The level of moral competences of pre-service PE teachers – a reason to worry?

Abstract

Summary Study aim: The main purpose of this study was to examine the level of moral competences of 437 pre-service physical educa­tion (PE) university students. It was also designed to evaluate the level of moral competency and the correlations with factors (i.e. Parents, Religion, School education, PE teacher, Sport coach, Studies, Media and Peers) potentially influencing moral development in pre-service PE teachers. Material and methods: The study included data collected in 2017 from 216 male and 221 female students aged 21.5 ± 1.85 from the faculty of Physical Education in Poznań, Poland. The students were categorised into three levels of moral competences, after which possible correlations between the factors influencing moral development were examined. The Moral Competence Test (MCT) survey was used to measure the ability to rate arguments by their moral quality. Participants were requested to confront two moral dilemmas and agree or disagree with the statements which were presented to them. Results: The results suggest that a vast majority of students (78.7%) present a very low level of moral competences, and with regard to the factors influencing moral development, the lowest value was attributed to PE teachers. Moderate positive correla­tions were found between School education and PE teacher, and between Sport coach and PE teacher. Conclusions: The findings indicate the need for more attention to be paid to moral education in teacher training in PE.

The Role of Sports Practice in Young Adolescent Development of Moral Competence

“…On the contrary, it may also become a critical point, when PES teachers/sport coaches' professionalization culture, or the whole education system in fact, imposes "discursive closure" in terms of morality, gender discourse [64], or lack of skills in critical thinking. It also may be that the problem is related to the MCL or quality of training of PE teachers/sport coaches as role models themselves [22]. Sanderse [65] signifies that role modelling is rarely used as an explicit teaching method, and only a very small percentage of school students consider teachers as role models.…”

“…Henkel and Eearls [21] found that these agents of a child's moral development are, on average, less developed in their moral reasoning capacities than most of their peers with a similar educational background and age. The latest research by Bronikowska and Korcz [22] indicates a problem-78% of PE major students at university were classified as having low MCL themselves.…”

“…Henkel and Eearls [ 21 ] found that these agents of a child’s moral development are, on average, less developed in their moral reasoning capacities than most of their peers with a similar educational background and age. The latest research by Bronikowska and Korcz [ 22 ] indicates a problem—78% of PE major students at university were classified as having low MCL themselves. Interestingly, the increased number of years of professional training in a group of 19-year-old recruits of PES majors was associated with a higher MCL, specifically in male students [ 23 ].…”

Fair Play in Physical Education and Beyond

“…The research study also employed a tool proposed by the authors, namely the Factors of Moral Influence Scale [59], among which the following factors deemed to have a significance in the development of one's moral competence were distinguished, particularly: Religion, school, education, parents, Physical Education teacher, sport coach, peers, and media. This tool was constructed on the basis of the 5-point Likert scale of the following ranking, where 1 means 'not important' and 5 means 'very important', and concerned the question 'Who/what has the greatest influence on your moral competence?'…”

How Years of Sport Training Influence the Level of Moral Competences of Physical Education and Sport Students

“…Professionals working with children and youths in area of PA should present the highest standards themselves first. A study on over 440 PE students from all studying years [32] revealed that almost 80% of them presented a very low level of moral competences and the lowest value on the influence scale was attributed to PE teachers. So we wondered whether it was a problem connected to the study programme or earlier PA experiences, and therefore it was interesting to investigate the situation with the newly recruited first year freshmen, because the students' moral consistency might be a crucial factor for the quality of teaching moral education through PE and school sport to the youths.…”