classroom, but usually under pedagogical supervision” (p. 1).

Experiential education is often contrasted with traditional instructional practices, shifting from viewing teachers as expert knowledge keepers who direct learning processes to seeing them as facilitators who draw out students’ intrinsic interests, curiosities, and prior knowledge (Kolb et al., 2014). Fenwick (2000) explained that the term is used “both to distinguish this ongoing meaning-making from theoretical knowledge and nondirected informal life experience from formal education” (p. 243). To implement experiential learning experiences, Kolb et al. (2014) outlined a cycle of four roles and responsibilities in which teachers navigate: (a) Facilitator (drawing out students’ intrinsic motivation, interests, and self-knowledge through reflection); (b) subject matter expert (assisting students in organizing their reflections to the base of the subject matter, often teaching through modeling and fostering critical thinking skills); (c) standard-setter and evaluator (helping students master the application of knowledge to achieve curricular goals and outcomes); and (d) coach (mentoring students to apply their newly generated knowledge to achieve personal goals relevant to their immediate lives).

Despite the generally positive associations in the literature with experiential learning, Fenwick (2000) warned that the term had become somewhat appropriated to simply designate learning centered around kinesthetic-directed, wilderness and/or outdoor-themed, or generic project-based experiences. Experiential education is generally characterized by its prioritization of socio-emotional growth, interpersonal development, fostering of self-awareness, and subject area mastery (Allison & Seaman, 2017). As such, simply learning outdoors does not necessarily constitute experiential learning. However, outdoor and place-based learning environments may be utilized to facilitate experiential educational activities (Seaman, 2022). Outdoor education pedagogies are frequently premised upon experiential learning theories, prioritizing experience as the apex focus of learning (Quay, 2013). Cincera et al. (2020) identified three outdoor program leaders’ theories of experiential learning: (a) The theory of authentic learning (students generating knowledge through direct interactions with nature in outdoor spaces); (b) the theory of transformative learning (educational outcomes as a result of cultivating emotional attachments to nature); and (c) the theory of supportive experiences (outdoors serving as a comfortable learning environment, thus acting as a support to reinforce educational concepts learned often through reflection). Understanding outdoor experiential education as teacher-guided, authentic, and exploratory-based learning was fundamental for our interpretive analysis.

Recent empirical studies have further substantiated the efficacy of experiential education across various educational contexts. A study by Malik and Behera (2024) delved into the transformative potential of experiential learning, highlighting its capacity to bridge theoretical knowledge and practical application. Their research emphasized the importance of active experimentation and reflection, drawing upon the foundational theories of Piaget, Kolb, and Dewey to underscore how experiential learning fosters deeper cognitive engagement and personal growth among learners. Similarly, Ranken et al. (2024) indicated that experiential learning approaches can enhance students’ academic performance, particularly benefiting low-achieving students by supporting their cognitive development and self-esteem.

The integration of experiential learning methodologies has also been shown to positively influence students’ motivation and engagement. Research by Kong (2021) suggested that experiential learning, grounded in constructivist principles, contributes to improved educational outcomes by centering on the development of students’ abilities and experiences. This learner-centric pedagogy not only enhances academic skills but also promotes critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Furthermore, the Journal of Experiential Education continues to provide a platform for empirical and theoretical studies, advancing the discourse on how experiential learning can be effectively implemented to achieve diverse educational objectives.

Job Crafting

Job crafting is generally understood as the phenomenon whereby workers self-initiate changes to their workplace responsibilities to support their own efficacy, satisfaction, engagement, and occupational flourishing (Bakker et al., 2012; Bindl et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). These changes may manifest to be small and incremental, radically altering, and/or be entirely invisible (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). The Job Demands-Resources theory (Demerouti et al., 2001) provides a framework for understanding how employees thrive when their job resources outweigh their job demands, while excessive demands with insufficient resources can lead to disengagement and burnout (Bakker et al., 2012; Bakker & de Vries, 2021). Within this framework, job crafting emerges as a proactive strategy employees use to optimize their work environment. Bakker et al. (2012) define job crafting as “the changes employees may make regarding their job demands and resources” (p. 1362), highlighting its role in enhancing well-being and engagement. Job crafters respond to, and take control of, their work environments, making changes to their job demands and/or job resources to be effective (Tims et al., 2013). Job crafting is a creative and improvisatory process whereby workers adapt their jobs to make work meaningful and sustainable (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Further, it is a “bottom-up approach” where employees proactively optimize their job characteristics to best suit their interests and abilities to be efficacious (Tims et al., 2013, p. 428). Via their meta-synthesis of findings, Lazazzaraa et al. (2020) demonstrated the links between job crafting and job satisfaction, improved self-esteem and occupational identity, and overall meaningfulness. Wrzesniewski and Dutton (2001) differentiated between three forms of job crafting: (a) Cognitive crafting; (b) task crafting; and (c) relational crafting. Cognitive crafting is when workers reorient their behavioral mindset of the nature of their job purpose and importance; task crafting is the process of changing the scope of and/or type of tasks done at work; last, relational crafting is altering how workers socially interact or collaborate with others to fulfill their duties (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017; Bindl et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). In essence, job crafting is fundamentally rooted in workplace autonomy and is about employees “mak[ing] the job their own” (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001, p. 181).

