What Is the Place of Physical Education among the Teaching Priorities of Primary School Teachers? An Empirical Study on Importance, Qualification and Perceived Teachers’ Competence

Abstract

The education of children is important because it determines the future of the world. Teachers have a great responsibility for this, which applies to every subject taught. In this regard, teachers usually specialize in a specific area and greatly influence how the subject is taught and how students gain a view of the subject. The present study aimed to investigate teachers’ attitudes about subjects in primary school, with a particular focus on physical education. The sample of participants (N = 111) included Croatian female primary school teachers with a mean age of 47.88 (±8.11 SD) years and a mean teaching experience of 21.83 (±10.24 SD) years. The variable sample consisted of a three-criteria questionnaire for the assessment of classroom subjects: (i) the importance of a subject (importance); (ii) the level of qualifications obtained during study for a subject (qualification); and (iii) the teacher’s competence for teaching (competence). Significant differences were found in the assessment of classroom subjects. The group of core academic subjects has noticeably higher assessments than the group of practical and artistic subjects. The assessment of teachers’ competence in PE teaching is the lowest of all the classroom subjects. Further research of classroom teachers’ attitudes towards the implementation of physical education is advised, with an increased number of participants and the inclusion of new measures.

Curriculum preferences of physical education teachers in primary schools: differences in length of pedagogical practice

“…Primary schools often face the challenges of balancing the curriculum (sometimes rigid) that prioritizes academic subjects (core); in particular, mathematics, language arts, and science. Croatian teachers considered academic subjects (3.42/ 4) more important than PE; however, PE was in 4th place, which made it close to academic subjects, compared to artistic (e.g., music, art) [26]. As a result, there is limited time allocated to PE classes, leading to shorter classes durations and/or fewer sessions/ week.…”

‘It’s not a priority’: Australian generalist classroom teacher experiences of teaching the Health Education component of Health and Physical Education

“…Cruickshank et al, 2021a;Gaudreault et al, 2018;Richards et al, 2014) has noted it can be marginalised in schools through being considered "less academic" than other disciplines and by being perceived as having less educative value. Classroom teachers often consider PE a release from "high status" subject work rather than an integral aspect of students' education (Lynch & Soukup, 2017;Milić et al 2022). This can result in HPE receiving less emphasis, time, and resourcing than other KLAs (Cruickshank et al, 2021b;Birch & Auld, 2020;Lowry et al, 2022) which can be problematic in light of Australian teachers stating a lack of time is a key barrier to achieving HPE outcomes (Morgan & Hansen, 2008;Peralta et al, 2021;Williams, 2017).…”

Teachers’ preferences of teaching primary physical education: curriculum preferences

“…Demands made of teachers are high, despite of maintaining important role in society. Many of them do not understand what quality teaching requires and do not see quality teaching as a demanding mission that requires rigorous training [5].…”