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Instructional cue (IC) plays an important role in directing student's attention toward the most critical information about a movement task. Notably, an incorrect performance of a skill practiced for a long period is difficult to correct later. For this reason, physical education (PE) teachers need to constantly develop and implement good strategies that enhance students' acquisition of critical features of movement skills. Teachers must use a variety of ICs targeted fairly at individual students and whole class. For effectiveness, different types of teachers' ICs must be provided in an instructional setting. However, little is known about the effectiveness of teachers' ICs in practical PE setting. The purpose of this pedagogical research in PE setting was to investigate targets, types and rate per minute of teachers' ICs in netball shooting skill. The study was situated in three selected colleges of education (CoE) where descriptive processes were used to conduct the investigation. Digital video was utilized to record naturally occurring classroom events of pre-service teachers (n=77) and PE teachers (n=4). The videorecorded lesson lasted 1 hour (60 minutes). Two independent recorders used event recording instrument to document classroom events relating to types and targets of teachers' ICs. Inter-observer agreement procedures revealed a good reliability of data collected for the study. Descriptive analyses were conducted using mainly percentages, frequencies and means. Major findings of the study showed that verbal, visual and kinesthetic ICs were the main types of Teachers' ICs used during the instructional period. However, verbal ICs dominated the observed practical lesson. Findings also revealed that more verbal ICs were provided to the group than individual students. Non-verbal ICs which involved demonstrations and signals were mostly used to facilitate individual students' acquisition of the shooting skill in netball. In each minute, students received teachers' IC relating to the proper technique of performing assigned task.

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Instructional cues (IC) regularly occur in physical education (PE) practical lessons. However, not much research has been conducted into the effectiveness of these cues in teaching and learning environment. It is also noted that students generally exhibit low interest in netball activities, not only in the colleges of education but across all levels of education in Ghana. The study was based on pedagogical research in PE setting where we investigated teacher's utilization of instructional cues in teaching shooting skill in netball. We also investigated issues relating to supervision and the frequency of pre-service teachers' participation in netball activities. A total of 81 participants were randomly sampled for the study. They were composed of four PE teachers and 77 pre-service teachers from the first-year group of three selected Colleges of Education (CoE) in the Volta Region, Ghana. The study was descriptive in nature. A Senior University Lecturer with vast experience in research inspected self-developed data collection instrument and approved its capability of collecting data for the study. Frequency and percentage analyses of data were performed and presented in tables, graphs and charts. Major findings of the work revealed low level of supervision of pre-service teachers in netball activities. Participation level in netball activities and knowledge of basic netball skills were also found to be low among pre-service teachers. However, in the 60 minutes video-taped lesson, the rate per minute of constructive instructional cues (CIC) were higher than the rate per minute of destructive instructional cues (DIC), indicating that PE teachers were largely able to control destructions during utilization of instructional cues (IC) in teaching practical lessons involving netball shooting skill.

Pre-service teacher education programme should aim at adequate preparation of pre-service teachers to equip them with pedagogical and content knowledge relevant for full-time teaching career. However, a major obstacle to quality education is that several teachers are not well prepared to teach the school curriculum competently. Therefore, the study examined: 1) adequacy of pre-service teacher education for teaching the physical education (PE) programme, 2) relationship between adequacy of pre-service teacher education in PE and the frequency at which PE lessons were taught, and 3) relationship between adequacy of pre-service teacher education in PE and teacher-related barriers to teaching PE in public primary schools. The study design was cross-sectional survey. Multistage sampling technique yielded a sample of 172 subjects out of estimated population of 300. Validated and reliable self-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Pre-data analyses were performed to clean data from errors. All data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS for Windows, Version 17). The study found that several teachers received inadequate knowledge in teaching physical education programme in public primary schools. From the study, positive correlation was found between preservice teacher education in PE and the frequency at which PE lessons were taught. The study also revealed a negative correlation between quality of pre-service teacher education in PE and teacher-related barriers that hindered effective teaching of PE programme in public primary schools of the six selected circuits involved in the study.