Previous studies explored the mediating role job crafting may have on teachers’ efficacy and wellbeing (e.g., Aulén et al., 2024; Huang et al., 2022; Huang et al., 2023; Oubibi et al., 2022; Wingerden & Poell, 2019). Huang et al. (2022) argued that job crafting is a regularly occurring practice among teachers, a process whereby they optimize their structural job resources and decrease and/or navigate their job demands. Wingerden and Poell (2019) identified a relationship between teachers’ engagement in meaningful work and resiliency skills, that teachers were more engaged when they found value in their labor. Huang et al. (2023) found that decreasing hindering job demands may enhance teachers’ social engagements with their colleagues as well as their student bodies. Oubibi et al. (2022) found that teachers’ perceived organizational supports enhanced their job crafting capacities, leading to enhanced job satisfaction and engagement. Aulén et al. (2024) further demonstrated that teachers’ job crafting during the COVID-19 pandemic led to various benefits, including newfound professional autonomy and creativity, acquisition of new digital skills, and opportunities for self-development (leading to sense of self-efficacy and wellbeing). Although teachers’ job crafting is documented, in-depth explorations into how teachers adapt their pedagogical practices as a form of job crafting is largely uninvestigated.

Pedagogical Job Crafting

We conceptualize pedagogical job crafting as teachers’ adaptations to their teaching approaches and evolving sense of identity and purpose as educators. We utilized pedagogical job crafting as a conceptual lens to understand how Canadian physical and health education teachers’ navigated COVID-19 pandemic regulations, specifically being displaced from their gymnasiums to teach virtually and/or in outdoor contexts. We posit that the participants’ incorporation of experiential educational practices constituted task, cognitive, and relational job crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) to circumvent the unstable teaching conditions during the pandemic. This served as the catalyst for framing our research question on how these adaptations supported both students’ learning and achievement while also fostering teachers’ sense of meaningfulness and professional flourishing during these uncertain times. As such, our research question guiding our qualitative inquiry was: How did physical education teachers engage in job crafting through their pedagogical practices during the COVID-19 pandemic? The next section unpacks our methodological processes utilized to generate insights for this inquiry.

Methods

Through this qualitative interpretive study, we employed purposeful sampling and semistructured interviews guided by an open-ended interview framework (Creswell, 2007). We facilitated participant recruitment through an email invitation, sent to members of the Physical and Health Educators of Manitoba, a professional organization led by public school teachers. In total, 10 physical education teachers from this organization agreed to participate. The Human Ethics Office at a Canadian University approved our research protocol (approval: HE2023-0248) and participants provided written consent to participate and orally reconfirmed consent prior to beginning interviews.

Participants

The participants included 5 cisgender men and 5 cisgender women, all of whom were public school physical and health educators teaching kindergarten through grade 12 in Manitoba during the pandemic. Their ages ranged from 33 to 56 years, and they had varying levels of professional experience: Two had 5–10 years, seven had 10–20 years, and one had over 20 years of teaching experience. Eight participants identified as White, one as Métis, and one as Southeast Asian. The majority taught in suburban schools in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There is no definitive number of participants required for semistructured interview research projects, as sample sizes may range from 5 to 50 (Dworkin, 2012) and vary depending on the scope of research purposes (Morse, 2000). Previous findings from Hennink and Kaiser's (2022) meta-analysis suggested that data saturation from interview methods may be achieved between 9 and 17 participants. As such, our in-depth discussions with the 10 participants sufficiently generated a breadth of knowledge for the exploratory purposes of this qualitative research inquiry.

Design

Our study was conducted via a qualitative interpretive approach, utilizing semistructured interviews and open-ended questions (Creswell, 2007) to broadly explore physical education teachers’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials

The materials utilized included: Email invitations for participant recruitment and correspondance, the digital platform of Microsoft Teams to conduct video semistructured interviews, predetermined interview questions (see Appendix), and basic utensils (e.g., pen and paper) to record extraneous information during the semi-interview process. All of the semistructured interview discussions were transcribed verbatim manually by the research team.

Procedures

We conducted participant recruitment via email distribution from the Physical and Health Educators of Manitoba, a professional association governed by/for public physical and health education teachers. Physical and health education teachers were invited to participate in virtual interview discussions through the Microsoft Teams digital platform to reflect upon their evolving pedagogies and perceptions of wellbeing throughout the pandemic. Interviews were conducted using our Interview Guide (see Appendix), and ranged between 45 and 90 min. The discussions were transcribed verbatim, prompting the beginning of the analysis between the researchers, a process which involved a re-reading of the texts, addressing any inconsistencies between interviews to modify the interview guide as necessary, and to generate codes from the textual data (Braun & Clarke, 2013). All teacher-participants were assigned pseudonyms to ensure confidentiality. An interview method was deemed appropriate to fulfill the exploratory nature of this qualitative interpretive inquiry. Utilizing semi-structured interviews may generate various strengths in exploratory inquiries, particularly in the capacity for researchers to gather in-depth insights from participants’ perspectives and to flexibly adapt discussions to each individual discussion (McMillan, 2012). As such, a semi-structured interview method was highly aligned with our intent to broadly explore teachers’ perspectives on their pedagogical job crafting initiatives during the COVID-19 pandemic, thus informing our future research trajectories in this local context.

