Investigating Teaching Quality of Generalist Pre-service Teachers in Physical Education

Research findings highlight the importance of teacher education, and call for enhancing teacher education programs to prepare high-quality teachers. This study investigated physical education (PE) teaching quality of... [ view full abstract ]

Research findings highlight the importance of teacher education, and call for enhancing teacher education programs to prepare high-quality teachers. This study investigated physical education (PE) teaching quality of pre-service elementary teachers during their teaching experience with and without PE-specialization, to answer the following question: “Are students who attended PE-specialization courses more effective than those who did not?”

Fourteen pre-service elementary generalist teachers participated in the study. Seven of them (non-PE-specialization) took only one required course addressing the content and effective practices, the others (PE-specialization) took three more courses relative to the content and PE pedagogy in primary school. Data consisted of lesson observations and individual interviews. Each participant was observed four times, by one observer who was using a modified version of the Task Structure System. Before-and after-teaching, teachers participated in an interview to present their teaching perspective. Observations were analyzed using non-parametric criteria. Interviews were analyzed inductively via individual-case and cross-case analysis. Coders' observations were triangulated with the students' teaching perspectives. Two individuals analyzed the data independently and then compared them.  

During the first three lessons no significant differences were found between the two groups. By the fourth lesson, the PE-specialization students offered more progressive learning tasks and demonstrated psychomotor skills more efficiently than the non-PE-specialization students. Interviews showed that the majority of students worried about classroom management; something that was verified through the observations. After the third lesson the PE-specialization students reduced their management time. All the students modified their planned activities to have better learning outcomes. 

 Results showed that PE-specialization students needed time to cope with the demanding conditions of teaching PE, and effectively apply their enhanced theoretical background. This suggests that generalist-teacher education programs should offer a more practical approach to students, giving them a more realistic experience to meet the daily challenges of PE lessons.