Concerns of Physical Education Teachers

Amalia Karabekou, Mary Hassandra & Marios Goudas

Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Hellas

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to adapt the questionnaire Teacher’ s Concerns Questionnaire – Physical Education (TCQ – PE; McBride, 1993) to the Greek population and to record the concerns of physical educa- tion students (PE) and physical educators for teaching PE at school. Participants were 205 PE students, with mean age 20.44 years, who were enrolled in four PE departments of higher education institutions. In addi- tion, 333 physical educators participated in the study (Mage= 33.39) with mean teaching experience of 2.82 years. Factor analysis revealed two distinct factors (direct and indirect) in the questionnaire. The internal re- liability index of the questionnaire was satisfactory. Participants were divided into two groups, A (PE edu- cators) and B (PE students). The comparison between groups showed that the students had significantly higher direct and indirect concerns as compared to the educators. Furthermore, female educators had sig- nificantly higher indirect concerns as compared to their male counterparts. In conclusion, the analyses pro- vide preliminary support for the psychometric properties of the questionnaire and the distinction ability between PE students and educators. Nevertheless, further examination is warranted in order to obtain addi- tional information concerning the difficulties of PE teaching.

Key words: Concerns, physical educators, physical education students