Analytic Strategy

Our method in data analysis was conducted via a reflexive thematic analysis approach (Braun & Clarke, 2013, 2022). Thematic analysis provides a systematic yet flexible method for identifying, analyzing, and interpreting patterns within textual data. Our analytic process followed Braun and Clarke's (2006, 2013) six-phase framework: (a) Familiarizing ourselves with the data (repeatedly reading and re-reading the textual transcriptions both independently and collaboratively); (b) generating initial codes (assigning words and/or short sentences that encapsulated the essence of phenomena); (c) searching for themes (collating codes into cohesive themes); (d) reviewing themes (assessing the viability of initially generated themes over several sessions to reach consensus); (e) defining and naming themes (refining the generated themes together for consistency with the theoretical framework; and (f) producing the report (embedded our findings into the document). Our analysis was conducted utilizing both inductive and deductive coding processes. An inductive approach was employed to allow themes to emerge organically from participants’ narratives, ensuring that the data guided the development of key insights. Concurrently, codes were generated deductively aligning the generated themes with the interpretive frameworks of experiential education (Allison & Seaman, 2017; Dewey, 2015) and job crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Examples of inductive codes included “fun-centric” and “enhanced student engagement,” while examples of deductive codes included “relational crafting,” “cognitive crafting,” “task crafting,” and so forth. As Braun and Clarke (2022) explain, deductive approaches are not about testing hypotheses, but rather as interpreting phenomena through a predetermined conceptual lens.

Regarding our reflexivity in analysis, the first member of our team is a practicing public school teacher, graduate student, union activist, and navigated his own occupational struggles teaching throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. He drew insights into analysis from his own professional experiences adapting pedagogical practices during these turbulent circumstances. The second member of our team is a professor of kinesiology, drawing his perspectives from experiences working with pre- and in-service physical educators prior to, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Our reflexive thematic analysis was approached via a dialogical, organic process whereby we co-generated codes and themes to interpret teachers’ adaptive pedagogical practices as job crafting phenomena. This analysis was bolstered by one member possessing an insider knowledge of teaching conditions during the pandemic (e.g., empathetic capacity to understand colleagues’ pedagogical struggles and experiences), while being further broadened with the other member's teacher education experiences working with pre- and inservice physical education teachers during this period. Reflexive thematic analysis is an inherently subjective, interpretational process (Braun & Clarke, 2022). As such, we do not posit our findings to be generalizable, but rather are manifestations of our interpretation in these contextual conditions.

We textually transcribed the audio-recorded interviews verbatim and then began analysis to facilitate systematic coding and theme identification. We both independently coded the data and engaged in collaborative discussions to refine themes, ensuring rigor and coherence in the analytical process. This involved multiple discussions for us to reach consensus in the refinement of data into themes. Reflexivity was maintained throughout the analysis process, as we recognized our positional, interpretive roles in shaping findings (Sparkes & Smith, 2014). To enhance trustworthiness, strategies such as peer debriefing and member checking were employed. The transcriptions were then sent to the participants, soliciting their feedback via suggested edits, reconfigurations, and/or expansions of the texts. Upon our completion of coding and thematic analysis strategies, we employed a complimentary form of member checking described by McKim (2023), sending the participants a preliminary draft of the themes that were generated from the interviews that had been developed. Participants were invited to provide any feedback, insight or modifications to further integrate their voices and perspective on the preliminary analysis although none chose to, other than approving colloquial responses, such as “looks good.” Through this iterative process, our analysis provided a nuanced understanding of physical and health education teachers’ pedagogical adaptations, professional identities, and well-being in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings

Our objective of this research was to investigate the adaptations made by physical education teachers to their pedagogical practices in response to public health mandates during the pandemic, exploring how teachers sustained their professional practices during such strenuous circumstances. Through thematic analysis, we generated three major themes from the interviews with physical and health education teachers: (a) Adapting traditional practices to COVID-19 school regulations; (b) embracing outdoor and land-based education; and (c) attitudinal changes on pedagogy and purpose as a physical educator. Our findings indicate that physical and health education teachers’ transition to outdoor and land-based experiential education served as a form of pedagogical job crafting, enabling them to maintain their professional efficacy amid the unstable conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adapting Traditional Practices to COVID-19 School Regulations

The first theme we generated pertained to physical and health education teachers’ pedagogical adaptations, which were necessitated by evolving job demands associated with provincial health guidelines. During virtual/distance learning circumstances, participants outlined a variety of pedagogical approaches they employed to facilitate physical and health educative experiences among their student bodies. Participants engaged in various aspects of task crafting during this period via the creation of virtual content on online platforms (e.g., SeeSaw, YouTube, Google Classroom). This content was often pre-recorded and/or live-streamed to facilitate physical learning experiences with their learners. Learning experiences for adolescent-aged youth including introductory lessons on yoga, workout routines, health education, and so forth.

Jefferey commented:

By Spring of 2020 schools were shut down, so we were sent home. So, my phys. ed. teaching practice at that point was home-based: online health classes and then, in terms of an activity-based stuff, I essentially created a YouTube channel and created a library of resources for students, where I designed workout videos that they could follow along at home. So, I created, like, a 50-video library for students.

