Teaching behaviours of primary physical education student teachers

The purpose of the study was to examine the teaching behaviours of Hong Kong physical education students teachers. Thirty-two local pre-service and in-service student teachers were videotaped teaching two ball games lessons in their own schools or in the allocated schools during their final practicum. Each videotaped lesson was coded using the Physical Education Teacher Assessment Instrument (PETAI). Data generated by the PETAI were comprehensively described and comparison was made between the two groups' behaviour categories by employing the independent t-test. Results indicated that the in-service group had significantly higher percentages of response presentation and total teacher instructional time than the pre-service group did, whilst the pre-service group spent significantly higher percentages of time in planned presentation, equipment management, activities organization, behaviour management and overall management time than did the in-service group. Six pre-service and in-service student teachers were randomly selected to participate in the second phase of the study. They were observed teaching two ball games lessons and were invited to take part in two pre-lesson interviews and two post-lesson stimulated recall sessions. Qualitative data were collected through lesson observation and interviews. Constant comparison and analytic induction were used to organize and categorize the data. Results showed that there were similarities and differences in teaching behaviours, teaching strategies and decision making during different stages of teaching between the two groups of subjects. Although the two groups of subjects held similar teaching beliefs and perceptions about physical education, they appeared to possess different teachers' knowledge of teaching. It was likely that the different teaching experience in physical education between the two groups accounted for the differences in their teaching behaviours. Findings of the present study hold implications for the preparation of physical education teachers.