Engaging younger learners was a particular challenge, as many children were disengaged and/or required parental/guardian support to navigate technology to access files. A few participants, who instructed early years physical education, described their virtual content to be exploratory and play-centric, but with the underlying intent to promote physical activity at home. Navjot shared some of her online teaching strategies, ranging from scavenger hunts to miscellaneous weekly challenges. She would ask students to “go for a walk and see how many red cars you could find. Or how many different colors of cars can you see? Go for a run in a park, you know?” Participants described the design of their virtual learning experiences to be predominantly fluid, exploratory-based, and emphasized the promotion of physical activity and/or mental health.

Issues relating to students’ disengagement and/or inequitable access to technology were expressed among participants, compromising physical and health education teachers’ capacity to support their students’ learning. To ameliorate these challenges, some participants demonstrated relational crafting, sharing their experiences conferencing with students in-person on an individual and/or small group basis. Jefferey shared his experience making conscientious efforts to support individual students’ learning: “I would have designated meeting times where students would choose one of the workouts, do them on their own, come back reflecting an hour later. That kind of stuff, that was during Spring 2020.” Another participant, Natalie, unpacked her experiences supporting her learners’ physical education. As her younger-aged students became disengaged with online platforms, she (and other participants) liaised with parents to schedule driveway visits and small group community activities. She described one of her learning experiences:

I did bike safety. So, you could sign up for a bike ride and I would take the kids for an hour and we'd go biking through the local park and the trails and talk about bike safety and how you stop. And you know, that kind of stuff. And the feedback was that it really helped the families out. Because not so much for physical education, but for mental wellness.

Other participants shared visits with younger-aged students and discussed learning experiences such as jump rope, wilderness walks, community clean ups, and biking. Organizing times to meet in small groups and individual learners evidently ameliorated some of these challenges.

As schools reopened and resumed in-person learning, teachers were required to adhere to various indoor health protocols to mitigate the risk of viral transmission, including two-meter physical distancing, mask wearing, increased sanitation, and so forth (Manitoba Government, 2020). These drastic measures necessitated physical educators to significantly alter their pedagogies, ultimately resulting in new adaptations of traditional games and learning experiences. A prominent example among many participants was the integration of pool noodles to mitigate physical distancing concerns while facilitating traditional sport and games. Brandon reflected: “We did lots of tag games and then using pool noodles to kind of extend the distance between people.” Cole also described his experience utilizing pool noodles with his learners, sharing: “We cut pool noodles with tape on the handle on the ends of them to make them look like lightsabers. So, that was something I had never done before, and we still incorporated that to this day. And, like, the kids loved it.” Other participants similarly commented that pool noodles were adopted in the community of physical education as proved to be an effective tool to provide learners with tangible, visual indicators for students to practice physical distancing. As increased sanitation in schools was a prescribed mandate outlined by public health authorities, this posed other challenges for physical and health education teachers. The increased sanitation led to frustration among many participants, as some learning experiences were not viable under such circumstances, as certain items (e.g., balls, protective equipment and mats) needed to be immediately disinfected or isolated for 48 h after usage. To mitigate the additional labor associated with facilitating learning experiences, participants were tactful in selecting activities that would not be overly onerous and required few adaptations. Navjot's sentiment encapsulated these stressors: “But really, in two years students hardly threw a ball because we were told: ‘No equipment’ by our school, ‘no equipment.’ But then I thought to myself: ‘Seriously?’ So, I started taking pool noodles.” Melissa discussed her challenges using gloves:

We had to buy a bunch of finger gloves from Dollarama for our learners because we learned that if you wore gloves while playing something we didn't have to sanitize the equipment in between each use, so there was never skin-to-equipment contact. And so, kids [were] learning that, “Wow, it's really hard to grip a ball wearing gloves!” Right? Because your finger pads, you know, are meant to add that extra grip, that extra traction.

A recurring theme throughout the interview transcriptions was the tension between participants intent on facilitating authentic learning experiences that coincided with provincial curricular outcomes, while also accommodating the stringent public health regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Although participants reported being largely successful in these endeavors, it was a notable stressor. Participants noted that their school administrators’ expectations in adhering to COVID-19 public health guidelines were lessened in outdoor environments, as mask-wearing and sanitation of sporting equipment was not enforced. These circumstances led many participants to regularly facilitate physical learning experiences through traditional sports. Sports that necessitated minimal physical contact were priortized, such as street hockey and soccer.

Embracing Experiential Outdoor and Land-Based Education

As participants’ time spent teaching in outdoor contexts increased throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, participants acknowledged that they began to utilize their local spaces (e.g., school yard, community parks) and embraced the Canadian climate as a part of their pedagogical planning. Rather than merely serving as an operational space to facilitate physical activity, the outdoor spaces became a central tenet in students’ physical education. Participants modeled task crafting through designing their outdoor learning experiences to be exploratory, play-centric, and relevant to living in the Canadian climate. As Manitoba is a Canadian province renowned for its frigid winter temperatures (ranging between −25 °C and −40 °C), many of participants’ reflections included learning experiences corresponding with snow. Navjot reflected:

I was doing lots of tobogganing, building snow forts, building snowmen, we would have competitions, just fun competitions, and then I arranged with the Community Center (which is right by our school) to ask them when they're clearing the snow off the outdoor ice if it would be possible to make some big snow mounds for us. So, climbing snowbanks were a big part of my program. We were running around it. We were making wider areas using blocks. We were trying to see how many times we could go around it then going over it. Then we kind of created a slide on there. And then we would build a big snow fort.

Incorporating the Manitoba winter climate into the design of exploratory and experiential-based pedagogies were commonly organized by participants. Some participants reported the privilege of teaching in school communities that were close to adjacent parks and/or forested areas. Natalie shared her experience introducing her learners to hiking and imaginative outdoor play:

I can't believe they [students] have never been in the forest. That is ridiculous! So, the first year it was mostly hiking and then play dates. And the play dates were incredible

because, like the first play date, they [students] just stood by me: “What do we do?

What do we do?” I'm like: “You play!” They would still ask: “What do we do?” And I'm like: “You have to figure it out!” And then there'd be kids who are used to playing. So,

they were building structures, and they were playing “war,” and they were playing “make believe.”

Throughout the interview discussions, participants outlined many outdoor learning experiences they explored with their student bodies, including cross-country skiing, tobogganing, skating, building snow forts and snowmen, hiking, and so forth.

Another unique finding among a few participants was the incorporation of snow shoveling into physical education (particularly at the high school level). Participants noted that there were variances in students’ experiences, as some students had lived their entire lives in Canada and were quite familiar with the snow, other students were newcomers, lived in apartment complexes, and had minimal (if any) experience shoveling snow. Jefferey saw this as an opportunity to both promote authentic learning experiences, but also instill altruistic attitudes among his student body:

It is actually just great to be outside and get the heart rates up out there so why don’t we

head outside, why don’t we go shovel some driveways and get some work in and, you know, high school kids would be like: “All right, sure.” And they would get their heart rates up and they would clean the driveways and were feeling good about it.

In addition to shoveling driveways for community members, a few of the participants also shared that they would organize their physical education classes to shovel around the school yard (e.g., walkways, outdoor learning spaces).

As a part of their pedagogical shift to outdoor programming, many participants described the inclusion of Indigenous teachings, games, and land-based activities as a central component of their pedagogical adaptations during the pandemic. Indigenous and land-based learning experiences were recounted by the majority of the interviewee cohort, as teacher-participants emphasized the importance of learning experiences premised on the contextual features of the land, designing their pedagogies to correspond the Canadian climate, but also as an opportunity to learn from the cultural practices of the Indigenous peoples of Canada. These land-based learning experiences included: Building quinzhees, mud painting, animal tracking, identifying leaves and wildlife, and various Indigenous games. Maggie described her experiences:

Exercise and sport are all different pieces under the umbrella, so going back to some of those basics for our older kids. So it was actually really helpful because I think it made us think outside the box and give us more opportunities. So, instead of relying so heavily on our [mentality]: “Oh, it's September, so that means we're starting with our Ultimate Frisbee Unit or disc golf” We were like: “Okay, well, now what can we do without equipment?” Now we're going to introduce some Indigenous games because a lot of the Indigenous games that are used historically don't have equipment, but it still works on team building in that bigger space, as well. We also did some fun little challenges in regards to nature scavenger hunts and using our community and walking around.

Many of the educators drew on their exposure to, and knowledge of, a variety of Indigenous land-based experiences such as games and land-based practices. Teacher-participants recounted acquiring such knowledge via teacher professional development sessions, university classes that engaged in Indigenous knowledge and practices and, in some cases, working directly with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers or Elders. There was also an expressed desire to pursue greater understanding of how to more effectively incorporate Indigenous land-based experiences into the classrooms, and to learn and design curriculum under guidance that follows Indigenous ways of doing in a respectful way.

Attitudinal Changes on Pedagogy and Purpose as a Physical Educator

The last theme we generated via thematic analysis related to participants’ reflecting upon their changing attitudes toward pedagogy and occupational purpose as a physical and health education teacher during COVID-19 regulations. In physical education, these participants demonstrated cognitive crafting via their evolving beliefs over the hierarchy of prioritized skills and knowledge for children and youth to develop, but also reflecting upon their role as physical and health education teachers. This mindset manifested through new “fun-centric” and “go with the flow” perspectives in physical education class. This attitudinal change was evidenced in Navjot's reflection:

So, there's a lot of opportunity in our own field itself, the way it was created to be active in many different ways. But my focus, like I said before, was just really making sure when the kids came to physical education class that it wasn't so structured and concentrated on the curriculum, but more so keeping the kids happy. Enjoying their minutes with me.

As the COVID-19 pandemic burdened teachers and students with additional school-based demands and stressors, it is understandable that participants aimed to cultivate euphoric learning experiences to prioritize students’ engagement and mental wellbeing. Many of the participants also discussed their reconsiderations in the hierarchical priorities of learning and their roles in physical and health education programs. Although participants resoundingly described their pedagogical planning for experiential, authentic forms of learning in their programs, a few participants reflected upon the dichotomous tension between vigorous physical activity and learning experiences to calm the body and mind. These reconsiderations were documented in Katie's discussion:

To be honest, me personally, philosophically, I've gotten away from this “moderate to vigorous push’ JD-R”because I'm trying to get kids to enjoy physical activity and there are some kids that love that … So, I'm happy if they are active, but their heart rates are not

at, you know 80% of their maximum heart rate. So, I don't think it was because we

followed the curriculum, but we “massaged” it a little bit too, right? But the way we

do our program has changed over the years and actually requiring less of this

“moderate to vigorous” and more of a “Let's get active and build this into enjoying this in our life and creating positive experiences.”

She continued by adding: “And I mean, I come from a sport background, but now teaching sport is actually my least favorite thing to do … I would rather teach lifestyles and dance. I love teaching some of the health stuff.” Another example was unpacked in Jefferey's comments:

The idea of mindfulness type stuff, and I think I shifted. A philosophical change for me was that we needed to get kids’heart rates up and we need to, like, engage muscles. Like, that's great and I honestly want to do that all the time, but, like, it's also okay, like, to go outside, lay down on the grass for 10 min and then after like 10 min, like: No phones, no talking. Then to, like, come together and debrief and be like, “What did we hear? What did we feel? Or how do you feel now? Or, like, did anybody hear that sound out there, like what was that?” And just, like, kind of connecting to what is around you. “Can you hear the trees?” Like, being more I guess aware, more mindful was something that I added in during COVID-19.

Through interview discussions, many participants acknowledged their evolving perspectives on their role as physical and health educators. As public schools navigated rigorous public health regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic, these extensive measures were undoubtedly strenuous in teachers’ and students’ capacities to function. Such extraordinary circumstances led to participants’ cognitive crafting their views on their prioritized pedagogical purposes and began emphasizing fun-centric and play-oriented learning experiences. Further, while the conventional pedagogical approach in this discipline has historically emphasized vigorous physical activity and increasing students’ heart rates, participants realized the importance in health education topics, notably calming the body and mind through mindfulness practices, yoga, and other learning experiences.

Discussion

For this study, teacher-participants reflected upon their broad job demands and teaching experiences throughout the pandemic, including both virtual/distance teaching experiences during lockdowns, as well as their in-person teaching practices disrupted by COVID-19 school regulations. As public health regulations mandated teachers to practice two-meter physical distancing, mask wearing, increased sanitation, and various other provisions in schools (Manitoba Government, 2020), these changes adversely affected physical and health education teachers’ capacity to teach in a conventional manner. Consequently, educators were required to substantively adapt their pedagogical practices to accommodate public health orders while also ensuring provincial curricular outcomes were achieved.

It was under these contextual circumstances that these participants re-crafted their job tasks, relationships, and cognitive interpretations of their occupational purpose. By incorporating experiential educative pedagogies, these participants made concerted efforts to not only uphold their professional responsibilities in supporting their students’ learning and wellbeing, but also to safeguard their own vitality and efficacy as teachers during these unstable periods. Task crafting emerged as new pedagogical adaptations virtually and outdoors, relational crafting manifested through participants’ changes in interacting with their student bodies, and cognitive crafting was demonstrated through participants’ evolving perspectives on the scope and nature of their occupational duties.

In our study, the findings suggest that physical and health education teachers’ pivoting to outdoor and land-based experiential education was a form of pedagogical job crafting that helped sustain their job efficacy throughout the unstable conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. These results demonstrated these participants’ engagement in pedagogical job crafting during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly through task, relational, and cognitive crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). To accommodate the job demands of being displaced from their gymnasiums to teach virtually and in outdoor contexts, teachers adapted their pedagogical tasks, how they interacted relationally with their student bodies, and demonstrated cognitive reinterpretations of their role as physical and health education teachers.

Our findings illuminate new insights into how experiential educative pedagogies may serve as task crafting to sustain teachers’ professional practices. Although teachers lacked control over pandemic-related protocols, job/task crafting is a “bottom-up approach” (Tims et al., 2013, p. 428) whereby workers seize control to have greater autonomy over their own daily tasks (Tims et al., 2013). Through reimagining their teaching tasks, these teacher-participants utilized experiential learning experiences to foster students’ engagement in the learning process, thus circumventing the wide array of pandemic-related stressors (e.g., physical distancing indoors). Task crafting was demonstrated through participants designing and implementing new experiential education pedagogies, such as building snow forts, community snow shoveling, forest walks, animal tracking, yoga, organized sport, imaginative free play, among a plethora of other learning experiences. As task crafting is the process whereby employees revise their approaches to workplace tasks or expand the boundaries of their prescribed duties (Bindl et al., 2019; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001), these participants evidently changed the scope of their pedagogical practices to incorporate outdoor and Indigenous land-based learning experiences that were fluid, authentic, and exploratory, rather than exclusively focusing on sport and game-oriented activities. These experiential forms of teaching and learning were authentic and relevant to students’ everyday interests and lived experience (Dewey, 2015) and emphasized informal ways of learning guided by the teacher (Allison & Seaman, 2017; Fenwick, 2000; Kolb et al., 2014). Although teachers had very little control over pandemic-regulated regulations (e.g., being displaced from their gymnasiums to teach virtually and outdoors) (Manitoba Government, 2020), these participants demonstrated considerable initiative to take control of their pedagogical practices and creatively re-worked their daily tasks. Workers’ autonomy and efforts to take control of their practices is fundamental to job crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001).

Further, these findings demonstrated new understandings between experiential education and cognitive crafting, the process of workers reorienting their occupational self-identity and behavioral mindset toward their positions (Bindl et al., 2019; Tims et al., 2013; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). While supporting students’ learning is understandably a foundational purpose of teaching, these teacher-participants began to critically reflect upon their moral and societal roles as teachers. These participants reconsidered their apex roles within the school system and community, notably exemplified via their transitioning perspectives from prioritizing competitive, highly vigorous physical activity to designing learning experiences that fostered students’ mental health and wellbeing, reducing heart rates, exploring mindfulness, and generally serving as a source of fun for their student bodies during these times. This was demonstrated in Katie's “moving away” from “vigorous push” traditionally associated with her role as a physical educator, but rather to cultivate students’ sense of joy and curiosity through learning experiences. Similarly, Jefferey's incorporation of mindfulness practices also demonstrated cognitive crafting phenomena, shifting his preset occupational identity and purpose as a physical educator. Specifically, he expressed a reconsideration of his professional role, broadening his mindset of primarily being tasked to promote the learning of physical health to also include fostering students’ knowledge on maintaining positive mental health. These participants embraced experiential educative pedagogies, practices that are generally premised upon cultivating interpersonal development, self-awareness, and socio-emotional growth (Allison & Seaman, 2017). These participants demonstrated a shifting focus in their pedagogical practices (e.g., incorporating mindfulness learning experiences as a part of class routines) and their workplace identity (e.g., expanding their role beyond teaching to be an informal physical and mental health support). Pursuing communal philanthropy (e.g., shoveling snow from adjacent neighborhood driveways as a physical education learning experience) further exemplified participants’ evolving cognitive crafting regarding the scope of their positions and their perceived importance within the community, consequently enhancing their own perceptions of job satisfaction. Through interview discussions, participants felt their position superseded general teaching responsibilities, expanding their roles to include fostering the physical and mental health of their student bodies during the pandemic.

Last, these findings identified new perspectives on the intersections between relational crafting and experiential education, specifically highlighting the social and relational aspects of teaching and learning. The educational experience does not occur in a social vacuum, but rather manifests via highly interactive social experiences. Relational crafting via experiential educational experiences were demonstrated to both support teachers’ own occupational vitality, but also maintain students’ engagement during pandemic-related circumstances. This process was practiced by these participants as they adapted their social interactions with their student bodies throughout the evolving pandemic regulations. Relational crafting is when workers alter who, and how, they interact with others in the workplace (Tims et al., 2013; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). During lockdowns, participants felt their students’ were highly disengaged during strictly online learning experiences. To be more pedagogically efficacious to support their students’ learning, and in an effort to better be more engaged in their own practices, many of these participants pivoted to in-person small groups meetings via driveway visits, bicycling and teaching bike safety, embarking upon neighborhood walks, among other methods to better socially interact with their students. As schools reopened and participants were displaced from their gymnasiums to teach outdoors, they continued to engage in relational crafting, largely through incorporating more leisure and free play as they felt these measures would support their relationships with their student bodies. As one participant reflected, they re-evaluated their prioritized role during the pandemic was “keeping the kids happy” and “enjoying their minutes with me”. These reflections further accentuated the intersections of participants’ task, relational, and cognitive crafting, specifically by adapting their pedagogies (tasks) to cultivate community and enhanced relationships (relational), but also reframing their professional roles and responsibilities as physical and health educators to serve broader moral functions (cognitive). Through such pedagogical job crafting, there was a relaxed emphasis on traditional curricular-based learning experiences, while the vocational aspects of the teaching profession were prioritized (e.g., acting in loco parentis as a caring parent to ensure students’ social and emotional needs were met). There was not an overt expression among participants of lessening the importance of the learning process. Rather, there was a broadened emphasis on the broader, interconnecting professional roles and responsibilities in which physical and health educators serve (e.g., interpersonal development, positive physical and mental health, etc.). Participants recognized the enhanced importance of social bonding during the pandemic and made concerted efforts to prioritize students’ social interactions and enjoyment together.

The conceptualization of pedagogical job crafting shared in this study is quite novel, but many of these findings may be corroborated with previous findings. Wingerden and Poell (2019) found that teachers’ improved workplace engagement led to their own resiliency and sense of meaningfulness in their efforts. This finding was quite consistent in this study as participants reflected upon the successes of their pedagogical adaptations and evolving sense of meaning derived from their positions. Huang et al. (2023) found that hindering job demands may negate teachers’ social engagements with colleagues and their student bodies. This was also similar to our findings, particularly as these participants struggled to navigate the hindering job demands associated with online teaching contexts. Tims et al. (2013) found that the most important determinants of job satisfaction were good work relationships. Our findings similarly corroborated the crucial importance of school relational dynamics, particularly teacher-participants’ job satisfaction and meaningfulness, largely corresponding to their students’ engagement in learning experiences. Last, Aulén et al. (2024) outlined a variety of job crafting benefits teachers demonstrated during the pandemic, such as creativity in novel teaching approaches, digital skill acquisition, and other opportunities for self-development. Although digital skill acquisition was not thoroughly discussed by participants, there was a resounding sense of creativity via their pedagogical crafting, as these participants explored new forms of teaching to accommodate pandemic public health protocols.

Practical Implications for Public School Teachers

There are numerous practical implications for public school teachers derived from our findings. Particularly cognizant of the disconcerting escalation in teacher demoralization and burnout corresponding to the COVID-19 pandemic (Sokal et al., 2020), insights from pedagogical job crafting may alleviate some of the occupational tensions in which teachers are presently navigating. Facilitating professional learning on pedagogical job crafting may mitigate some of the challenges. Through task crafting, teachers may critically reflect upon their current approach to designing learning experiences, which may re-invigorate professional curiosity and creativity in daily tasks. This may be achieved through routinely integrating various experiential learning experiences, whether through outdoors and land-based avenues, or prospectively through the arts of other creative means. Relational crafting may prompt teachers to examine how they are interacting with students and colleagues when designing and implementing pedagogies, thus adapting such practices to be more sustainable. Further, cognitive crafting through pedagogical adaptations may elicit a re-oriented perspective on the role and purpose of teaching. If pedagogies are perceived to be more meaningful, teachers may, in turn, derive a more profound importance in their daily professional responsibilities. In short, we posit that there is a crucial importance to integrating experiential learning into daily school routines, not exclusively to the benefit of students’ learning, but also to the sustained vitality of public school teachers’ professionalism.

Future Research

There are two different trajectories we intend to explore following this exploratory qualitative inquiry. Currently, we are exploring, via family interview method, parents’ and students’ perceptions of the impacts outdoor learning experiences had during the COVID-19 pandemic, both as a part of school programming (as documented in this study), but also through extra-curricular means (e.g., community ice rinks, family outdoor excursions, etc.). Our intent is to broaden the understanding of the perceived impact these outdoor learning experiences had on students’ learning and wellbeing, interpreting the phenomena through a study demands-resource theoretical lens (Lesener et al., 2020). Second, we intend to further explore how pedagogical job crafting may manifest in various other educational domains (e.g., pedagogical job crafting through integrating music and the arts in other daily school subject areas, such as mathematics or social studies). Such an inquiry may generate broader insights into how experiential education may foster students’ learning through authentic experiences, but also how creative adaptations may bolster public school teachers’ occupational vitality.

Limitations

Although there were numerous insights drawn from this qualitative study, we acknowledge various limitations. As all writing is “positioned” (Creswell, 2007, p. 179), we reflexively approached our thematic analysis cognizant of our prospective biases, values, and experiences relevant to the project. The first Author is a queer white cisgender male teacher, union activist, and instructed in public schools throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. The second Author is a white cisgender male professor and parent. Our lived and professional experiences undoubtedly informed our theoretical interpretation (e.g., Author 1's professional insights with immediate understanding of the school-based phenomena). However, as white cisgender male scholars, we were also limited in our positional interpretations of the data. Last, we utilized both semantic (descriptive, superficial content analyses) and latent (examining the underlying theoretical concepts of the data) thematic analysis strategies (Braun & Clarke, 2013). Consequently, our thematic analysis was ultimately informed through bridging the conceptual lenses of experiential pedagogies (Allison & Seaman, 2017) and job crafting (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001), interpreting teachers’ pedagogical practice as an effort to improve their workplace efficacy, job satisfaction, and occupational role and identity. We posit our findings not to be definitive or generalizable, but rather to be exploratory, context-specific, and may provide a foundation for future inquiries pertaining to pedagogical job crafting.

We do not assert findings to be generalizable, but rather may be transferable to similar suburban school environments and may provide insight into future inquiries exploring pedagogical adaptations as job crafting. These findings are also drawn from physical and health education teachers’ reflective perceptions of the phenomenon and do not necessarily constitute the actuality of experiences. Corroborating with students’ and/or school administrators’ perspectives may have broadened and bolstered the interpretive analysis. Regardless of these limitations and delimitations in research focus, the ten participants generated in-depth discussion of their evolving pedagogies and attitudinal views on their occupations during the COVID-19 pandemic and yielded valuable insights into pedagogical job crafting phenomena.

Conclusion

Physical education teachers navigated complex teaching arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research illuminated how physical and health education teachers were uniquely impacted by provincial public health education protocols, as many of these participants in this study were either displaced from their gymnasiums (as these spaces were co-opted to become classrooms to accommodate physical distancing requirements) or struggled to implement learning experiences that coincided with the stringent pandemic regulations. Although participants expressed initial challenges navigating these workplace expectations (e.g., physical distancing and increased sanitation) manifested in the forms of pool noodle tag, catching games using gloves, and other strategies. However, these difficulties were largely alleviated by incorporating experiential outdoor and land-based pedagogies. We conceptualized this phenomena as an effort to not only support students’ engagement in the learning process, but also a form of job crafting to sustain these teachers’ professional efficacy and job satisfaction. Through the incorporating experiential educative pedagogies into their practices, these teachers demonstrated task, relational, and cognitive crafting to alter their roles and responsibilities throughout the pandemic. This exploratory research project may provide insights to the experiences of physical and health education teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and may illuminate new theoretical connections between job crafting and teachers’ pedagogical approaches.